Child Care in COVID-19: Another Look at Parents' Perspective
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Video Transcript
00;00;04;22 [Linda Smith]: Good afternoon, everyone. This is Linda Smith. For those of you who know me, I am the director of the Early Childhood Initiative at the Bipartisan Policy Center here in Washington, DC. BPC is a Washington, DC based think tank that looks, that tries to take the best ideas from both sides of the aisle to create good policies for the issues confronting our nation. And actually, I don't think there's any more pressing of an issue than the one that we're going to talk about today. And
00;00;36;14 that is the issue of surrounding our families and childcare and getting our nation back to work. So I want to thank you for attending this and as we go along, you will see that there are opportunities to pose questions about what you're going to hear today and comments, and we would certainly encourage you to do so. Um, before we get started, I want to thank the Overdeck Foundation for our work, supporting our work on parents and for
00;01;04;10 the Klingenstein Family Foundation for the work on the survey or for supporting our survey work. So between those two, we sincerely appreciate their support and think that we are learning through this work a lot more about parents than we knew prior to this, this last year. So before we get started, please remember that you can submit your questions in the chat function on YouTube and Facebook or through Twitter at BPC action or BBC live. So again,
00;01;34;17 encouraging you to please submit questions or comments on this work. So I'm going to move on now to talk a little bit about the background and why we're doing this work. This is the third in a series of surveys that we've conducted with parents. And the work started originally through the work that we were doing to try and understand the, uh, the gaps in the potential need for childcare in our country versus the supply and what we actually
00;02;04;05 had. And as we started digging into the data, we understood that, um, in fact, we didn't understand what parents were wanting and that their decision making process is driving a lot of what's going on in our country, but with very little understanding, it was hard to predict what we actually needed to do about the supply.
00;02;24;20 [Linda Smith]: So we started work, looking back, um, at, uh, parent issues in October of last year. And our first survey really focused on parent decision-making, what were they doing? Why were they choosing what they were then? Uh, we were about ready to go out with another survey in March, uh, when guess what COVID-19 appeared. And we had to pivot to take a look at what was going on with childcare during COVID-19. So in April, we
00;02;54;21 went out with another study and we started to look at, uh, what were parents with children under five doing for childcare during this time? So now, uh, we went out in the third of these, um, what parents are doing again with childcare, but one of the things that we learned during the last experience was that we did not understand the difference between the paid
00;03;23;00 and the unpaid category of childcare. If you look at the census data right now, census estimates that 61% of children are in some regular childcare arrangement. However, only 32% of parents actually pay for care. So we were trying to understand, and we've been trying through this particular survey to get a better understanding of what parents are doing. If they're not paying for care, what are they, where are these children and what is going on there? So you will see that
00;03;54;11 throughout this, but that was the first in the first bullet on, on the slide. What we were trying to do is understand a parent's use of childcare prior to COVID-19 with a specific and, and new interest on paid versus unpaid care. Then the next thing was to look at what's going on with working parents now with the COVID experience, as opposed to what we learned in April, what their needs are and what their decisions are about
00;04;21;26 returning their children into care.
00;04;24;03 [Linda Smith]: Then because of the situation with the public school system and the, uh, somewhat challenging schedules at schools are going to be on this fall. We wanted to understand what parents were going to do with their children, who would normally be in school and therefore not need care, but now do so. Finally, we wanted to, if we want to have a conversation with you all about the future implications for the childcare industry across the board. So moving on this survey was conducted between
00;04;56;04 August 3rd and 10th, with about a thousand parents who had at least one child under the age of five at home and had someone in the household employed in January of 2020. So you see the margin of error there it's plus or minus three. So moving on, um, this time in this survey, we tried to dig into some things that we had not looked at in prior surveys, specifically, wanting to understand what was going on with income levels of families,
00;05;25;17 race, and ethnicity, the community setting by that, I mean, urban, suburban, and rural, and then the number of children in the household. And so one of the more interesting things that we have this time, and for those of you who are really, um, really liked to dig into data, um, I would encourage you to take a look at what we now have in the survey, because we actually asked parents by age of child birth to six months, six months to a
00;05;52;26 year one, two, three, four, five, et cetera. So we have the breakdown by age of child, and we haven't done as much analysis of that as we would like to do. We'll do we hope to do more in the future, but there is data now on some of their decisions as they exist in terms of the age of their children. So these were some of the things that we looked at. Um, we also looked obviously at current work status and another thing that we tried to
00;06;20;27 look at this time after examining the results of previous surveys was trying to understand multigenerational households.
