Working parents are drowning right now. The second wave of the pandemic came in like a tsunami after many months of juggling work and child care under unprecedented and stressful circumstances.
Almost a year into this crisis, parents are still anxious about how to keep their children cared for and safe, how to continue meeting work obligations, and in many cases balance remote learning, too.
We all know that the last year has also laid bare deep inequities in the Granite State we already knew existed – including unequal access to quality, affordable, and safe child care.
Early care and education programs including child care offer a supportive environment for healthy child development and prepare children for success in school and in life – as well as allow parents to remain in the workforce. High-quality child care remains a large financial burden for many working families looking to find a safe and nurturing place for their children. This forces many families to make difficult choices about whether to remain in the workforce or leave because quality, safe, or affordable child care is out of reach.
Unsurprisingly, the burden of child care often falls on women when their family cannot find or afford child care, and this has only been exacerbated by the pandemic.
The pandemic has also illustrated just how essential child care really is to our economy, when all of a sudden, nobody had it anymore. When child care centers and providers were shuttered and schools were closed last spring, it became immediately apparent how important child care is to a robust economy. Unfortunately, the pandemic also exposed the inherent fragility of New Hampshire’s child care system and the need to solidify this sector.
If left unaddressed, the pandemic’s impact on access to child care options is likely to have detrimental effects on children and families in ways that will compound inequities in the long term and slow our efforts at building a strong and future-focused economy in the Granite State. In the past year, New Hampshire women have lost more jobs than men, taken on more caregiving responsibilities, and served as the majority of essential workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As policymakers, we have an obligation to rebuild our economy by removing the underlying structural failures that exacerbated COVID’s devastating impacts.
That is why we have introduced Senate Bill 144 to begin to address this issue and continue the state’s commitment to support the healthy development of all New Hampshire children.
The bill simply shifts from attendance-based payment to enrollment-based reimbursement for participating child care providers in the child care scholarship program. The child care scholarship program plays a significant role in ensuring all New Hampshire families can access quality, safe, and reliable child care, regardless of income.
This bill will help level the playing field for families qualifying for child care scholarships, incentivize child care programs to open their doors to these families, and provide stability to New Hampshire families, especially in such uncertain times.
Frankly, we cannot afford to move from crisis to crisis in New Hampshire. The future of our state depends on it being an attractive place to live, work, and raise a family. When New Hampshire’s children and families thrive, New Hampshire’s workforce and economy prosper. Building a more sustainable child care infrastructure and creating policies that support caregivers to both provide and care for their family members are critical for Granite State working families and central to rebuilding and sustaining our economy.
It is past time to make structural policy changes to support our fragile child care system, address our burgeoning workforce shortage, achieve true gender equality, and build a more sustainable economy that keeps women in the workforce and does not overburden working mothers.
(Rep. Mary Jane Wallner is the ranking Democrat on the House Finance Committee and represents Concord Ward 5 and Hopkinton. Sen. Becky Whitley is a working mother and represents the communities of Concord, Penacook, Henniker, Hopkinton, and Warner.)