I’m a single mom who has struggled to find the quality, affordable child care I need to work ever since my daughter was born last year. So I was encouraged to learn that the New York state legislature passed three bipartisan bills this session that would take meaningful steps to solve our child care crisis.
Now, families are counting on Governor Kathy Hochul to sign these bills right away.
Just about any parent can tell you that our child care system is broken. Here’s what that’s looked like for my family: At first, when I lived in Florida, I worked at a child care program where my daughter was enrolled, but I did not make a living wage and struggled with the cost of my daughter’s care, even with my employee discount. For a while, I juggled caring for my daughter with gig jobs like DoorDash. Then, I moved to New York, and when I started looking for child care, I found that there was no availability within a seven mile radius of where I live. I took a job working night shifts because my grandmother could watch my daughter overnight. It is exhausting to juggle.
It shouldn’t be this hard. The child care crisis is harming kids, families and the economy. We need change, and the governor should sign into law to decouple child care assistance from work hours, presume a family is eligible for child care and end the “minimum earnings” requirement. (Bills A.8878/S.8152, A.4099-A/S.4667-A and A.1303-A/S.4924-A.)
Specifically, these bills would make child care more affordable and accessible by providing immediate help to families who apply for child care assistance while their application is processed, so parents don’t have to wait weeks and weeks before they can start working. In addition, the law would provide child care assistance to parents who, under the current law, make “too little” to qualify for help and decouple child care assistance from a parent’s specific work hours. As a former gig worker, I know what it’s like to have unpredictable hours and inconsistent pay. That shouldn’t prevent anyone from accessing child care.
I’ve read that if these three bills became law, about 10,000 more families would be eligible for child care assistance across the state. That wouldn’t be enough to solve the child care crisis, but it would be a real step forward. Governor Hochul: Families are counting on you to sign these bills without delay, and to champion the comprehensive child care investments our state needs.
Sasheena Salvador, a resident of Gravesend, Brooklyn, is a member of MomsRising, a nonprofit that advocates for economic security for families.
