Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1996
Abstract
Without subsidized child care, Dianne Williams, the mother of an eighteen-month-old son, would never have left welfare and earned the post-secondary degree that led to her current job as a senior secretary; Tammy Stinson, a U.S. Air Force veteran and 29-year-old mother of two children, would spend up to $150 of her weekly $200 salary on child care, increasing the likelihood she would turn to welfare or live in poverty; Jerry Andrews, a graduate of a government-funded early childhood education program, might not earn $31,200 a year and be working towards an engineering degree. These individuals are lucky. The vast majority of children who need subsidized child care do not receive it.
This shortage creates three problems. First, it contributes to underemployment because job options are greatly reduced when child care is unavailable. Second, it erodes the wages of parents who do work because low-income families spend a debilitating percentage of their earnings to pay for the care of their children. Third, it relegates many children to poor quality child care settings, compromising their academic potential and social well-being, and placing them at risk for delinquency and dependency.
Disciplines
Family Law | Law | Social Welfare Law
Recommended Citation
Clare Huntington,
Welfare Reform and Child Care: A Proposal for State Legislation,
6
Cornell J. L. & Pub. Pol'y
95
(1996).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/3972