Why It Matters
For a child, the first five years last forever.
The first five years of a child’s life are key to their development and growth. For millions of families juggling work and family responsibilities, access to quality, affordable child care is essential.
Yet today, many families are left with few options for affordable care. This puts hard-working families under great financial strain, leaving many in debt, cutting their work hours, or dropping out of the workforce entirely.
And this struggle doesn’t just affect families—it also creates ripple effects through our national economy. Employers report that child care challenges directly impact their ability to recruit and retain employees, which affects productivity and costs our national economy billions of dollars each year.
Families urgently need support. They need federal lawmakers to prioritize meaningful policy solutions which would benefit our children, our families, and our country. This includes strengthening and prioritizing investments in trusted federal programs; enhancing tax provisions that help working families with child care expenses while encouraging employers who want to help provide access to care; bolstering efforts to expand the supply of child care while attracting a well-qualified child care workforce; and ensuring more children have access to the quality care and early learning opportunities that will help them succeed.
Early Childhood Development
During the first five years, a child’s brain is at its most flexible, making this a critical period for learning and growth. Access to early learning lays the foundation for school readiness by building the cognitive and social skills children need to do well in school and in life, including language, attentiveness, persistence, kindness, and self-regulation.
Lifelong Gains
Investing in early childhood education creates upward mobility by providing all children with a solid foundation for long-term success in life. Children who receive a high-quality early childhood education are more likely to earn higher wages, live healthier lives, avoid incarceration, raise strong families, and contribute to society. The benefits of high-quality programs from birth through age 5 do not end with one child but instead extend to their entire family, now and in the years to come.
Working Families
Limited or inconsistent access to child care means parents miss work, lowering household incomes and potentially leading to job loss. Many parents are unable to participate in the workforce at all due to a lack of affordable, reliable care for their children. Ensuring families have access to quality, affordable child care and early learning will result in a more efficient and productive American workforce.
Economy & Businesses
Employers rely on affordable, quality child care to support a robust workforce – but it’s often out of reach for too many. Child care is an integral pillar to supporting a thriving economy, with 27 million Americans relying on it to go to work. But for decades, the skyrocketing cost of quality care and the limited supply across the country have created insurmountable challenges for too many workers.
Voter Demand
Over a decade of state and national polling proves the nation is united when it comes to supporting child care and early learning. Voters want Congress and the White House to make it a priority. Americans see the value in high-quality child care and early learning programs, and want quality choices and greater access to these opportunities. FFYF’s renowned national and state polling is the gold standard for voter sentiment on child care and early learning in America.
Make solutions a priority
We are building bipartisan support for child care and early learning programs on the Hill, in the White House, and among supporters, business leaders, and community advocates.
Join us and become a child care champion!
