The State of Babies is Not Strong Enough

Your most rapid brain development occurred in your first three years of life as your brain made connections and pathways that affect your thinking today. The science of learning has repeatedly shown that the conditions of a baby’s first few years have lifelong academic, social, health, and economic ripple effects, yet state and federal policies have yet to reflect this reality. The State of Babies report from Zero to Three measures key policies for children ages birth to three at the national and state levels. This year’s report shows that the state of babies in the U.S. is still not strong enough. Other countries have promising policies that U.S. policymakers should consider to better support babies.

The largest federal funding sources for early care and education (ECE) continue to be inadequate, according to the report. Early Head Start served only 11 percent of eligible families of infants and toddlers in 2018, which is the latest available data, and because this data is from before the pandemic, the current percentage may be lower. Only 4.7 percent of families with low and moderate incomes that have children under age 3 receive a child care subsidy from the federal Child Care and Development Fund.

Supportive policies vary widely from state to state for babies, all 11 million of whom make up 3.3 percent of the U.S. population, according to the report (and this estimate may be low due to the Census undercounting babies). For instance, infant care is unaffordable in every state. It ranges from 7.3 percent of a married family’s income in Mississippi to 16.7 percent in California. It costs 26.3 percent of a single parent’s income in South Dakota and 79.4 percent in the District of Columbia. Access to infant care is particularly difficult for babies from families with low incomes, babies of color, and babies in rural areas.

Even before the COVID-19 crisis, families had difficulty accessing ECE for infants and toddlers; most Americans lived in a place where there was only one licensed child care slot for every three or more children under the age of five, the report notes. The pandemic only made this worse by closing child care centers (often permanently), decreasing the workforce, and driving up child care costs. The COVID-19 crisis instigated the federal government’s investment in emergency ECE funding via the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). ARPA dollars supported 220,000 providers associated with 10 million children, decreased the cost of child care for more than 700,000 children, raised wages for more than 650,000 early educators, and funded 300,000 new child care slots, according to the report. This emergency funding supplemented the usual federal funding for ECE, which was already too low. However, those ARPA dollars just expired at the end of the federal fiscal year on September 30, 2023, with no plan in place to make up the difference. Meanwhile, Congress is teetering on the edge of a government shutdown that would affect thousands of children in Head Start.

Miriam Calderón, Zero to Three’s Chief Policy Officer, noted in written correspondence with New America that the report highlights concerns about ARPA funding expiring. “Even with the ARPA stabilization funding in place over the past year and a half, the long-standing struggles of the child care system were still all too apparent. Families who needed infant-toddler care had difficulty finding it, and families with low income had different patterns of arrangements for their babies, suggesting affordability was a factor. Providers had high levels of burnout, with low wages, lack of benefits, and burnout itself creating barriers for retaining and recruiting staff. These challenges should be a red flag as stabilization funding ends.”

Patricia Cole, co-author of the report, noted that U.S. policymakers have the opportunity to make lasting change for the better. “We are at an inflection point. The Administration and Congress took bold and historic steps during the pandemic to pump robust funding to keep child care afloat and help families with affordability. Even with the expiration of stabilization funds, I think opportunities lie ahead to secure a lasting commitment to fund child care as a public good. With Build Back Better, the idea of a comprehensive approach to providing quality care and appropriately compensating early educators moved from abstract wishful thinking to an achievable goal—if we continue working to muster the will to reach it.”

Just as a baby needs a nurturing, reliable environment in order to thrive, babies deserve policies that provide reliable sources of funding for nurturing early care and learning environments. Instead, our nation’s ability to give babies a strong start is far too unreliable and piecemeal. Thankfully, there are promising policies in other nations that can inspire change in the U.S., if American policymakers are willing to consider a different approach.

While the U.S. struggles year to year to patch together the bare minimum of resources for supporting babies, other countries have moved toward guaranteeing ECE for all. For instance, in 2013 Germany instituted a legal right to child care for all children ages one to three (and children under one are typically cared for by parents on robust paid parental leave). Families can sue the government if they cannot access child care. Canada is undergoing a sea change in child care policy by rolling out a publicly-funded "$10 a day” child care system, wherein families of any income level pay no more than ten dollars per day, no matter where they live. Scandinavian countries cap child care costs to ensure affordability. Too often, American policymakers do not consider international models because the U.S. is different from other nations in key ways. Yet, it is well worth studying these international policies, including their successes and challenges, since we are so far from adequately supporting babies that we are in no position to turn away interesting ideas. Other countries’ policies are by no means perfect and advocates have called for improvements. But they represent a true child care system that provides stability and breathing room for families rather than unrelenting anxiety over inadequate funding streams. By examining lessons learned from other countries, the U.S. can improve the state of babies and work toward guaranteeing them access to a strong start.