00;06;28;19 [Linda Smith]: So, and that for the purposes of this survey was defined as a household with two generations over the age of 25 in, in living in the household to understand what's going on. Is there a grandparent care what's going on with that? And then finally separating out and looking at the essential workers and obviously 63% as the slide shows say they are considered an essential worker in their state and that either
00;06;58;30 they are, and that 63% say their spouse or partner is also so, um, important information that we can dig into more as we look at the results of this survey down the road,
00;07;09;17 [Linda Smith]: But definitely things that
00;07;11;24 [Linda Smith]: We want to be aware of, an understanding as we move forward with trying to, to understand and fix the supply of care in this country. So here are the key findings, and we're going to go into these as we go through the results, the most used childcare arrangements for parents and that in January of 2020, um, they were ex E essentially, um, we're looking at family, but we're going to talk more about that, but that they
00;07;41;14 differ by those paying for, or not paying for care and especially by income level and ethnicity. And so those are things that we need to dig into again and understand that COVID-19 is impacting childcare providers operating status, and in turn impacting parents' ability to work, no surprise to the people. I think watching this, uh, but needing to understand exactly what that means, um, in terms of the numbers of families.
00;08;07;13 [Linda Smith]: Uh, and you'll see that later on, but a third of the parents have sought childcare during COVID. Um, however, it has been difficult for them to find it again, not a surprise, but especially to find quality childcare within their budget. And we'll look at this data by income levels in just a few minutes, when ask about the top of mind considerations for sending their children back to childcare programs, they talked a lot about health and safety precautions, the need for a vaccine and concerns about getting others in their household, sick. Um, and then
00;08;40;30 finally, two and five parents with school aged children, 38% will look for childcare provider for their school age child, if their school does not open in the fall. And there's some interesting things that we found out about this particular population, which we think you'll find interesting as well. So moving right along here to the pre COVID arrangements, this is a chart
00;09;07;25 that looks at those who paid and who didn't pay 45% of parents were paying for childcare in January 2020 and 61% of those were paying full time. This is a little bit different than the census data. And it's something that we'll have to try to understand the census data I should also note is, is, should be updated here soon. And we may have seen changes since the last census, but, uh, compared to the census data, which showed that, um, essentially
00;09;36;29 32% were paying for, uh, this, the, the results that we found was much higher than that. So, somewhat interesting. And we'll have to look into that more those who paid and those who didn't pay for childcare, um, 45%, uh, Oh, I'm sorry. I'm on the wrong slide here. So parents in multigenerational households, those with an annual income over 75,000 and
00;10;03;23 parents in urban areas were more likely to pay for childcare.
00;10;07;25 [Linda Smith]: And this is a very interesting thing because if you look at the income data, and this is where I think we're going to have to get a better understanding what is going on, and it's probably not a surprise again, to people on this call, but to see the, the numbers of parents with incomes, less than 50,000, who are paying for childcare, that is really significant. And that does speak to the cost of quality care in this country and how we are going to begin to figure out how we can make
00;10;39;08 this care affordable to more of our families. So once you get over 75,000, obviously those numbers start to reverse. We did not look at incomes higher than that, but suffice it to say that it's the trend is going in the direction of the more money you make, the more you can afford childcare. Um, also a look at the rural versus the urban, um, issues that, uh, that childcare in rural communities, um, is that parents are less likely to be
00;11;12;01 paying for childcare if they are living in a rural area. So again, interesting things about who's paying and who's not, um, turn turning to the next slide. We want it to look at the primary arrangements for parents, both paying and not paying and where they were, and this, this was in the 2020, what they
00;11;36;04 were using. And then we looked at ask this question again for those now, um, family members or relatives was, is 21%. And I think this is again a place where we need to actually begin to think about how we support our families and this issue of, um, of relative care. I think the other thing that stands out on this slide for me, and I'd be interested in people who are watching this, uh, to hear your comments about this, um, is a look at
00;12;09;13 what we would consider the unregulated or the friend and neighbor care. And I think there's been a perception in our country that a lot of children are in this kind of care, but consistently in this and the other, the next question, you'll see that friend and neighbor care is not, um, a big factor that it's mostly family members or relatives that people are using or
00;12;33;08 alternating work schedules if it's within the family. And then the rest is where are they, if they're in a childcare center, privately owned, um, or a family childcare home, and then it falls down below that. So you can see what that looks like.
00;12;48;18 [Linda Smith]: Okay. So now we want to talk a little bit about the impact of the virus on childcare programs. And I think this was one that was of concern. And I think if there's a headline out of the survey, I think you're going to see it and hear it is that over 70% of parents report that their childcare provider is either closed or operating on limited hours or space or limited to only essential workers. Now, this is, this is a serious issue because
00;13;21;23 this supply or parents access to childcare has been severely restricted. So no surprise when they say they have a difficult time finding childcare, um, in the next slide. Yeah, cut by hit to hit it too hard. Um, this varies, um, whether childcare was closed or open varies by setting and so more, um, center-based programs
00;13;50;17 are closed and closed. Permanently 14% of parents said their center was closed permanently. On the other hand, 8% of parents using family childcare said that their, their program was closed permanently. And this is pretty consistent. The 29% of parents said their programs made no changes to their operating status throughout this. That was pretty consistent with what we found in, um, in our April survey, which was 28% said their family
00;14;19;26 childcare providers were still operating and were still to them. So I think that there's, uh, something to be said, and we've known from other work and from our work with state administrators, that there is a lot of interest in family childcare. Um, this just goes to show to demonstrate that, um, this, this form of care is going to be a, an important part of the childcare
00;14;44;27 landscape going.
