Children Can’t Vote, but Caregivers Can

Why is it so hard to find a safe place for your kid while you work? When you do find that place, why does it cost 2/3rds of your paycheck? 

Childcare is expensive, but it is necessary for parents to participate fully in our democracy. 

This week, NOW National President Christian F. Nunes is having a chat with Anne Hedgepeth, Chief of Policy and Advocacy at Child Care Aware® of America. They will talk about why affordable childcare is so tough to find for so many, how childcare is a feminist issue, and what policymakers and citizens alike can do about it. 

Take Action NOW: 

https://now.org/action-alert-urge-members-of-congress-to-fund-wic-snap-childcare-and-rental-assistance/ 

Register for the NOW Racial Justice Convening: https://now.org/rjc2024/   

Listen to new episodes of Feminism NOW released every other Wednesday. To find out more about the National Organization for Women, visit our website.

Creators & Guests

Host

Christian Nunes

Guest

Anne Hedgepeth

Producer

Bethany Brookshire

Editor

Ismael Balderas-Wong

Producer

Jeanette Harris-Courts

Editor

Reese Clutter

What is Feminism NOW?

Passionate about modern feminist issues? Want to learn more about how today's political, academic, and cultural leaders strive for a future of universal equality and justice?

Join NOW President Christian F. Nunes in a new podcast dedicated to intersectional feminist discussions in American society with leaders in entertainment, sports, politics, and science. From conversations on constitutional equality, to economic justice and reproductive rights, listeners will find new ways to learn, engage, and get empowered.

Listen for new episodes released every other Wednesday.

Christian F. Nunes (00:06):
Welcome back to Feminism NOW. Where we talk to leaders and activists on the front lines of the fight for constitutional equality, economic justice, and reproductive rights. I'm Christian F. Nunes, the national president of the National Organization for Women. For our theme this season, a women-leading democracy, it might seem a bit strange to talk about child care. Yes, child care and family care is often a big issue for women. But what does it have to do with democracy? It has everything to do with democracy. So what do you think about this episode? Tell us, send us an email at [e-mail]. Now let's talk about kids.

(00:55):
Social media loves to talk about children. Some post-date, think about the children while others rejoice when kids do things we approve of and make comments like the kids are a future. But what about the caregivers? Women, after all, are more likely to be caregivers, both for children and adult relatives. They make up half the workforce and yet there is no national standard for paid family medical leave or sick leave. Women are also more likely to work in child care professions, which are frequently underpaid. And if women cannot get access to care for their loved ones, if they cannot make a living wage providing for that care, then they cannot participate fully in the economy and in our democracy. Child care is a feminist issue. That is why I'm so thrilled today to speak with Anne Hedgepeth, chief of Policy and Advocacy at Child Care Aware of America. A nonprofit organization dedicated to providing high quality child care for every family. Anne, thank you so much for being with us here today on Feminism NOW.

Anne Hedgepeth (02:05):
Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited about this conversation and to get to dig in and talk about childcare.

Christian F. Nunes (02:12):
I will tell you first of all, I am really thrilled to have you on for this because, a lot of times when we talk about feminism, we forget about this being such a feminist issue and such important conversation to have. And especially as we talk about we're in the fourth ways of feminism, I think it's important that we bring this back into the fold of the conversation. And as a mother myself of a soon to be 5-year-old, and as a single mother leading a national nonprofit organization, this is a conversation that is so near and dear to me about child care and what that looks like. And as I advocate and lead this organization, I know that this affects many of my staff and our organizers and our members alike. So, thank you for coming on. I'm so excited to have this conversation and I'm ready to get down to nitty gritty about child care. What about you?

Anne Hedgepeth (03:07):
Let's do it. I will say you were just mentioning child care is a feminist issue. I feel like give me an issue and I will find you a connection to child care. I think it is so deeply connected to so many people's lives, their well-being, their economic security and society as a whole. So let's dig in. I would love to talk about why that's true.

Christian F. Nunes (03:29):
So let's just start off by talking a little bit more about the history of child care in early education. Because I think sometimes the US is not really clear about that history in our country. So can you tell us a little bit more about the history of child care and early education and how that gets started and how that's evolved to where we are in 2024?

