Congresswoman Sara Jacobs Asks Parents to Share Child Care Stories Ahead of Reconciliation Bill
Jacobs will share feedback from parents and caregivers with Congressional leadership
Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D-CA-53) is inviting parents and caregivers to share their child care stories with Congress as House and Senate committees work on legislative text for the Build Back Better Act. Congresswoman Jacobs has called for a transformative investment in child care, early learning and pre-k, and the care economy to be included in the legislation this fall.
Parents can submit their stories by emailing childcarestories@mail.house.gov or online here. In September, Congresswoman Jacobs will share stories with congressional leadership. All personal information will be anonymized and kept confidential.
“Child care is simply unaffordable or unavailable for too many kids and families. This is making it harder for women to build careers and wealth, harder for families to pay their bills, and harder for kids and parents to thrive. When I talk to parents, they’re frustrated that all too often it seems like policymakers aren’t listening. That’s why I’m asking parents and caregivers to share their stories and share how the child care crisis is impacting their lives. As we finalize the Build Back Better Act, I want to make sure that the voices of parents and kids are heard in the halls of Congress,” said Congresswoman Sara Jacobs.
“If we don’t invest in the care economy and early education, if we don’t extend the expanded Child Tax Credit, we won’t have an equitable recovery. Our child care system was broken well before the pandemic, and we know it has only gotten worse. We need to dramatically expand our child care capacity, which must include better pay and benefits for workers, the vast majority of which are women of color. The Build Back Better Act is our chance to make a truly generational change and we can’t afford to miss the mark,” Jacobs added.
Congresswoman Jacobs is a House co-lead of the Universal Child Care & Early Learning Act, legislation which ensures that every family has access to high-quality, affordable child care, with costs capped at 7% of a family’s income, with no costs for low and middle income families. The legislation would also boost pay and support for care workers. (summary here) According to survey data by YouGov, the average cost of child care in 2021 is $8,355 per child per year.
Pre-pandemic, just over half of all US families lived in a child care desert, an area with insufficient child care availability to meet the local need. In San Diego County, according to a local pre-pandemic study, 66% of kids live in a child care desert and there were no available child care sports for nearly 190,000 kids under 12 without a stay-at-home parent. This problem has likely worsened in 2021, given that one-in-seven child care jobs (over 150,000) had been lost as of April of this year. In San Diego County, over 500 child care providers closed during the pandemic.
According to survey data by YouGov, the average cost of child care in 2021 is $8,355 per child per year. The average cost for one year of child care for one preschooler in center-based care in San Diego County is $11,400 and $17,604 for infants. Data from the Department of Health and Human Services shows that families spend roughly 10% of their income on child care on average. More than half of all families spend more than $10,000 per year on child care.