00;14;49;13 [Linda Smith]: So now 44% of parents are unable to work in some form without childcare, 22% can't work remotely or in person. And another 22% can work remotely or return to work without childcare. If you do the math, this is, this really is millions of people. And so we really have got to pay attention to the childcare issue as we start to reopen our businesses and our economy, that parents simply, aren't going to have
00;15;19;14 choices of going back to work without childcare. And I think we here in Washington keep making that point to our friends on Capitol Hill, but I think it's even more important now, as we, we get some real solid numbers behind this, uh, on the, in the, the, the sidebar, these are things that we pulled out of some of the demographic information that 27% of parents with incomes, less than 35,000 say they cannot return to work in person or remotely 35% of Hispanic parents can't cannot can work remotely, but not
00;15;54;13 without childcare. And finally, 38% of black parents say they, they can work, uh, because they have childcare in their household. So these are some of the nuggets that we're pulling out of the information. There's a lot more to be, to be, uh, thought through here, but just some things that you might be interested in. So, uh, childcare arrangements now during COVID, if you look at this number
00;16;18;01 of those using a family member, as it remember when I said that it back in the previous slide where they were 21% were using family members. Now that's up to 32% with significant increases all down the line in terms of continuing to, uh, to alternating work schedules is up from 8% to 13%. And then some of the other things about working fewer hours, uh, taking leave and so forth. So continuing to use their previous childcare arrangement.
00;16;49;16 That makes sense at 17%, um, since so many of our childcare centers were closed or have been closed during a part of,
00;16;58;02 [Sarah Tracey]: Yes,
00;17;01;26 [Linda Smith]: This just says a few nuggets that we took out of the childcare arrangements. Um, again, 35, 37% of parents who were not paying for childcare, but in a formal childcare program before the pandemic are now using family care at this point, uh, uh, also again, parents with incomes below 50,000, who were using a formal program, um, say they are more likely to rely on a family member now. And then 24% of black parents who were using a formal program, um, they're continuing to use their
00;17;34;13 previous, um, arrangement. So what did we find out about childcare needs during COVID here? And I think what we have found out that despite to parents looking for childcare, it is 54% say it was difficult to find quality within their budget. And that included, and I think here is another
00;18;00;26 showstopper that 72%, almost three fourths of parents with incomes under $50,000 are having a hard time finding childcare. And if you think about the implications of that, the fact that these parents are, um, many of them are essential workers, and many of them are in the service indirect street and they, they are having a hard time finding childcare. So I think these are again, important things that we need to pay attention to, okay. Of the 72% of parents with an income below
00;18;33;19 a $50,000. Interestingly, it's the group that says it's the most difficult. And the, I know these are hard to read, but if you look at the, again, the income under 50,000, 72% income, 50 to 75,000, 60%, but also rural families are having a hard time finding childcare. Um, and that was at 61%. So some
00;19;00;09 of these things we, we need to stop saying, we need to start thinking more along the lines of location and some of these other injury issues around the income that are so prevalent in some of what we found here.
00;19;17;01 [Linda Smith]: So now returning to childcare, um, during COVID-19, and I want to stop here and remind everyone that to please submit questions or comments in the chat function, if you will, we're really interested in terms of your reaction to some of this and your experiences in the areas and communities that you live and work in. So again, the chat function is up. So now what about returning to care? Um, parents are split on when they
00;19;49;21 plan to send their children back to care. And this has implications. We're going to talk about at the end, but, um, many parents are waiting as the, in the little box for public schools to open a vaccine to be available, or for their previous childcare program to open up one of things that we learned. If you look at the numbers of parents who said they do not plan to spend, send their child back to a childcare program, a weighed, and then
00;20;16;04 the other one's waiting. Um, we did learn something from our survey work this time is that we're going to have, do a better job of figuring out a time period for under the 59%, who said they don't plan to send their children back for how long we didn't ask that question and we will need to do that in the next go around, but we assume that many of those parents are holding off in those other categories. So what were the, basically the factors that they considered? I
00;20;46;26 think it was, it was interesting that parents really are struggling with balancing the needs of their children for learning opportunities and child, and just general development for social, emotional socialization activities, with their concern about the Bo the virus and there to a lesser degree, their, their issues around returning to work. I think this is a really positive slide in so many ways about the, you know, not as, not as
00;21;14;01 surprise, but positive that parents are very concerned about their children's learning and socialization activities.
