Public Policy and Advocacy
Child Care Keeps the North Country Working!
Why Public Policy and Advocacy Matters
The first three years of life are a period of incredible growth in all areas of a baby's development. But by age three, 85% of the core structures of the brain have been developed. Children who start behind, stay behind. Studies show that children with high quality early learning experiences have an advantage. They are:
- 40% less likely to need remedial services
- 30% more likely to graduate from high school
- 200% more likely to go to college
St. Lawrence Child Care Council supports quality, accessible child care for all children in St. Lawrence County and works closely with the New York State Early Care and Learning Council (ECLC), the New York State Early Childhood Advisory Council (NYSECAC), the New York State Association for the Education of Young Children (NYSAEYC) and the Child Care Aware of America. These organizations are proven leaders in state and national early care and education advocacy efforts.
SLCCC Public Policy
The St. Lawrence Child Care Council [SLCCC] is a community leader committed to promoting high quality child care services for families, child care providers, businesses and community members. Public policies at the local, state and national level impacts the quality of early care and education and the SLCCC participates in activities to support early care and education.
Current Advocacy Messages and Agendas
- We educate people on what quality child care is and why it’s so important
- We promote policies that aid in the expansion of quality child care services locally, statewide and nationally.
- We work closely with organizations that are proven leaders in state and national early care and learning advocacy efforts.
Working families with children depend on child care to get and keep a job.
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More than 11 million children under age 5 are in the care of someone other than their parent.
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Millions more school age children are in after-school programs.
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Child care often is difficult to find, especially for infants and toddlers. It is challenging to afford and of questionable quality.
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require accountability for CCDBG funds
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ensure affordable child care for families
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strengthen rural child care
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limit potentially unsafe license-exempt care
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make child care part of disaster planning
New York State’s child care system — essential to both our economic development and the well-being of our state’s children — is at a tipping point. When announcing the Child Care Availability Task Force in December 2018, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo made clear that “affordable and high-quality child care is not only vital for working families, it’s also essential to strengthening our state’s economy and by continuing to create these opportunities for parents to succeed in both work and family life we are building a stronger New York for all.”2 Lieutenant Governor and Task Force Co-Chair Kathy Hochul has likewise reinforced the essential role of child care, writing that, “The conversation on child care is changing. No longer is it seen as a woman’s responsibility. It is an essential service for families and their employers.”
The Early Childhood Advisory Council holds a deep commitment to social justice and racial equity, as a process and a goal, as evidenced by our work across the state. We recognize that, in order to uphold our vision and mission to support young children’s development, we must actively, critically and continuously work to disrupt and dismantle systemic inequities due to race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, legal status and family structure. It is our responsibility to address the inequities impacting the lives of children and families on individual, interpersonal, institutional and structural levels. In doing so we build systems that provide all young children and their families with equitable access to the services, resources and experiences that they deserve in order to thrive.
A video by Child Care Aware of America
It’s a common question. Why do parents spend so much on child care, yet early childhood teachers earn so little? The average cost of child care is out of reach for many families and rivals college tuition, while early educators are among the lowest paid workers in the country. How is this possible? High-quality early care and education experiences, to which early educators are essential, provide lasting benefits to children, our economy and society, but receive only minimal public investment. The Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at UC Berkeley and Child Care Aware® of America teamed up to create a new video that explains why parents cannot afford to pay, educators cannot afford to stay and to propose a solution for a better way to support children, their families and early educators
Action Center
Child Care Aware of America's comprehensive list of advocacy tools and resources.
Links to contact information for your:
National Policymakers:
New York State Policymakers:
Local Policymakers:
Child Care Public Policy Reports
A report by the National Center for Children in Poverty
This report shows that data collected by state and local agencies on young children and the programs serving them have enormous potential value. Families, service providers, policymakers, researchers, advocates and others can use these data to better understand children's needs, improve access to services, strengthen services, enhance the efficiency of services, and understand the short- and long-term impacts of services.
The fourth in a series of reports beginning in 2007 that scores and ranks the states, including the District of Columbia and the Department of Defense (DoD) on 10 program requirements and five oversight benchmarks for child care centers. NACCRRA’s update found that states have made progress but more progress is needed.
The average score in 2013 was 92 out of a possible 150 points (compared to 70 in 2007, 83 in 2009 and 87 in 2011). Using a standard grading scale, no state earned an A. The Department of Defense earned a B, and ten states earned a C. Twenty-one states earned a D. 20 states earned a failing grade. While we should be pleased with the improvement among the states since 2007, an 92 equates to a score of 61 percent, a failing grade in any classroom in America.
Child Care Aware of America assessed state policies for small family child care homes, where up to six children are cared for in the home of the provider for compensation. The maximum number of points a state could receive is 140. Eight states scored a zero. Of the states that scored points, the average score was 69, which equates to 46 percent – a failing grade in any classroom. Family child care in the United States is characterized by weak state inspection standards, incomplete background checks, weak minimum education requirement for providers, weak training requirements, weak early learning standards and weak basic health and safety standards.
For More Information Contact:
1515 N. Courthouse Rd, 11th Floor, Arlington, VA 22201 Phone: 703-341-4100 Fax: 703-341-4101
230 Washington Avenue Extension, Albany, NY 12203
Phone: (518) 690-4217
Fax: (518) 690-2887
Contact the St. Lawrence Child Care Council, Inc with any questions you may have by calling (315) 393-6474 Ext. 12 or emailing Bruce Stewart.