Anne Hedgepeth (03:50):
Absolutely. And I think I want to start by acknowledging that there has never been a time in our country's history where there have not been people, specifically women, providing labor to care for children. And the history of child care in many ways originates with the labor provided by enslaved women, early in our country's history, caring for children. And it has evolved. And at many points in our country's history, there have been moments of necessity, where there has been a clear call, a need for there to be child care available in particular at moments where women or at least some women have been entering the workforce and the country answered that call, at many points in our history and then didn't answer that call in many other points in our history.

(04:47):
And what I'm referring to are times like, as a part of the industrial revolution seeing nurseries and daycares opening, as women joined the workforce at that moment in time, the reality that during the new deal, there were the emergency nursery schools opened as people were re-employed on the projects that were a part of that initiative, those emergency nursery schools transitioned in World War Two to be child care that was used by over half a million children. It was provided under the Lanham Act and supported working mothers who were helping the efforts and industry at that critical moment in our country's history. Head Start was launched in 1965 and then we saw I think a big roadblock or a challenge that I think we still haven't fully overcome. And that is in 1972, president Nixon vetoed what was a pretty big package from child care to get us started on investing in child development and to make child care more available to more families.

(05:53):
I like to think about, or maybe it's depressing to think about if we had started on that trajectory then and been resourcing child care differently from then on, where we might be today. But as a result of that detail, we have ended up with a system right now where the federal and state governments put resources in to state agencies. Those state agencies contribute to subsidies and vouchers and other resources that go to a child care system that exists. It's mixed delivery, it's in the private sector and it's meeting some families needs, but there are still challenges around access and affordability that we have to tackle. And I think there are a lot of good examples in our country's history and there's a lot of reason to do that now. And that I think is a crystal clear call for all of us as we think about what we push for and fight for, talk to policymakers about. I think child care should be on that list.

Christian F. Nunes (06:49):
So thank you for bringing it up, because I think that's really interesting to talk about the fact that a lot of the funding has been pushed to the states. And when you look at that, we are also seeing that there are still a lot of access and affordability issues that are coming up for many families. I would like you to tell us why we're seeing so many affordability and accessibility issues with child care when the states are getting funding?

Anne Hedgepeth (07:17):
Part of the dynamic here is that, we have a child care system right now where those resources can be deployed differently, state by state. And we know that the investment overall is insufficient to meet the need. Taken together, that means that families have really different experiences based on their zip code and they also are having different experiences based on the specific needs they may have as a family. And what I mean by that is, if you need care during non-standard hours, you work a job that's overnight, we know that is a particular kind of child care that's really hard to find. When we look at issues of affordability, the experience is really different from a dual income earner family to a single parent family. And even when you look across different demographics, a lot of families are having really different experiences. And there's certainly good reason to tailor some approaches to child care to communities.

(08:24):
We can make investments to meet specific needs, and this is actually where the types of employers can really come into play or what does the community look like and what kind of care are parents looking for. But because we also allow for those differences to be around things like the amount of a subsidy payment and therefore the amount of a family's copay around the eligibility that might exist for a family to access that support around child care and how much money is actually going to stabilizing or supporting the child care system as a whole and its business model, which is kind of challenging. All of those differences I think really stack up. And there are great ways that we can try to standardize things across the country. And that happens when we get strong federal policies and updates to regulations and when we see best practices emerge and states pick up on it.

(09:21):
They learn from each other. But that can be slow. And I think that's real for families across the country right now, who can't find a spot for their infant tomorrow when they need to go back to work or when they need the support at home.

Christian F. Nunes (09:36):
I want us to dig in here a little bit, because this is where I think a big problem comes up with our policies is that, a lot of times we are creating these policies... And people will hear me talk about this all the time because I'm a social worker at the same time. So you'll hear me talk about there is a disconnect in our policies. And the intention's good. Don't get me wrong. The intention is great. But when it gets down to it, we are totally forgetting about the people and the communities that we're serving.

Anne Hedgepeth (10:07):
I think that one of the things, as you're saying all of this is also why is it so hard? I think about a lot of the things that are true about the way in which families engage with the supports that make a big difference. And they are things that we as society identify as a necessary part of helping parents go to work or helping support children and setting them up for success in kindergarten life after during formative years of child development. Why is it so hard to understand to get the information you need to apply to access child care subsidies or to find a spot? And there are these tools that are available. There are systems that are available to help, but we may not be leveraging them fully. So we have just seen a regulation, which I know sounds so wonky come through, where you have the federal government saying the states, "Please put applications online. You've got to make them available in a digital format and you have to think about language access needs. And I wish we didn't have to be saying that in 2024.

