Working Families
Access to affordable, reliable, and high-quality early learning and child care opportunities provides working families with better job stability and overall economic security.
Here are five things to know about child care and working families.
- Child care prices are untenable across all program types, age groups, and geographic locations. In 2021, the cost of infant care ranged from 24.6% to 75.1% of income for single-parent households.
- Child care helps parents return to or stay at work, which can generate an additional $94,000 in lifetime earnings for mothers.
- Almost half of parents are absent from work at least once every six months due to child care issues.
- 74% of mothers and 66% of fathers have left work early, arrived late, or been absent because child care fell through at the last minute.
- In a recent poll, 59% of part-time or non-working parents say they would go back to work full-time if their child had access to quality child care at a reasonable cost.
Learn more:
Posts
The First Five Questions For: Caitlin Codella and Liat Krawczyk
In this month’s FFYF’s First Five Questions series – which brings together interesting leaders, experts, and voices together to talk about child care challenges and solutions – Executive Director Sarah …
New Report Finds Inequities in Early Child Care and Education Access Among Black Children and Families
Quality child care and early education enhances children’s growth, learning, and development while simultaneously supporting working families. However, the rising cost of child care forces many families to depend on …
2024 CCDBG State Fact Sheets
First Five Years Fund released a new collection of fact sheets from all 50 states detailing how the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) helps families and kids in …
How we’re celebrating Mother’s Day and Provider Appreciation Day
This weekend is both Mother’s Day AND Provider Appreciation Day so now is the time to recognize the important work of both moms and the early educators and providers they …
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program Overview
TANF provides grants to states to help design and operate programs that support low-income families, including through increased access to child care and early education opportunities, which helps parents to …
MIECHV: Overview
The Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program provides federal funds to states, territories, and tribal entities for voluntary, evidence-based home visiting services.
CCDBG: Overview
The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act provides federal funding to states for child care subsidies for low-income families with children under age 13.
White House Highlights Wide Range of Approaches for Child Care Support
On the one-year anniversary of President Biden’s Executive Order on Increasing Access to High-Quality Care and Supporting Caregivers (Care EO), the White House brought together governors, advocates, and business leaders …
FFYF Statement on White House’s “Making Care Work”
On Wednesday, April 17, the White House brought together governors, advocates, and business leaders to underscore the important role child care plays not only in supporting working families but in …
The Fundamental Role of Child Care in Supporting Women
Last month, the Center for American Progress (CAP) published a new report, “Playbook for the Advancement of Women in the Economy.” Aligning with Women’s History Month, this “playbook” provides a …
FFYF Joins White House, SBA for Child Care Roundtable
This week, the White House and Small Business Administration (SBA) announced new actions to support small businesses that offer child care for working families. FFYF Executive Director Sarah Rittling joined …
IN CONTEXT: Child Care Costs Surpass Other Major Family Expenses
We’ve all heard that families with young children in the United States today are struggling to afford child care. Now we know just how tough it really is. According to …
