State Child Care Policies Losing Ground

As a result of worsening budgets, many states have lost ground on key child care assistance policies—limiting eligibility, placing more children and families on waiting lists, increasing parent copayments, or reducing reimbursement rates. A new report from the National Women's Law Center shows that stimulus funding helped but

many state policies are behind where they were in 2001 and many low-income families remain unable to receive child care assistance, or receive child care assistance that fails to provide sufficient support. ... Affordable, reliable child care that enables parents to work and children to develop and thrive is essential.

Policies that support increasing quality early care and education to support child development and policies that support access to child care to support working families