(11:21):
I wish those were the ways in which we had already seen all state agencies take the lead and think about breaking down barriers to access these tools. We at Child Care of America work with these incredible agencies across the country. They're called Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies. And I wish that I could push an Ad to every parent's phone so they knew they could call someone or find them online to find a child care spot. But there's real barriers. There's really, I think we see a lot of churn and a lot of challenges that make it hard for families to get what they need.

Christian F. Nunes (11:59):
Absolutely. And then I think about after COVID, when majority of the centers closed down and never reopened. And then we also think about rural communities and access to WiFi. And you were talking about even putting it online, but how many families have high speed WiFi or could afford high speed WiFi in their homes where they can get on and be able to complete these applications at home? And then what times of the day... And I'm not excusing these things. I'm just saying, I think sometimes we're looking at how we're making these things accessible and accessibility is more than just putting it online, but also creating it in ways that it's manageable for families to be able to do, so they're not having right after work of having to get off, pick up their kids and then have to spend 25, 30 minutes of time they don't have, to actually complete an application when they're now having to tend to their home and care give.

(13:00):
So I think there's so many different parts to that, but I do think that's a first start and I appreciate that. But like you said, why are we just not thinking about in this country? Why are we just not thinking about the need for language accessibility? This should have been something we started back. So I want to bring this to the question I have though for you is, one of the things I think of when we're talking about finding child care is that, it goes beyond child care. It also goes to leave and paid family medical leave or sick leave or even family medical leave insurance where even if those families needed that help, there isn't that help as well. So can you talk to us a little bit about what is going on and how does your organization also work?

Anne Hedgepeth (13:51):
Yeah, absolutely. And, there is a thing that I think we all understand, but it's probably important to start by saying that the first days, weeks, months and years of a child's life are so deeply important for them to thrive, to be healthy. We know now, brain research shows us that they are firing on all cylinders. Learning more than they will ever learn at a pace that will blow your mind. And I think anyone whose kids has watched that happen and has a nephew or has a neighbor going through those early months and years of growth. And it takes a lot. It takes a lot for families to make those years successful for their children and for the children in their care. And part of making sure families and children are successful is making sure that they can do that caregiving. That is from moment one and moment one is not your formal child care system moment. Moment one is your time to bond and to be at home and paid leave is critical to that.

(15:09):
And right now we have an approach to paid leave in most of the country where it's tied to your job, to your employer. And that means we have a lot of people without access to paid leave. And your paid leave is variable based on your employer's policies. And we have an incredible federal unpaid leave guarantee and so much room to grow on that. That's the family and medical leave act. And getting to a place where we recognize that the earliest months of a child's life are critical for bonding for rest and recovery for parents who've given birth, and we create space for that to happen that's not dependent on your zip code, that's a big deal and a necessary step. And then the idea would be that once you have been able to do that fully, you have a formal child care system, when and if you need to access it. And by access that also means, able to afford it and that it's the care that you want. The high quality child care that you want.

(16:14):
And that's the dream. We bring that all together and that then means that families are set up for success in the earliest years of their child's lives. And right now, that's just not the reality. I think for a lot of families, we are seeing states move forward with paid leave approaches, that do reach more people that are the insurance program approach where this isn't tied specifically to your employer, it's tied to an important policy decision and investment that the state is making in all families. And there's a lot to learn from that, and hopefully move towards doing that on a national scale. And that's where something like the Family Act, which is a bill in Congress, can come into play and all of the great conversations and negotiations that happen as federal policymakers think about what to do about this issue, it's critical for us to take this on.

(17:08):
And I think it's really important to think about both paid leave and child care as really important to families lives. Now keep in mind, child care as I think you are probably experiencing, you just shared that you have a child who's just five and you're probably experiencing that transition to maybe more of a all-the-time child care to still looking eventually in school-age care for other times in the year, other times in the day. It doesn't go away when you magically go off to kindergarten. And so we need to make sure we think about the whole childcare system.

