MSNBC, Andrea Mitchell Reports

Andrea Mitchell is joined by Mark Shriver, President of Save the Children Action Network, and Lynette Fraga, Executive Director of Child Care Aware of America, to talk about how the availability of child care services is essential for parents with children to be able to return to work as many schools remain closed and child care providers remain unavailable.

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FoxNews.com

Although some states are allowing the reopening of businesses after the coronavirus shutdown, day care facilities and schools continue to be closed, an obstacle for parents who need child care so they can return to work.

“As federal and state governments are deliberating about reopening, we need to address the needs of parents and children and child care workers who are essential to reigniting the economy,” Child Care Aware of America executive director Lynette Fraga told "America's Newsroom."

Fraga stressed the need for representation of child care workers “at the table” when officials discuss the transition to reopening businesses around the country.

She said the sector has to be represented “to ensure that we’re communicating about the needs of child development and the needs of children. That we’re also ensuring those vital supplies, the cleaning supplies that are available and necessary, the kinds of equipment that are necessary in order to keep our children safe,” Fraga said.

Fraga said that there needs to be more guidelines and support to ensure children are emotionally and physically safe.

“And to ensure that, as we’re communicating, as we’re collaborating with public health, that we’re also acknowledging that young children need care and that young children may not be able to function in a group setting when they’re wearing masks.”

Fraga said that there are 20 million children of essential workers may need child care. Child Care Aware of America is a nonprofit resource designed to help families, including those serving in the military, who need help finding child care.

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FOX News Channel

Child Care Aware of America executive director Lynette Fraga discussed concerns over child care as states reopen on America's Newsroom.

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SiriusXM, Press Pool with Julie Mason

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Business Insider

Many [child care centers] will stay shuttered for good. Her estimate? "It's going to be at least 30% of all child care centers in the US," she said.

Ami Gadhia, chief of policy, research, and programs at Child Care Aware, agreed with that statistic, saying it sounded "reasonable" to her, unfortunately.

In the coronavirus relief bill enacted on March 27, Congress allocated $3.5 billion to the Child Care Development Block Grant. This funding is helping states provide crucial temporary aid to providers and support the cost of providing child care for children of essential workers. However, advocates say it is not enough to keep centers afloat.

Former presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith are calling on Senate leaders to include their plan for a $50 billion child care bailout in the next coronavirus relief package. It's uncertain whether the Republican-led Senate will pass the measure.

"If we're going to bail out cruise lines and airlines, why aren't we bailing out the child care industry? No one can go back to work in other industries if their children aren't in safe, healthy settings," Gadhia said.

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New York Times

Since the pandemic began, 16 states have mandated closures of child care facilities to all children except those of essential workers. A seventeenth, Rhode Island, closed child care facilities to everyone. Even in states without regulations, many day cares have chosen to close in response to the pandemic, according to Child Care Aware of America, a nonprofit advocacy group.

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New York Times

This guide was originally published on July 29, 2019 and republished on April 17, 2020.

Finding child care is a huge challenge for most working parents in the United States. The cost of child care, whether in day-care centers or home-based day cares, continues to rise: For a family with two working parents, the cost of a day-care center for one infant averages more than 13 percent of the household’s income, according to a 2018 report by Child Care Aware.

Consider contacting a child care resource and referral agency, which can help you decipher accreditation and licensing requirements, quality ratings and other child-care center policies. 

They are “one of the best kept secrets for selecting child care and navigating the system,” said Michelle Noth McCready, deputy executive director for Child Care Aware, a membership organization that works with local resource and referral agencies. “You can talk to a live person who is knowledgeable about the child care landscape in your community.”

Child Care Aware has checklists of questions to ask and resources to consider for parents seeking child care.

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WEKU (NPR/Central & Eastern Kentucky)

COVID-19 shutters child care centers. Lynette Fraga of Child Care Aware of America discusses the consequences.

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WDET (NPR/Detroit)

While health care workers are on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19, who’s taking care of their children?

A Yale University study shows almost 3.5 million children of people who work in the American health care industry need some kind of child care while their parents are at work. The report also shows there are about 1.3 million employed child care providers, not including teachers and other education specialists.

Congress recently approved $3.5 billion dollars to shore up the child care system during the coronavirus pandemic.

It’s going to take a lot more than that, according to the nonprofit advocacy group Child Care Aware of America.

Listen to the interview with Lynette Fraga, Executive Director of CCAoA

New York Times

Despite widespread closures of just about everything because of the Covid-19 pandemic, many day care facilities remain open around the United States — either for all children or just for children of essential workers.

Regulations for child care facilities vary by state, said Dr. Lynette Fraga, Ph.D., executive director of Child Care Aware of America, a nonprofit advocacy group. And like everything else related to Covid-19, rules are evolving rapidly. “It’s really changing, sometimes hourly,” Dr. Fraga said.

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