00;21;20;20 [Linda Smith]: And I would say that, um, just a reminder, um, in terms of what parents were saying that 32% of these programs are still close, and that is a factor in their waiting. So returning to work, um, let's look at this. I think the, what will their plans be? Um, when they do decide to go back to work, what do you, where do you plan to send your child? Again, a lot of parents still looking at, um, their spouse, their
00;21;55;24 partner to provide care, alternating, work, et cetera. So again, these numbers are pretty consistent and we're going to have to think through how we support these families in the interim, um, the essential work category and interesting point, there were 59% of them are counting on family
00;22;15;19 members to provide that care for their children. So high numbers there. Um, so we asked what their preferences were for returning, and if costs were not a factor, what would they prefer in terms of sending their children back to childcare? And I think, again, here's some interesting information when the 30, 43% rank family owned or individual family childcare centers in their top three, um, 50 43, I'm sorry, 53 rank, a family member, a relative, and then 31, a home based program in looking at
00;22;52;20 childcare. This is not a surprise. If you go, the survey is going to be posted online at the end of this, and you can see the questions that we ask, but we were specifically, we did ask the difference between a small neighborhood facility and a bigger childcare program. And we all know that about two thirds of childcare programs serve fewer than 75 children in this country. That's according to the last national survey of early care and
00;23;17;00 education.
00;23;18;04 [Linda Smith]: Um, so many of our programs are small, and I think that's what parents are looking for in particular, when it comes to their comfort with, with putting their children back in care. So the next slide, this changed dramatically from the last, um, our survey in April, when we asked them how comfortable they were, um, with putting their children back in care. Um, I think this one was a standout. Um, so they're most
00;23;50;25 comfortable with putting their children with families and they're not comfortable with sending them back to a childcare center. And I think we're going to have to pay attention to this because it's in our survey in April 75% of parents, we're not, you know, we're, we're not comfortable. I mean, back up and say that again, 75% were not comfortable in sending their
00;24;15;15 children back to a center. So, um, we're, we've got some changes there. Um, but we need to take these things number seriously. Um, what are parents concerned about in the box? You can see that 77% of parents are concerned that their child or their family member will be exposed to the virus if they return to childcare. And that's a very serious thing for families to think about. Um, I was asked earlier today by someone, if parents were, or if, if parents were concerned about grandparents and relatives, and we did
00;24;47;11 ask an open ended question on this one, and yes, they are that if their grandparents or elderly relatives, the parents did express a concern that if their children were in childcare, that they would come home and be a risk to some of their, the elderly parents and relatives. So that's something to be again, be paying attention to. So if we look at health and safety managers in childcare programs that are important to parents, you
00;25;14;15 see those on the side 91% of course are interested or concerned about, uh, the hand washing the frequent communication was right up there at 89% reduce group sizes, um, 86%.
00;25;29;06 [Linda Smith]: So in effect, I think parents like what's going on with the group size restrictions that are in many places around the country, um, required use of face masks for staffs, and then more stringent sick policies for both children and staff. But if you look at these, all of these were ranked pretty high and everything got up there at least above 70%. So, um, parents are paying attention to health and safety measures. And I think one of the things I've said repeatedly to people who've asked
00;25;59;25 me about this, if childcare doesn't know one thing we know health and safety. And so what we really need to do is be sharing with parents, um, basically, you know, what we're doing already and what we have been doing as well as what we're doing additionally, because it's, for a long time, we've known these things about hand-washing et cetera. So again, what are most important to parents? Uh, sanitizing, um,
00;26;28;30 temperature checks are required, uh, testing of the staff and the use of facemasks among staff. Um, so take a look at those things. And I’ve been watching what some people are posting. I think people are pretty aware of that around the country. So here were some of the parents, we ask some open-ended questions and we have some interesting, and these are representative comments that we have for parents when we asked them what they, their
00;26;57;18 considerations were for sending their children back to childcare, um, health and safety. You can see that ensure my children are at a safe facility where other children and my children are routinely checked. There should be safety measures, such as required masks in sanitation regarding the vaccine. I'm really waiting for a vaccine. I know that children aren't going to keep their masks on.
00;27;21;26 [Linda Smith]: I think that's something that we all struggle with, but there's this grandparent issue. Therefore, the virus could be spread to household numbers causing, uh, but not limited to grandparents and older people, et cetera, concerns about sickness. Uh, children are more likely to not follow guidelines, um, and keep their masks on. Uh, that's a, that's a fact, I think chasing a toddler around to keep a mask on would be a full-time job. Um, so kids are, as according to this parent, kids will get one,
00;27;53;19 another sick kids will get their caregivers sick and, and caregivers will get kids sick. So I think we really have to do some thinking about that one. Um, because as this parent says, it's absolutely impossible not to be close to little children in a childcare center. So that's something to be thinking about. Um, and then finally this one on not returning, um, the parent said I live in an area that doesn't believe in
00;28;20;27 that doesn't believe the pandemic is real, even though it's getting worse, I will not send my child to my child to a daycare where they could be exposed. It's just not good at being a good parent. So I think there's some real concerns out there. Now, moving on, we wanted to take a look at the school age issue, um, and, uh, are thinking about this one is going, how it's going to impact the childcare industry. Um, so what we looked at and we
00;28;51;12 asked parents, um, what was going on with their schools. And so you can see the up there that a hybrid online and in person is the most common that parents are reporting entirely online. Learning entirely in person is very low, um, and did some with a decision that is yet to be made the point. I think we all need to think about here is in the case of children, either in a hybrid model or in an online learning setting, those children are going
00;29;21;27 to need childcare. And that's where this next, um, so this is, uh, you know, this, I'm sorry, this is a little bit a further explanation of some of the schools, um, and what they're doing, what the hybrid model means to them.
