Collection
Changing Child Care
Despite efforts to make domestic work more egalitarian in the household, women continue to bear the burden of providing care for children. Some researchers attribute declining maternal workforce participation to rising child care costs. On the labor side, more than 90 percent of child care workers are women.
In This Collection
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We asked every member of Congress about child care policy. Only 5 Republicans answered.
Child care has been billed as an issue as popular as “golden retrievers" by one Republican senator. So why were the vast majority of our responses from Democrats?
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The full PUMP Act is now in effect. Here’s what it does for lactating parents.
The law extends protections to 9 million additional lactating parents and allows workers to sue their employer if they are not compliant.
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1 in 4 parents report being fired for work interruptions due to child care breakdowns
The crisis is also taking a toll on the economy, costing $122 billion in lost wages, productivity and tax revenue in 2022 — more than twice as much as it did in 2018.
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Washington, D.C., offers financial relief to local child care workers
The application window is closing fast for early childhood educators who may qualify this year for $7,000 to $14,000 payments.
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As climate change worsens hurricane season in Louisiana, doulas are ensuring parents can safely feed their babies
A doula collective is training emergency responders from across the state in best practices, filling a crucial gap in disaster response.
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Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito argued abortion isn’t an economic issue. But is that true?
Some of the elements Alito describes in the opinion are still a work in progress. In other cases, they are leaving out some of the most vulnerable Americans, experts say.
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Pregnant people are at 'greater risk' in states hit hard by wildfire smoke, air pollution, new report shows
The American Lung Association’s annual State of the Air report shows wildfires and heat are making air quality worse for those living in the West.
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New York poised to increase child care budget by billions, which could help women reenter the workforce
The state of New York is poised to approve a multibillion-dollar budget boost for child care services as national efforts to expand that infrastructure have failed.
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Monthly child tax credit payments have ended. The future of the program now hangs in the balance
This month will be the first time since July that parents won’t be able to rely on the child tax credit. Parents will have to claim the remainder of the credit in their taxes, a challenge that is likely to hit the most vulnerable families, as Congress debates the policy’s future.
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The U.S. was close to universal paid leave. With the collapse of Build Back Better, it's all fallen apart.
The United States is one of only seven nations that does not offer paid leave. Even the proposed amount Congress was considering was far less than what most other countries have offered their workers for decades.