Last night, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a two-year bipartisan budget deal 332-94, reducing the likelihood of another government shutdown and setting the stage for Senate action, expected next week.  The agreement, crafted by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) sets discretionary spending for two years and replaces a second round of sequester cuts slated to take effect in January.

On Monday, November 4, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General released a report on the monitoring of licensed child care providers. The findings, while displaying the dire state of child care licensing standards nationwide, are not surprising.

Child care is unaffordable for many families. The costs leave children in questionable environments that can have long-term consequences for them and for our nation’s future.

"Many families are priced out of licensed child care services… the health and safety of those children are at risk." –Lynette Fraga  CNN Money

Raising a child will cost families more than $240,000 before a child’s 18th birthday an August 2013 US Department of Agriculture report showed.

The second biggest expense in that $240,000? Child care and education – not including college.

Child care is one of the biggest costs to raising children

Between 1960 and 2012, child care and education expenses went from 2 percent of the cost to raise a child, to 18 percent. Child care and education takes up a bigger chunk of the pie than healthcare and food. Child care and education is the second biggest expense behind housing.

Families are forced to make tough choices as the cost of child care continues to rise and wages stay the same or go down. But there is an even bigger unknown than child care costs. What is the quality of the child care program?

Quality child care too expensive for some

We know many parents turn to unlicensed child care settings because licensed care can be more expensive. Unlicensed programs are not required to meet basic state health and safety standards. Their providers are not required to complete a comprehensive background check and their buildings are not required to be regularly inspected. That leaves children to chance.

Quality requires Accountability

In the United States, nearly 11 million children under age 5 are in child care each week and although child care costs are high, most states have inadequate requirements for the quality of care. Currently, the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), which provides funds to states to help make child care more affordable for families, does not require that funds be used to pay for licensed care.

Child Care Aware® of America is pushing for the passage of the CCDBG reauthorization, that would raise the standards for quality child care in this nation.

The costs to raise a child are high. But the risk of unlicensed child care is even higher.

Earlier this week, members of the Child Care Aware® of America Policy Team jumped on a plane and went to Tampa for a one-day on-site Advocacy Training. They worked closely with the Children’s Forum in Tallahassee to put together a jam-packed agenda for each of the 60 attendees at the training.

“The African saying, that it takes a village to raise a child is true, but the thing we need to remember all the time is that we are that village, it’s not somebody else, each one of us are part of the village and we have to daily say, what I can do to contribute to this, what can I do to help somebody further the life of a child,” stated Alma Powell, Chair of the Board at America’s Promise Alliance, discussing the importance of the advocacy community taking action on early childhood policies.