00;29;38;20 [Linda Smith]: Um, students will alternate days in school, which poses issues for childcare because children and care in school two days a week will need care, not for full time, et cetera, uh, phasing in care in the earlier grades, um, that has implications for childcare as well because the children in K through, uh, BA basically K through grade four, are going to really be, um, present challenges here. Students alternating between
00;30;09;18 attending schools one week, one week off. So interesting things going on with the schools. And we're going to talk about this in just a second, what that means. So of the parents who have school aged children, 38% of those parents say they will look for a childcare provider if their school doesn't open in the fall. And of those, those parents would prefer a formal childcare per program or a provider for those school aged kids. But on the other hand, how many of these parents are, have it in their
00;30;42;06 budgets to actually pay for care? And about 75% of the parents surveyed said that they would not be either able or willing to pay for childcare. And we, this is one of the other things that were in our next survey. We're going to have to clarify, because Abel, that was kind of a question that was worded for both. And it would be interesting, but we think that most of that is because of the cost of care. And the fact that parents have not
00;31;09;15 been budgeting for this, um, did not see this one coming and really don't have it in their budgets to pay for it of the 25% who said they, um, could pay for care. We ask them to enter an amount that they would be willing to pay. And they, the, this was the average $212 a week.
00;31;30;13 [Linda Smith]: Yeah. So, um, I want to really spend some time now talking about the implications, this, so here is, or sort of our take on that implications of this and not a surprise that 70% of the Chubb childcare programs either closed or operating at re reduce command capacity, presents real challenges for our childcare community without support these programs, have somebody
00;32;04;04 might argue and say, there's another choice. Then I'd be happy to hear that. But mostly they're either going to close or they're going to raise parent fees because they simply can't operate without the revenue, you know, that they need to pay their staff. And so the implications of, uh, these reduced operating hours and capacities have serious implications. Um,
00;32;28;22 they have long term implications for our families, businesses and our nation as a whole. There's no question that families and businesses are not going to be completely back to normal without childcare in some fashion. So we, um, again, need to give some serious thought to this. And I know many of us here in Washington are working on this in the supplemental with Congress. Um, but this is a real concern to our families out there. Uh, the next implement is that parents are reluctant to send their child, their
00;33;00;29 children back to care and that's, that was demonstrated throughout the survey. So the implication of this is that if we want to prevent a catastrophic loss of childcare infrastructure in this country, the financial support needs to be predictable and sustainable. And I think this, we are in this for a little bit longer than a lot of people are right now thinking, but if parents are really seriously not going to put their children back in care until there's a vaccine or some of those things,
00;33;29;12 childcare programs cannot hang on for months and months and months, they simply can't do it without some kind of predictable financial support.
00;33;40;15 [Linda Smith]: Um, the school schedules, um, these are going to place an a, the school schedules are putting parents in a really difficult position. Um, as we said, just now that 75% of parents are unable to pay for care. Um, that is a serious issue. This could result in more young children being left at home alone earlier. And that is something that I think our country has been trying very seriously to deal with and to move
00;34;09;29 beyond parents leaving their children, you know, in afterschool care by themselves. Um, it's a danger for so many reasons. I don't have to tell this audience, so we really do need to be paying attention to this home alone issue. The other, um, thing that has, uh, possible implications for this is on destabilizing the current, uh, amount of care available for
00;34;35;03 infants and toddlers. Because as we know, um, childcare is more lucrative. If you will, for school aged children, it's easier to, you know, make the bottom line. If you can have more school aged children, then one to four ratios of infants and toddlers. So we have a certain risk here of losing capacity, um, in terms of our, our infant toddler, uh, uh, programs. And this is a, this will be a difficult decision for childcare providers to
00;35;10;13 make, because if it's between survival and, and, you know, making decisions over school, aged children versus infants and toddlers, I think survival could win out. So we need to be again thinking about that and how do we work on this to make sure that we don't lose infant-toddler capacity. And as I said, we did look at the data by age of tiled and we haven't dug into it yet, but we're really interested in looking at some of the implications
00;35;38;08 of this study on the, on the, uh, families with children under three, which we will be able to do.
