Good Morning America/ABCNews.com

At the same time women face a gender pay gap where they earn around 80 cents for each dollar their male co-workers make, the costs of child care now exceed $20,000 per year in nearly two dozen states, according to Child Care Aware of America, a nonprofit organization that works to make child care in the U.S. high-quality and affordable.

Also not enough, advocates say, are the state policies that popped up to try to help child care centers during the pandemic.

"A lot of those were temporary fixes and may not be extended as states reopen," said Lynette Fraga, Ph.D., CEO of Child Care Aware of America. "There is no doubt that a federal solution is absolutely necessary, and a federal investment, supported by state solutions and state-by-state policies, that can raise up that federal solution."

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Seattle Times

Without child care, there can be no economic recovery from the pandemic.

Those are the dire consequences that can transpire if the government doesn’t give more financial assistance to U.S. child care providers, including those in Washington state, a new report warns.

Since July, nationwide, 40% of child care centers and 27% of home-based child care providers closed, according to research compiled by Child Care Aware of America, a national child care advocacy organization. The causes, Child Care Aware found, were dropping attendance in child care facilities and extra costs associated with the pandemic.

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MarketWatch

The U.S. child-care system is buckling under the weight of the coronavirus pandemic, new data suggests — and economists warn that a lack of feasible options during the economic downturn could leave some working mothers’ careers in the lurch.

CNBC.com

Despite states allowing child-care providers to reopen their doors as the spring and summer stay-at-home orders lifted, attendance is still down and many centers have yet to get back into business. 

About 35% of child-care centers and 21% of family child-care programs remain closed nationwide as of July, according to the latest data available from Child Care Aware of America released Thursday. Of the providers that are open, attendance and enrollment is significantly lower than it was at the start of the year.

That’s due, in part, to state and local health guidelines limiting the number of children allowed in a classroom or facility in order to maintain social distancing. Child Care Aware found that 17 of the 32 states that reported attendance data say they’ve lost more than 25% of their capacity.

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Iowa Public Radio

A new report has found about half the state’s licensed child care centers have closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report by the non-profit Child Care Aware of America found the state’s licensed child care centers dropped from nearly 1,590 in January to just over 802 in July.

However, the report found the state’s in-home providers fared much better. They reported 2,542 providers in January and 2,546 providers in July - a slight increase.

Kristina Haynie, a senior data analyst with the non-profit, said licensed centers may be struggling because they have more children and staff to manage.

Dionne Dobbins, the senior director of research at Child Care Aware of America, said parents may be more comfortable during the pandemic putting their children in a space with fewer people and in-home providers have more flexibility serving different aged children.

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TIME

If there are mass closures across the childcare industry to the extent that experts predict, the failure of the government to act will have broader ramifications. Daycare providers who find themselves unemployed may never return to their profession. Daycare owners may abandon their businesses for more lucrative ones. Families may opt to keep a parent home to watch the kids. “Absent our collective investment in childcare, there really won’t be an effective community recovery,” warns Lynette Fraga, the CEO of ChildcareAware. “If we aren’t supporting childcare providers, there won’t be childcare to go back to.”

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Fatherly.com

“Covid-19 really has devastated the childcare system,” says Mindy Bennett, Deputy Chief of Partnership of the national child care advocacy organization Child Care Aware of America. “I’ve had community leaders tell me that they suspect that about 50 percent of their childcare have closed and will not reopen,” Bennett says.

Home-based child care, also known as family child care, ranges from informal baby-sitting (ie: Aunt Kathy down the block watches the kids) to larger groups of children and professional training. Because they’re operated from homes, these services have less space than child care centers. Usually, that means groups of five to 10 children of varying ages, with siblings kept together despite age gaps.

“Family childcare is a more home-like environment,” Bennett, a former home-based care center operator, says. “It may represent your home beliefs and culture more than a center.” 

WDET (NPR/Detroit)

The coronavirus pandemic has put a strain on the nation’s child care system. Many providers had to close due to stay-at-home orders that kept families away. 

Press of Atlantic City

Lynette Fraga, CEO of Child Care Aware of America, said reopening child care centers and summer camps will be critical to restarting the economy in New Jersey and throughout the nation.

Her organization has a list of questions parents should ask their camps and child care providers as they reopen to ensure communication and safety, including how they will enforce social distancing and whether any COVID-19 cases have been found at the facility.

“Summer camps, just like school, frankly, during the school year, play a critical role in being a child care setting for parents when they return to work,” Fraga said. “What’s challenging, regardless of whether we name the summer care as camps or child care, is having the ability to open that care. Families are going to be very challenged, and there will be barriers for them to return to work.”

Child Care Aware is pushing for federal legislation that would increase funding for child care centers and camps. Some funding was included in the federal stimulus bill in response to COVID-19, and the state has also announced grant funding for child care centers and camps though the Department of Human Services to purchase additional cleaning products, personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves and thermometers, and other products and services to assist centers in complying with appropriate guidelines.

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Romper

National child care advocacy groups like Child Care Aware of America continue to monitor the evolving processes and procedures, updating parents and caregivers with resources like new fact sheets every step of the way.

While it is of the utmost importance to prepare your child for a return to their new normal at day care, it is also beneficial to consider how your child's facility will continue to keep up with their new health and safety regimens. The organization urges parents and caregivers concerned about the impact of COVID-19 on child care to advocate for their family's needs by contacting their legislators.

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