DeLauro Bill Offers Families Option of At-Home Child Care for Infants

DeLauro Bill Offers Families Option of At-Home Child Care for Infants

- Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) today introduced "Choices in Child Care Act of 2006," legislation that establishes an at-home infant care program that will give thousands of working families the help they need to balance work and provide quality care for their infant children. The legislation gives parents the choice of using a state child care subsidy to obtain infant care outside the home or of keeping the subsidy so they can stay home and care for their child themselves without risking their family's financial security.

"When Congress passed welfare reform in 1996 it also promised to provide increased funding for child care services and that it has failed to honor that promise," said DeLauro. "The result is that stagnant federal funding and state cutbacks have left working families with less access as well as reduced levels of assistance. As such, we must work to increase the federal commitment to child care funding. But at the same time, we should provide parents with more choices -- particularly at the earliest stages of life."

Research shows that the quality of care-taking in the first months and years of life is critical to a newborn's brain development, social development and well-being. In fact, 55 percent of women with infants younger than one years of age work. Yet there is currently a severe shortage of safe, affordable, quality care for infants. The number of licensed child care slots for infants meets only 18 percent of the need. The shortage is particularly acute in rural areas, and especially in rural areas with many low-income residents.

One obvious solution for parents who need affordable, high-quality care for their infant is to provide that care themselves. Unfortunately, in many low- and moderate-income families, having a parent quit his or her job or reduce work hours to care for an infant is not financially viable. Doing so would plunge the family into an economic crisis.

The bill amends the Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) to allow low- and moderate-income parents the option of forgoing a state child care subsidy for infant care outside the home and instead receiving a comparable stipend to provide the care themselves while keeping the family economically stable.

"The time has come to restart the dialogue in this country about the importance of federal child care funding," said DeLauro. "One way we can do that is by supporting parents who want to stay home with their infants."

http://www.house.gov/delauro/press/2006/July/home_infants_7_28_06.html