Wall Street Journal
Children in daycare programs present virtually no risk of transmitting Covid-19 to adults, according to a new Yale University study of more than 57,000 U.S. child-care providers.
The study, believed to be the largest of its kind, indicated that keeping child-care centers open doesn’t contribute to transmission of the disease caused by the new coronavirus, as long as they hew to sanitary guidelines like hand washing, small group sizes and staff wearing face coverings.
The research has broad implications for the U.S. economy, parents who depend on daycare centers and child-care workers. More than a third of child-care centers in the country closed between March and July, according to Child Care Aware, an advocacy group.
Daycare Centers Are Very Low Risk for Covid-19 Transmission, Study Says
By
CCAoA on October 14, 2020
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Continue ReadingChild Care Centers Are Not Linked to COVID Spread, According to Large Study
By
CCAoA on October 14, 2020
People.com
A new study conducted by Yale University has found that child care centers are not linked to the spread of the coronavirus, as long as safety protocols and guidelines are followed.
In the study published Wednesday in Pediatrics — the peer-reviewed journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics — researchers surveyed 57,000 child care providers across all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, that remained open through the height of the pandemic.
Lynette Fraga, the CEO of Child Care Aware of America, who also participated in the study, also noted to Today that the study's results depend on workers and centers taking the extra safety precautions.
"This study shows that to be open safely, child care providers will need to practice mitigation and prevention strategies which cost money," Fraga said. "And, at times, it may not be safe for child care to be open if community transmission rates are high. To stabilize an industry facing additional costs and ongoing, public health-related closures, significant funding is needed."
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Continue ReadingChild care programs not associated with COVID-19 spread, large study finds
By
CCAoA on October 14, 2020
TODAY.com
A large-scale study conducted by Yale University found that child care is not associated with the spread of the coronavirus.
The study, published in Pediatrics, the peer-reviewed journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, found that child care programs that stayed open throughout the pandemic did not contribute to the spread of the virus to providers if those child care programs were in areas with low COVID-19 spread and took multiple safety measures, including disinfecting surfaces, hand washing, screening for symptoms, social distancing, masking and limiting group sizes.
Lynette Fraga, Ph.D., the CEO of Child Care Aware of America (a resource to help families access quality, affordable child care), which participated in the study and offered recommendations based on its results, said that the study shows that it can be possible to reopen child care safely as long as appropriate measures are taken.
"This study shows that to be open safely, child care providers will need to practice mitigation and prevention strategies which cost money," Fraga said. "And, at times, it may not be safe for child care to be open if community transmission rates are high. To stabilize an industry facing additional costs and ongoing, public health-related closures, significant funding is needed."
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Continue ReadingReport: Fewer family childcare providers with pandemic taking toll
By
CCAoA on October 04, 2020
Forum News Service (ND, SD, MN, WI)
The number of childcare facilities continues to slump in the Upper Midwest, and it’s likely the COVID-19 pandemic will take a further toll, according to recently released annual tracking report and multiple surveys by organizations who monitor child care options.
Particularly hard hit in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota are family providers, a major piece of the childcare puzzle in largely rural states, where families set up their own, often in-home facilities to care for their friends' and neighbors' children.
"With a spread-out, rural setting, it seems to be more feasible, oftentimes, to have family childcare," said Dionne Dobbins, senior director of research at Child Care Aware of America, an advocacy group which released the report in conjunction with its new Child Care Data Center funded by the the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The state by state data summarized key findings from data collected in 2019 and partial 2020 information and included Child Care Aware's summary of the pandemic's effects based on 88 surveys on the topic conducted by nonprofits and gathered by The Urban Institute.
Very few organizations track child care providers, cost and access at a state by state level. Dobbins, with Child Care Aware, said the organization sees the data gathering as a crucial part of understanding the national child care situation, and a key component of advocacy.
“The childcare system in and of itself is fragmented and inequitable and inaccessible and underfunded, and I would say the data pieces of that childcare system are the same," Dobbins said. "We know we need good data, we need standardized data, we need similar data across the country to understand both the landscape and understand where things are equitable and inequitable."
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Continue ReadingMothers in the workplace at a 'tipping point' amid the pandemic, child care crisis
By
CCAoA on October 01, 2020
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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Continue ReadingNational report warns crumbling child care industry will slow economic recovery in Washington state and beyond
By
CCAoA on September 26, 2020
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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Continue ReadingChild-care centers struggle to reopen, while others may raise prices to survive
By
CCAoA on September 25, 2020
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.
After COVID-19 forced the closure of many child-care providers across the country, most states allowed for their reopening, according to a report published Thursday by the nonprofit Child Care Aware of America, which advocates for access to affordable child care. But 35% of child-care centers and 21% of family child-care programs in the country remained closed as of July.
“Time will tell if these closures become permanent. If they do, this will pose a serious problem as our nation works to rebuild the economy,” the report authors wrote. “For our economy to regain strength, we must have a steady, reliable workforce who aren’t distracted by child-care worries.”
The organization also suggested that child care could become more costly due to factors such as reduced capacity necessitated by physical distancing, supplies including personal protective equipment, training on new safety measures and communication of protocols to employees and parents.
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Continue ReadingWithout federal support, experts say child care is likely to get more expensive for parents
By
CCAoA on September 24, 2020
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.
“Child care was already in a bad place prior to prior to the pandemic,” says Lynette Fraga, CEO of Child Care Aware. “This exacerbated price and cost and supply of quality child care.”
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Continue ReadingReport Finds Drop In Iowa's Licensed Child Care Centers During COVID-19
By
CCAoA on September 24, 2020
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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Continue ReadingAdvancing an Equitable and Anti-Racist Child Care System
By
Lynette Fraga, Ph.D. on September 23, 2020
Exchange Magazine
As a Mexican-American born in Arizona, I encountered racists and was subjected to racism. As a mother, I worry about my college-age son as he navigates his way in the world, including interactions with the police. As I watched George Floyd suffocate and die under the knee of a white police officer, I felt its painful pressure in my own life, and the lives of my children, parents and grandparents.
In many ways, I am the manifestation of the dreams of my grandparents—a college graduate, earning a doctorate and living her passion in her professional career. Like so many of my brothers and sisters of color, I am both deeply grateful for my family’s sacrifices and the life I have, as well as painfully aware of the subtle—and not at all subtle—ways that my skin color informs people’s interactions with me, my family and countless others.
I share this to make explicit that if we are to confront the reality of racism, implicit bias and their painful outcomes, we need to talk about them in a very personal way.
CCAoA believes that equitable early childhood education must lift up all children and support their growth and development, while providing educational advancement in partnership with families. To do so, we must acknowledge the history of our country and the disparate impact that racism, past and present, has had on generations of Black and Brown Americans. We must acknowledge the pernicious effects of historical trauma and structural racism that have resulted in cumulative adverse economic and social impacts on people of color. And we must work to ensure that our early childhood and child care systems do not perpetuate—indeed, must actively work to reverse—the racism, poverty and lack of opportunity that exists in the United States.
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