WORTHY WAGES AND FAMILY CHILD CARE
National Network for Child Care's Connections Newsletter
Peggy Haack, B.S.
Family Child Care Provider and Resource Specialist
Wisconsin Early Childhood Association
Copyright/Access Information
Ask parents whose child has thrived in the care of a family child
care provider and they will tell you their provider is worth his/her
weight in gold. Ask providers who have supported in many ways
the growth of a baby through preschool or even school-age years,
and they'll tell you that their contributions to society and to
building a stronger community have never carried a price tag high
enough.
As a family child care provider and a long time activist in the
compensation movement, I find myself reminding my professional
colleagues that, in fact, we "hold up more than half the
sky" when it comes to caring for our nation's children. We
are not as invisible as one may think, and are becoming less so
all the time. Poor quality and unregulated family child care and
the high turnover rate of providers hurt us all. Despite our diversity,
we all share a need to make a worthy wage - one that places an
appropriate value on the work we do, and one that will allow us
to continue to work in the field.
According to The Demand and Supply of Child Care in 1990 (a publication
of the National Association for the Education of Young Children),
income for regulated family child care providers has not changed
very much. Since the mid 1970s, providers have worked 55 hours
a week, for 50 weeks a year, and earned only $10,000 before deduction
of expenses. When you stop to think about it, the lack of money
is behind many problems in family day care. Low income:
- is the most frequent cause of providers going out of business;
- jeopardizes quality as providers take too many children and
skimp on toys and equipment so they can make a liveable wage;
- makes training and accreditation unaffordable;
- causes providers to live without health insurance, retirement
savings, vacations, or substitutes;
- turns away potential providers before they ever begin - especially
those whose qualifications assure them other job options.
Change requires that we TAKE ACTION in two ways. One, we need
to improve those business practices NOW that affect our incomes
and working conditions. Two, we need to change both the value
placed on children and their caregivers and the way child care
is financed in this country.
We are in our homes to care for children. Our livelihood depends on the very personal exchange of money from parents' hands to our hands. This exchange is both our greatest strength and our greatest obstacle in promoting a worthy wage. As our strength, we are self-employed business people. We have the freedom and the right to make changes. We have no one else to be accountable to when we assert our need for and our right to a liveable wage. Because of our intimate relationships with families, it can be difficult to charge for the value of our service.
Each of us is in a different place in our willingness to take action to improve our business practices. For some, it is a big step to start charging payment in advance. Others may be ready to initiate a sliding fee scale to raise rates. Consider these suggestions for raising your revenues.
PREPARE A BUDGET to help you set goals for quality improvements and to maximize your income through tax deductions.
HAVE WRITTEN CONTRACTS AND POLICIES in place before enrolling a family and before more intimate relationships have been established. Review these contracts and policies regularly.
RAISE RATES ANNUALLY as agreed upon in your written policies. All businesses have cost-of-living increases. Yours should too. When costs for quality child care become too high, parents are more likely to share their concerns with their employers and elected officials. Other methods for increasing your revenue without raising your rates for all families include charging special fees. For example, you could have a supply or activity fee. You could also change your policy to charge for holidays, sick days and/or vacation, or offer a sliding fee scale.
INFORM PARENTS about your real income. Sometimes providers themselves are unaware of their true earnings when they deduct expenses from their gross earnings and divide by the number of hours worked - often 50-60 hours each week.
ENROLL IN THE USDA CHILD AND ADULT CARE FOOD PROGRAM if you are a regulated provider to get reimbursement for meals and snacks.
FIND WAYS FOR PARENTS TO CONTRIBUTE to your program in non-monetary ways. They can donate their time or provide services such as assisting with repairs. Or they can donate useful items like carpet, furniture, toys and/or supplies.
INFORM PARENTS ABOUT THE DEPENDENT CARE TAX CREDIT AND EARNED INCOME TAX CREDIT and refer to these subsidies to offset their rising child care expenses.
MARKET YOUR PROGRAM in terms of its quality. Emphasize the value of what you do and the relationship between quality and compensation. You can only give the best of your skills to children when you are not struggling to survive.
We can also join with others to change the perception that we are baby-sitters. We are a lot more than baby-sitters and the work we do is highly valuable. The Worthy Wage Campaign is a national effort to:
- Increase the value and respect for those who provide early care and education through improving wages, benefits, working conditions and training opportunities;
- Promote the accessibility and affordability of high quality early care and education options that meet the diverse needs of children and families;
- Create a unified voice for the concerns of the early care and education work force at the national, state, and local level.
The work of the Worthy Wage Campaign is largely carried out at the community level. This is where we can best effect change by working with parents, other professionals, the business community, and policy makers.
If you are interested in initiating a worthy wage coalition in your community or want to know how your organization can join as a coalition member, contact the National Center for the Early Childhood Workforce (formerly the Child Care Employee Project), coordinator of the Worthy Wage Campaign at 6536 Telegraph Ave., A-201, Oakland, CA 94509. Phone: 510-653-0990.
Change starts with YOU. "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever does." - Margaret Mead
Windflower Enterprises, Inc. (1992). *The Language Of Money And Family Child Care*. Colorado Springs, CO: Author. Available through: Windflower Enterprises, 142 S. Claremont Street, Colorado Springs, CO 80910.
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