The Problem 

Many different adults can impact the way a baby or child eats, including parents/caregivers and providers. However, those important adults may not understand or practice responsive feeding – the process of recognizing an infant's cues for hunger or fullness and responding appropriately.  

On July 11, the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions and Family Policy hosted a hearing examining the importance of paid family leave. Subcommittee Chairman, Bill Cassidy (R-LA), and Ranking Member Sherrod Brown (D-OH) sponsored the hearing and witnesses included Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), along with Dr. Andrew Biggs from the American Enterprise Institute, Vicki Shabo of the National Partnership for Women and Families, and Carolyn Boyle from Deloitte Services, LLP.

For more than 10 years, Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA) has reported on the unaffordability of child care for parents in states across the country. We’ve been expanding that reporting by diving deeper into county-level costs and exploring national, state-and community-level financing solutions to provide working families with some relief. Even as we’ve kept discussions on the unaffordability of child care going strong, we are often asked, “If parents are paying too much of their household budgets on child care, why are child care providers still struggling to make ends meet?” It’s a good question – one that I’ve had since I started CCAoA!

What can Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&Rs) agencies do and how can they most effectively share information about Power to the Profession with the field? Join us for a webinar, "What can your CCR&R do to prepare for the evolution of the ECE profession?," on July 10 from 2:30-3:30 pm EST as we talk with our colleagues at Child Care Answers, a child care resource and referral agency in Indiana, to learn about innovative strategies they are using to help engage and inform their staff and child care providers in their area about Power to the Profession.

WASHINGTON, DC — Dr. Lynette M. Fraga, executive director of Child Care Aware® of America, issued the following statement on the federal policy of separating children from their families when crossing the southern border into the United States: