Last year the bad news about child care came from a study of family day care, the most popular choice for out-of-home care for young children. The Families and Work Institute painted a bleak picture in which there were few high-quality programs and some settings were detrimental to children. Now a study from a different source finds similar cause for alarm about child-care centers, where about 5 million American children spend their days.
The bad news: "The level of quality at most U.S. child-care centers, especially in infant/toddler rooms, does not meet children's needs for health, safety, warm relationships and learning," the study finds. Many of the settings are "sufficiently poor as to interfere with children's emotional and intellectual development."
The study produced at least one unexpected ray of hope. The new study found little significant difference in the price to parents of high-quality programs and those rated as providing poor care. That finding suggests many parents simply don't know what to look for when they choose a program.
Child care is a big business -- a $860 million industry in this state alone. And Maryland is far ahead of many other states in setting higher standards. Even so, child care has a long way to go. It has not yet found a way to pay decent wages to its workers. The director of a day care center typically earns under $20,000, significantly less than school teachers.
Yet child care is an essential service for many families, and it is often the first or second biggest expense for young families. It's sad to think that many are paying for services that are serving their children poorly.
If, as the new study suggests, it's misleading to lay the blame for poor care solely on cost, perhaps child care advocates should increase their focus on educating parents. They should know far more about child care, so that they can recognize and demand better programs. One other intriguing clue that consumer-parent education may be a major missing link comes in the finding that even parents who recognized significant weaknesses in a child-care setting convinced themselves their own children got better treatment than others.
For better or worse, millions of American kids will spend significant portions of their childhood in day care settings. The new study adds to the evidence that this industry needs creative, caring attention from a broad spectrum of policy
makers and market shapers -- not simply from dedicated advocates and stressed-out working parents.