00;35;44;30 [Linda Smith]: Um, and then the final one is that these decisions that parents are making around childcare and going to work are serious. One of the things that I've been saying as I've talked to different groups around the country is that policy makers need to be sure to work in close collaboration between school leadership, businesses and childcare leaders in their communities. In many cases that I've been involved in childcare is an afterthought. And so after schools have made a decision to close or go
00;36;15;24 remote or do virtual, then somebody figures out that childcare is going to be a problem. So we need to be thinking these things through and putting these groups into a room at the same time and getting people to think about, um, if we could, if we could just, um, you know, figure out how to, uh, get people in the same room, making a decision at one time in the best
00;36;43;22 interest of people in their community. So with that, I'm going to invite my colleague, Sarah Tracey, who worked with us on this survey to join me in this. And we're going to start to take a look at some of the questions that have come in and see what you all have to say about this. And the one thing I like to say at the end of anything that we do is we're sitting here in Washington, DC, and we are trying to communicate with Congress what's going on with childcare. So if you have
00;37;15;20 specific things that you think people in Washington need to know, please share them in the chat right now, because we need to be carrying the message from people around this country about what's going on and the need this serious need for action here in Washington. So, Sarah, what do we have, Sarah's gonna talk, uh, put up some of the questions that have come in.
00;37;38;10 [Sarah Tracey]: Yeah. So we have a few questions. I'm going to start by answering actually Christina's question about them. The data was collected. The data was collected August 3rd through August 10th. Um, so that was the first one. And I will ask a question, um, that from Juliana, who is saying, I'm hoping you will address the concept of community learning centers. It seems like these will be important in many communities and especially for families where parents must return to work.
00;38;08;04 [Linda Smith]: Could we ask her to define what she means by that? Because I think this is one of those things where I have been asked this question and I, I think it means different things to different people. And I really like to hear what she's, what exactly she's, uh, she, her definition of that is. Okay. So I'll put that back to her.
00;38;31;28 [Sarah Tracey]: Um, the next question is from Jolene McNeil, uh, can, sorry, lost it. Can we conclude anything about a parent's trust in their childcare provider?
00;38;47;09 [Linda Smith]: Not a direct issue about the trust in the provider we can't, but trust in the whole circumstances around putting their children in childcare. And I think if you go back to the quotes that were up there, and I would encourage people to go to our website and look at some of this, because the comments, um, are interesting. I don't think it's a lack of trust of their provider. It's just the circumstances under which we find these providers find themselves. So when
00;39;17;03 the parents said, you know, you can't trust a toddler to wear a mask, um, that's real. And so parents, that's no reflection on the childcare program or the childcare provider. It's just simply reality and parents know it. And so I think that, you know, one of the things that we have got to think through is where we can, how can we help Aleve parents, you know, help them with some of what they're concerned about, but I don't think it's an issue
00;39;44;16 of not trusting their providers.
00;39;48;07 [Linda Smith]: And of course you don't get that kind of an answer from a survey like this, but you can take something nuggets from the comments that we get. And I think I would, I would have to go back and Sarah, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off there, but I would have to go back and say that I think parents are pretty, um, astute on some of these issues based on what we saw come in and the comments that we saw.
00;40;13;10 [Sarah Tracey]: Great. Thank you. Um, a question from Nina Perez, have you looked at how many parents have had to leave their jobs or been fired because of childcare breakdowns?
00;40;25;12 [Linda Smith]: We have not had this survey looked at, um, anyone firing. We just know that the one we just did ask questions about who was currently working in there is data in there about who's working, whether they're working remotely, uh, part time, uh, we did ask some questions, which we didn't show about the amount of care they need. Um, how, how many need full time versus part time childcare. And there's some interesting things in there that most parents are looking for full
00;40;55;02 time, full time being four or five days a week care. That's what they're needing out there right now. And ask, we asked some questions about hours and days of week to make sure we understood that. So there's some data in the survey on that. And, um, yes. So,.
00;41;12;18 [Sarah Tracey]: Um, Barbara asks, can we get consistent rules about what it takes for schools and childcare to open? They, uh, they're operated by different bureaucracies and it's very confusing for parents.
00;41;24;24 [Linda Smith]: You know, Barbara, I would second you on that. Um, I do think we've heard this repeatedly as we've done. We've done a series of, uh, listening sessions with family childcare providers, with people from the faith community for all over the place over the last several months. And I think there is a genuine lack of consistent information, um, out there and parents and childcare operators are confused. Um, so I think that, uh, there's, there has been some information on the centers for
00;41;57;17 disease control websites that you can go to look at, but consistently, um, I think we do need to take this on, and I think that there's a real need for that, for exactly what you're asking. Um, I wish I had a wand and I could do that.
00;42;15;23 [Sarah Tracey]: Um, building on that I wanted to ask also, um, what can childcare programs be doing to mitigate the risk of transmission and how can they assure parents, um, that they're taking the right precautions?
00;42;29;19 [Linda Smith]: Yeah, we've been looking at that, uh, you know, a fair amount. And I do think that there are some things that we need to do both, um, that can be done that are, are easier to do. For example, hand washing sanitation, some of those things, which I said, I do think childcare does a really good job of, but then there are other things. And Sarah in particular has been working on some of the infrastructure pieces because we have a, a lot of childcare programs that are old in this country. And don't have, for example, sinks in the classroom. And I was
00;43;02;17 describing this to somebody who didn't quite get this the other day in terms of why we can't just take the kids down the hall?
