“Child Care Aware® of America is pleased to support the Child Care Modernization Act and thanks Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE), Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Senator John Hickenlooper (D-CO), and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) for their leadership updating the Child Care and Development Block Grant, the primary federal program that helps working families afford child care,” said Susan Gale Perry, Chief Executive Officer at Child Care Aware® of America. “With the national annual price of child care at an average of $13,128, we know that child care is out of reach for many families across the country. The Child Care Modernization Act recognizes that we must do more to make child care more affordable and more available, and alongside strong investments in our child care system would move us forward towards that goal.”
This bill builds on existing, proven strategies and strengthens the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), which serves 1.4 million children a year through a mixed delivery system where parents choose the care that works best for their children and family, when and if they need it. CCDBG has a long history of bipartisan support in Congress, but the program still does not serve all eligible children and families. The Child Care Modernization Act recognizes that we must do more to make child care more affordable and more available, and alongside strong investments in our child care system would move us forward towards that goal.
The bill would provide grants to providers for meeting health and safety requirements, licensing and other regulatory standards, and improving facilities, which would expand the child care workforce and increase child care supply to serve more eligible children and families. It would also tackle the reality that child care providers across the country are underpaid and feeling the strain of insufficient rates. The bill would improve provider reimbursement rates through cost estimation models to more accurately reflect the true cost of providing high-quality care.
Child Care Aware® of America urges Congress to support this bipartisan legislation and the robust investments needed to strengthen our nation’s foundational child care program. We look forward to continuing to work with Congress on solutions that ensure more children and families have access to affordable high-quality child care.
About Child Care Aware® of America
Child Care Aware of America (CCAoA) is the only national organization that supports every part of the child care system. Together with an on-the-ground network of Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) organizations working in states and communities, CCAoA advances high-quality, affordable child care and turns a patchwork of resources into a system that works for everyone. Together we make America child care strong—and that makes everyone stronger.
