If we, as Catholics, believe in honoring the dignity of the human person, the dignity of the family and the dignity of workers, then we need to act on child-care reform in the United States now. 

I first became aware of America’s child-care crisis when I experienced my own child-care crisis. On June 6, 2022, I gave birth to my first son, and my world changed forever. I had never known a love so strong as when I held my tiny newborn baby for the first time.

However, it was not long before anxiety set in. As a part-time instructor at a private university, I knew the days until the start of the semester were ticking away. I was constantly torn between trying to enjoy these precious moments with my baby and worrying about how I would balance teaching and being my son’s primary caregiver. I felt like I was barely functioning as a new mother, so how would I manage working too?

 Next thing I knew I was three months postpartum. My days consisted of running back and forth between home and work, scheduling babysitters, preparing classes and taking care of my newborn. And why, you ask, did I have such a rigorous schedule? Because we could not find full-time, affordable child care. While unique, my story is not uncommon. There are more than 12 million children under the age of 5 in some type of child care in the United States. And while the Department of Health and Human Services classifies affordable child care as costing no more than 7% of a family’s income, research shows that the actual cost of child care ranges on average anywhere from 8 to 19% of the median family’s income. Just to further contextualize the cost of child care, in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., the average cost of having two children in center-based care is more expensive than average rent costs. For parents of children in child care, this is not breaking news. We know it is expensive and hard to find. However, this situation is about to get even worse. On Sept. 30, federal child-care stabilization funds from the American Rescue Plan Act are set to expire. These funds have proved to be transformative for the child-care sector and without them, 70,000 child-care centers are projected to close leaving 3.2 million children without child-care spots and 232,000 child-care workers without jobs. The effects will be, in one word, catastrophic.But what does this have to do with Catholics? Everything. Three hallmark values of Catholic social teaching include the dignity of life, the care for family and the rights of workers, and at the intersection of those values is child care.

To start, we must consider the pro-life need to support child-care reform. When we consider why a woman chooses to have an abortion, almost 75% of women cite financial constraints as one of their most common concerns. Child care, on average, costs 10% of a married couple’s income and 33% of a single mother’s income for just one child. Therefore, addressing one of the main costs associated with having a child by making child care more affordable would lessen the financial burden that may pressure a woman to choose abortion. 

Next, we must consider the impact of the child-care crisis on the family. In 1986, the United States Catholic Bishops wrote, “Economic and social policies as well as organization of the work world should be continually evaluated in light of their impact on the strength and stability of family life.” Despite more than half of parents with young children using child care, around 75% reported difficulty finding a child-care spot, and most of those families reported a lack of child care impacting their work. Additionally, almost one-third of parents in that same study reported extreme stress due to the high cost of their child care. I have talked with many families who say they want to have more children and grow their families, but the cost of child care is one of the main prohibitive factors for them.

Finally, we must consider the backbone of the child-care industry: the workers. Child-care centers and providers could not operate without the essential early childhood educators who care for and teach our little ones. And yet, the median pay of a child-care worker is $13.71 an hour while the living wage in the United States is $16.54 an hour. Although average pay and living wage varies greatly from state to state, it is clear that across the board, child-care workers are not being fairly compensated for their essential work leading to high levels of burnout, high turnover rates and staffing shortages, further contributing to the child-care crisis. As child-care centers continue to experience staffing shortages, they cannot fill as many spots as they otherwise would have with full staffing. Child care is essential, and child-care workers must be compensated fairly for the essential role they play in the education, care and development of our most vulnerable population.

It took my family a year and going across state lines to find a full-time, affordable, child-care spot for our son. Still, we are among the lucky ones. Many people remain on waitlists for years, have to go into debt to afford care, or delay starting a family altogether. Even still, families should not have to be lucky to find affordable child care. 

As Catholics, we need to take a serious look at whether our current child-care policies are pro-life, pro-family and pro-worker. And if we conclude that they are not, we need to take intentional steps to change them before the child-care crisis becomes a child-care catastrophe.