Christian F. Nunes (17:42):
But I really want to go back, because I really appreciate you naming the importance of recognizing the whole process of the wellness and the bonding and that need of the whole family involving with the child. It's not just a child, it's that part for the whole family to have that need for bonding that whole part for the family, the mother, the parents, to be able to get that wellness, so that they could be the best and the most successful they can be at the very beginning. Because a lot of times we leave that out, we just to think about the child or the infant and we don't think about what the parents need in order to be successful, for that child to be successful, for that infant, for that baby to be successful. So I really appreciate you naming it and because a lot of times we leave that out of the conversation.

(18:29):
But it's the whole family and we have to make sure we're acknowledging that whole family. And those policies and those acts are very important as well to making sure that we're creating a continuum of growth, continuum success and not just only looking at it in piecemeal. What have been some of the groups are, I don't know if you can them directly, but what are some things even people who listeners can do, to help support and advocate and help support this fight for universal child care, for Family Medical Leave Act, for Paid Medical Leave Act, what are things people can do to really support that?

Anne Hedgepeth (19:09):
So the thing that I feel like I hear when we talk to decision makers about child care is that, there is broad agreement that it's a good thing. We hear a lot about how people love their child care providers and educators and they know that their families in their congressional district, for example, who use child care, what sometimes doesn't happen, is those conversations, that acknowledgement that child care is a good thing, doesn't move up the priority list. And what I need help on from everyone, anyone who wants to lend a story, a voice, a phone call, an email is, I want child care and family leave and the things that make families successful. I want child care to be the highest priority. The non-negotiable for policy makers. And I realize we all have a lot of non-negotiables and we're very human in that. We know we have a lot on our plates and we need more support from our policy makers that are decision makers.

(20:17):
I want child care to make that list. I want it to be something where policy makers say, "Oh, but where's the child care funding increase? Or what are we doing about child care this year?" And I think that there's a lot of opportunity for people to your point, not just people who are in the thick of their child care woes, but people who are connected through their workplaces and their communities and their families, to a general need for child care. Where they see that children thrive when they have safe and high quality environments to be in and their family members thrive when they know their children are safe. That story, I need more of that story. I think we can tell that over and over and over again. And I think that is going to really help us break through.

Christian F. Nunes (21:05):
And this is great because when we... And I really agree with you on this, because when we change our priorities, then it really helps us put the right focus and it really helps us change really a democracy in a sense. Because part of the season we're talking about women leading in democracy, but also it's really truly about to me, saving democracy because when we shift our priorities, we shift the outcome of our future. And to me, child care, Paid Family Medical Leave Act, housing, all these things, there should be priorities that should be mentioned. And child care has to be priority because they are our legacy. These children. And we mentioned a little bit earlier, we were talking about what happened with COVID and the impact COVID had on it. But one of the things that came out of COVID that was good was the child tax credit.

(21:53):
And what we saw, and I think this is a good selling point for individuals who are listening, is that, when the Biden-Harris administration provides a child tax credit to families, that the statistics actually show that families actually use that child tax credit for their families. And it actually helped improve child poverty rates tremendously. And so when we talk about that, can you talk to us a little bit more about the approach in the advocacy efforts to continue the child tax credit if there are any. Because I think there are from my understanding, and expansion of child tax credit and how that can really help shift the paradigm for ending child poverty in helping also increase child care.

Anne Hedgepeth (22:38):
Absolutely. So I'm going to make a plug for both the child tax credit and I want to tell you a little bit about the child independent care tax credit, because it's this one-two punch of how we did invest more in families as a part of our relief strategy coming out of COVID. And so the child tax credit expansion, which was a temporary move as a part of the American Rescue Plan Act, we saw the 40 million families get that expanded to child tax credit. And you're right, it moved so many out of poverty. And that's a big deal. That is the kind of shift that you don't see by tiptoeing around the margins of policy changes. And we know what to do now and we should move forward with making those kinds of changes. And I know there are members of Congress who are trying to make that happen. And it seemed like we might have a window of opportunity, I think earlier in this year, in 2024.

