The latest Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT Data Book looks at how the child care crisis is affecting parents’ job stability.
The report ranks states using 16 key indicators of child well-being. Delaware ranked 34th overall - and from last year’s list Delaware was lower in eight indicators, higher in six, and the same in two.
The 16 indicators were split into four categories with the categories being economic well-being, education, health, and family and community.
According to the report 13% of young children in Delaware are in families where someone quit, changed, or refused a job because child care is hard to find or afford.
The average cost of center-based child care for a toddler is $11,695 in the state which is 10% of the median income of a married couple and 34% of the median income of a single mother in Delaware.
KIDS COUNT Delaware director Janice Barlow says child care issues affect everyone because of how child care affects the economy.
"Whether you have kids or not we're all dependent on a robust economy, right? So, we need to have a child care system that ensures that parents can find here so that they can work," said Barlow.
The child care market also cost the state $415 million a year in lost earnings, productivity, and tax revenue according to one study.
Child care is the lowest paying field in the nation with workers paid less than 98% of other professions.
And Delaware KIDS COUNT director Janice Barlow says low wages and lack of benefits were compounded by pandemic-related health and safety risks.
"Working in person with kids who are like the last to be eligible for vaccine, and in a lot of cases too young to be masked,” said Barlow. “It made recruitment and hiring and retention all challenging, and that in turn then translated to decreased capacity, large wait lists, and reduced operating hours - sometimes even centers closing."
The report can be found at https://www.aecf.org/resources/2023-kids-count-data-book
