We were excited to have more than 300 attendees join us for this year’s Child Care Aware® of America Policy Summit on April 23-25 in Washington, D.C. Child care resource and referral (CCR&R) agencies and early child care professionals from various disciplines and settings joined us from across the nation to address policy, practice, and the future of the early childhood field. Attendees engaged in insightful sessions, profited from key takeaways, networked, and (most importantly) made their voices heard during our special Day on the Hill event, where child care advocates and allies had an opportunity to meet with their Congressional representatives and put child care initiatives at the forefront of the political conversation.

This week, the Trump Administration released a broad tax proposal to Congress which includes expanding the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) with the possibility of making it refundable.

Child Care Aware® of America’s Chief of Policy, Michelle McCready had the pleasure of speaking with The Preschool Podcast, a platform for leaders in early childhood education to share their experiences, thoughts and insights in the world of early learning.

The health, safety and well-being of children is of primary concern for child care providers. As trusted professionals, child care providers often serve as a resource for new parents and families. One of the ways that child care providers can help ensure that children are healthy is to encourage that families follow the childhood immunization schedule. Receiving timely and age-appropriate vaccines protects infants, children, and teens from harmful diseases.

Fireworks went off when I was born…or at least that is what my Mom told me. I think it was more like flares than fireworks.  You see I was born while my Dad was deployed to Vietnam. Apparently, nothing could keep my Mom, a very young mother, from calling her husband about his second-born daughter’s birth. Nothing. Despite his being in a war zone, on a mountain, in a tent, she demanded he know. She picked up the phone from her hospital room, dialed “0” and started from there.  My mom exemplified the type of scrappy determination military families cultivate as they regularly uproot their lives in service to their country and in support of their active duty spouses.

Child Care Aware® of America's Senior Director for Emergency Preparedness, Andrew Roszak, is keeping track of all things disaster-related. He recently authored an in-depth look at recent federal initiatives aimed at protecting children in disasters, which appears at Domestic Preparedness.com.