(23:41):
And it is hard to see a path forward right now, but that doesn't mean that without additional advocacy and continued pressure from these lead policy makers that we won't see, it's the steam pick up again and the opportunity to move forward with some new expansion, which will be great. The other thing that happened during relief funding is we also expanded the child independent care tax credit. Now that can really only be used for childcare independent care expenses. But when you think about families being able to balance then needs like their children, their children's food, the transportation or the housing costs they have through the CTC and also devote some money to that family contribution part of their childcare expenses, you're really coupling up the full basket of tools that help with economic security.

(24:40):
And we can pull on a lever to make childcare less expensive and to put more resources in and we can pull on a lever to make sure that families get direct relief. And those things can make a really big difference together. And so moving forward, we will also next year have a chance to talk about this. Some tax credits expire and we should be really clear that these are the kinds of tax policies that we want to see move forward.

Christian F. Nunes (25:09):
Can you tell us a little bit more about how these tax credits could actually help childcare providers a little bit more? Because I think it's important because we also... The very beginning we talked about the fact that childcare providers are also essential workers, but they're also underpaid quite often. Oftentimes they can't even afford childcare. So can we talk about how this can also help them?

Anne Hedgepeth (25:33):
So it is so critical to keep in mind. I'm really glad you're helping me start at this point in the conversation that our educators in our childcare system, our early educators are people with families and they are paid a very low wage about $11 an hour on average. And for many of them, that means that they are eligible for the same kinds of safety net programs and economic security support that the families they're serving are also accessing. That is really challenging. And when you do things like expand the CTC, invest in the child independent care tax credit, improve and increase the resources going into the childcare system directly, that all can make a big difference not only for the children who gain access to high quality childcare and their families, but also to educators who then are able to be more economically secure themselves.

Christian F. Nunes (26:35):
So as we're coming to the end of this, I want to just pull this back into what we're facing the 2024 presidential election. And as we're talking about the democracy, I want to end this with you just sharing with our listeners when we're thinking about the 2024 election and where we're at. And when we think about right now the state of our democracy, bring us home and tell us why child care is a democracy issue for us and why it is so critical that we keep this in mind as we go into this election season with who we are choosing to vote for.

Anne Hedgepeth (27:16):
Yes. And I will do my very brief disclaimer, which is, I work for a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, and I think it is so important to ask anyone who's running for office, what they're going to do about childcare. And I hope people will do that, because we started this conversation today saying that child care is so deeply connected to so many things in our society. Our children and their futures. Women in the workforce, our economy and our economic security as a whole. Whether or not our communities thrive. That fabric, I think is in many ways at the core of what makes up our democracy. And when you make the investments that prioritize children and their families and they can flourish, they have access to high quality child care, I think that that votes well for our society and our democracy as a whole for the future.

(28:25):
And I love to hear what candidates for office and public officials have say about child care, what they want to do. And I hope people will share their stories as they show up in town halls and participate in forums and ask people who are running for office, watch healthcare's priority for them.

Christian F. Nunes (28:43):
Absolutely. And I would just remind that for us, we are also nonpartisan, so we focus on voting for the issue. And it's not about the candidate, but it's about the issues that they're representing. And if they're in alignment with our issues, then that's what it's really about. And so you want to make sure that whoever you are voting for is aligned with our issues. And if child care is something you care about and that's alignment with the democracy that we want to see, then that's the person that you want to make sure that you are making sure that you're showing up for more than anything. And I think this, in truth, I think when we talk about and we think about this, it's so important that we continue to support organizations that are looking out for our future and are doing the work that your organization is doing. Thank you, Anne, for coming on to Feminism NOW, and we enjoyed having you on our show.

Anne Hedgepeth (29:36):
Thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed the conversation.

Christian F. Nunes (29:42):
Thank you listeners for being with us as we use season two of our podcast, to showcase people making a real difference to women and their allies in democracy. Stay tuned for our next episodes as we cover the issues that affect women most. Child care and voting rights, reproductive justice and confluence, the rise of generation Z, and the need for healthcare for all. From affordable prescriptions to gender-affirming care. This podcast, Feminism NOW is a production of the National Organization for Women and Vox Topica. I'm Christian F. Nunes, NOW's National President. And if you like what you hear, please go to now.org, read up on our core issues and our approach to advancing women's equality and get involved. We'd love to hear from you, send your thoughts to [e-mail]. Thanks for listening and we'll see you soon.