00;43;09;17 [Linda Smith]: Well, in my history, I have run a childcare program where the, that exactly was the situation. So every time a teacher wants to take a group, a group of children to the bathroom or to wash their hands, they have to take the whole group. So you can see that that's, you know, things like sinks in classrooms is really important for young children. So we've been looking at this and are working on some model, what we think our model standards to put out on this, we've written something on it. Sarah's
00;43;39;21 got a blog that she's done on it. So there are things that can be done that could help this. Some of them are, are easier and are pretty much, you know, as I said, hand washing and sanitizing, that kind of thing versus structural things like sinks and, uh, partitions and some of those things.
00;44;01;16 [Sarah Tracey]: Um, Juliana got back to us. She said, thank you. I'm referring to a place where children can go. This is about the community learning centers and referring to a place where children can go during the day to be supervised during their remote learning time. I've heard that some YMCAs are offering the service and other cities are.
00;44;21;03 [Linda Smith]: Okay, Julia Juliana. Yes. This isn't actually a great question. And I'm actually glad you clarified that because we have been working, um, jointly with the afterschool Alliance on this issue. And one of the proposals we have put forward to Congress is to, uh, put some funding into a supplemental bill that would, um, fund 21st century learning centers. And that would be through the education department, a lot of the
00;44;50;15 YMCAs and the boys and girls clubs. Yes, that is going on. And we've heard about it in many places around the country.
00;44;58;03 [Linda Smith]: Um, when that is an option, it's a good option. We think that we need to, to, um, provide support to that and that support should come through the 21st century program. So if you want to go to our website, we have a proposal that we will be happy to share with you and talk to your, um, talk to people about this because not all things have to fall necessarily to the childcare, the early childhood programs. Um, there
00;45;27;18 are options in communities. And again, getting back to this issue of in advance, getting schools and businesses and child care programs all together in the same room, that's when these things start to happen. The YMCA, I heard a one place where 13 Y’s were actually working in a community to provide this care, so it can be done. And it's a good option.
00;45;55;12 [Sarah Tracey]: Great. Uh, this question is from A Hardy, uh, did you discover implications for women, both single and married who are having to decide between working and providing childcare, particularly when compared to men?
00;46;11;01 [Linda Smith]: You know, we haven't looked at that data yet again, but we do have the marital status, um, in, in our, um, data. So you can, uh, go online and look at that, or we'd be happy to take a look at it ourselves and talk with you further about that. We just, in the first cut of the, of the survey results, we did not look at that. Um, but it is a big issue and single parents, for sure. Uh, but in terms of, you know, the work
00;46;38;25 of the whole working mother situation.
00;46;43;15 [Sarah Tracey]: Great. And then, um, Kathy Tama is asking, what are some of the potential policy solutions to meet the parents' needs?
00;46;52;29 [Linda Smith]: Well, I think the policy solutions really do have to do with, um, funding and getting, uh, some stability in the childcare supply right now. And as I, those of you know, me, I'm famous for my little description of why we need to put money into the supply side of the equation in, in childcare, in this country. Uh, right now, um, these programs rely primarily on either subsidy payments from, uh, the public
00;47;25;15 sector or parent fees. And there's not enough money in either one of those to keep these programs hold during the next several months. So in terms of what we can do is we, we re to meet parent needs. We really do need to shore up this, uh, supply side of the equation and get enough money into the system so that parents can afford it. And that, that is only going to come in my view from some kind of a shared
00;47;55;04 responsibility between the public and the private sector. I think the country as a whole, this is Linda Smith personally thinking this is beginning to understand there's the seriously fragile nature of childcare and the cost implications of that. So we simply cannot pass these costs on to parents. And I think when you look at solutions to meeting parents' needs, it's going to be to somehow invest in the supply so that we can
00;48;24;17 bring down the cost to parents and more parents have access, because if you go back and look at those numbers of children, of what parents are choosing for children who are in families under $50,000, or under $35,000, their choices are, are limited, very limited in terms of where they can put their children. So again, back to, and not to belabor this point, but back to
00;48;50;02 the, some of the earlier points is we really do need to understand this parent choice when it comes to the income. And are they in fact really blocked out of the childcare market for the most part,
00;49;07;00 [Sarah Tracey]: Here is a comment that maybe you can respond to a given likely higher use of family, friend and neighbor care. It will be essential for schools to reach out to these caregivers, to support remote learning already. We're providing a lot of care before.
