Report finds that 35% of centers and 21% of family child care programs remain closed nationwide

Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA) today released a new report and interactive website on the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on child care access, affordability and quality.  

The report, titled Picking Up the Pieces: Building a Better Child Care System Post COVID-19, combines CCAoA’s annual High Price of Child Care report and State Fact Sheets for all 50 states and Washington, D.C., into one report along with additional data gathered from Child Care Resource and Referral agencies and other sources as recently as July 2020. 

The report features information about CCAoA’s new Child Care Data Center that includes additional child care data and stories for six pilot states: Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin. 

National poll from Save the Children Action Network and Child Care Aware® of America shows 87 percent of Americans support federal funding to help child care centers pay staff and rent

Today, Save the Children Action Network (SCAN) and Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA) announced the results of a national survey that identified registered voters’ overwhelming support for federal funding to address the worsening child care crisis as a result of COVID-19. This groundbreaking poll, commissioned by SCAN and CCAoA, highlights the child care industry’s vital importance to American families and the American economy. 

Child Care Aware® of America Calls Federal Stimulus Support for Child Care a “Down Payment” and Urges More Funding to Serve Essential Workers   

WASHINGTON, March 27, 2020 — Child Care Aware® of America released the following statement in response to the latest federal stimulus package:  

“Congress has begun to acknowledge the essential role that child care plays during this public health emergency. This down payment of $3.5 billion, if distributed quickly, will provide much-needed help to the child care system in the short term. In particular, we know that this support can make a difference for the Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agencies across the country that are working overtime to support the families of emergency and essential workers, the child care providers who are dealing with decisions to close or stay open, and the rapidly adapting system. 

Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA) has partnered with Yale University Professors Walter Gilliam and Eli Fenichel and their colleagues to promote and disseminate a new interactive map that estimates the child care needs of essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The map shows that health care workers in the U.S. have over 3.5 million children. These children need care in order for health care workers to respond to COVID-19, but 2.3 million of these children have no obvious child care providers available in the home.   

Additionally, CCAoA will be offering technical assistance and collateral content that will support child care providers, local, state, and national entities responsible for child care planning, advocacy partners and policymakers.