The Pandemic's Child Care Problem
Parents are expected to get back to work — and they want to — but how can they do it without the child care they rely on? Can an economy fully recover without robust child care?
Guests
Lauren Kennedy, co-founder of Neighborhood Villages, a nonprofit group advocating for child care policy reform. Former director of health policy at the National Partnership for Women and Families. (@laurenkennedyMA)
Sara O’Brien, owner of Happy Place Family Child Care.
From The Reading List
New York Times: “Opinion: Your Day Care Probably Won’t Survive the Coronavirus” — “As Covid-19 continues to wreak havoc on businesses, among the hardest hit are industries that rely on the ability of their customers to safely show up day after day — and to pay for the privilege. These businesses range from the $32.3 billion fitness industry to the $47.2 billion child care sector. Hopefully, your neighborhood spin studio will survive. Unfortunately, your day care probably won’t.”
USA Today: “Coronavirus child care crisis tops concerns as nation pushes to reopen. Parents ask: Who will watch our children?” — “Carlos Atkins, 27, used to spend weekdays with his 2-year-old son Malachi, taking walks and reading books, before heading out into the night to power wash sidewalks, pick up trash and remove graffiti in downtown Detroit for a local nonprofit.”
TIME: “How COVID-19 Has Created a Childcare Catch-22 for Working Families” — “Tamela Crouch never thought she’d have to worry about childcare again. But when her adult daughter died from complications of a heart infection in 2014, Crouch moved to Montana to help raise her toddler granddaughters with each of their dads. Suddenly, nearing 50, Crouch was plunged back into a world of car seats, cartoons and parenting logistics.”
Pew: “Will Child Care Be There When States Reopen?” — “New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, announced in March that uninsured child care workers diagnosed with COVID-19 would be able to enroll in the state’s high-risk medical insurance pool and that the state would cover their premiums.”
The Nation: “The Men Pushing to Open the Economy Clearly Don’t Need Child Care” — “I don’t need the Waffle House reopened. I’m comfortable enough in my own body that I don’t need to go to the barbershop or the gym. I don’t need to go to the movies, because I live in the future and have subscriptions to approximately 18,000 streaming services.”
New York Times: “When Mom’s Zoom Meeting Is the One That Has to Wait” — “As soon as she began planning to work from home, Saba Lurie knew she would need to make major adjustments in how she operates her private psychotherapy practice, from counseling patients through a screen to managing her staff remotely.”
This article was originally published on WBUR.org. [Copyright 2020 NPR]