00;49;23;13 [Linda Smith]: Well, I want to go back and separate out the family friend and neighbor issue, because I think that's one of the things that we saw. And what I tried to point out in the earlier slides is that not as much of this care is in the friend and neighbor category. In some cases, it was in 3%. So I think we do need to do something to support families during this time, but we do, I think, and we have actually had proposals that we have put forward on supporting family childcare and home-based providers
00;49;53;28 through networks. We need to get, these are family childcare, community organized and supported, and it's hard to support when there's one here and one there, and one across town. We really need to figure out how to create systems of support for family childcare, so that we can get them the information and the support they need to do this well. And I think we have a lot of people are coming to understand this issue of this need for family childcare. And especially
00;50;25;05 back to the point on the slides earlier, since 29% of those family childcare providers stayed open throughout this, they were one of the most reliable sources of care in the country, and we need to do a better job of acknowledging that and supporting it.
00;50;43;10 [Sarah Tracey]: Great. Um, I have, I just want to encourage anyone else to submit their questions. We have a few minutes left. Um, I am looking right now for Katie Beckmann's question, uh, can $212 a week actually support full time school aged care, not where I live. She says.
00;51;04;00 [Linda Smith]: Not in most places in this country, that's, you know, that's, that's also a limitation. You know, the parents are faced with even the 25% who said they could pay for childcare. That's, that's, that's a problem. Cause that support and actual quality program, Probably not.
00;51;27;07 [Sarah Tracey]: Um, maybe one more question. Okay. Christie Balka, um, it's a comment, public policies have a role in sharing individual providers aren't forced to make the decision to drop infant toddler care in favor of school, aged children solely for money or financial reasons.
00;51;47;18 [Linda Smith]: Well, yes, there, there is a public policy aspect of this and the public policy aspect is, is to get the, the rates up that, um, especially when it comes to subsidized children, that the rates are reflective of the cost of doing childcare, not just the market. And I think we've written a paper on this and want to have further conversations with people about getting us away from a market rate system, which tends to undermine everything that we talk about in terms of quality in this
00;52;17;23 country. So that's a really good point, and it's really true that public policies do dictate a lot of this. And it's especially a problem in family childcare, where in most States in this country, family childcare rates are less than center rates. And so we have basically family childcare providers who are working longer days, your regular hours overnight, you name it, they're working more hours at less
00;52;46;28 pay when it comes to the market rates that are dictated by state subsidies. And so again, I think we need to think about this. We, our policies need to move more towards a cost of care model and how the public reimburses these programs. Then it sets the tone for what happens with the rest of, of what goes on in childcare. But this market rate, I cannot tell you how much I
00;53;13;16 think we need to rethink that.
00;53;17;00 [Sarah Tracey]: Great. Thank you. That is all the questions that we have.
00;53;26;04 [Linda Smith]: Okay. There were, there were a couple I'm showing on here that, that are in the chat that I'm seeing. Um, do we need to go back to the PPT for closing? I think, Oh, I'm sorry. That's a different, sorry on that one. Do we something read, was there a no data to this aggregate by state? Uh that's I'm sorry. I'm only in a few, quite in a few cases, we oversampled some States for reasons of our funders interest in those
00;53;57;25 States. Uh, but no, uh, this is a national survey in it and we cannot desegregate by state level. Sorry about that. We wish we had that kind of money to do that, but we don't. Okay. Is that,.
00;54;14;18 [Sarah Tracey]: I think you have some links on the last few slides.
00;54;19;08 [Linda Smith]: Okay. So moving right along what we have done, um, we've created a page on our website that, uh, put where this data will be shown, but also has the data or the, the information on the two previous surveys. If you want to look, go back and compare the October, then the April 2020 and the new data, the cross tabs, everything will be up there for those who really like to dig into some of this data. You can have a great time, I think, with all of it. So we learned a lot. We're still
00;54;51;06 learning, uh, in terms of asking the right questions and getting the answers that we need, but we think we're getting very, a lot closer to understanding, uh, parent what parents are thinking, their choices and how they're making decisions.
00;55;06;20 [Linda Smith]: Because I think until we understand where parents are, we really cannot have a conversation about how to balance our supply issues and how to fill in the gaps for parents, where there isn't any childcare. So when I thank everyone for joining the webinar for the great questions, um, keep them coming. If you have more questions, feel free to contact us. Um, we are very much interested in learning from these things as we go along and doing a better job of asking the questions that will get
00;55;39;19 us, the answers that we all need to know. So thank you. And I hope everyone has a happy end of summer and a great Labor Day. And we will hopefully get something done here in Congress that can provide some of the funding that we need for these programs to keep operating over the next several months. So thank you everyone for participating.
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In April, a BPC survey conducted in partnership with Morning Consult found that parents reported widespread closures of child care programs and difficulty finding care as a result. Months into the pandemic, as the new school year approaches, our latest survey asks parents about their current options for care and the decisions they are making for their children.
Join us on August 26 for a webcast event on parents’ child care experiences during the coronavirus pandemic as well as the highlights from our survey and what they will mean for the child care market and the K-12 school system this fall and beyond.
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Linda Smith
Director of the Early Childhood Initiative, BPC
@lksmith1215
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