| Child
Care Quality: Does It Matter and Does It Need to be Improved? |
HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala
Welfare to Work Partnership
May 23, 2000
Thank you Rodney for your gracious introduction, and for giving me the
opportunity to speak to the Welfare to Work Partnership.
Frankly, after almost eight years of hard work – first passing welfare
reform, and then making it work – I’m here to say: Congratulations
and thank you.
We would not be where we are today without the leadership and commitment
of Eli Segal – and all the companies that helped build the Welfare
to Work Partnership into the bridge over which thousands of families have
walked to a better life. The fact is: Every member of the Partnership
listened to the President’s words when he signed the welfare bill.
At that time, the President said: This isn’t the end of welfare reform
– it’s only the beginning. The President then challenged businesses
across America to make welfare reform a success.
That’s exactly what you’ve done! And you’re still doing
it.
You are still in the trenches – hiring, training, and opening
doors for thousands of Americans moving from welfare to work. Today the
welfare caseload is down 53 percent – the lowest it’s been since
1966. But as you well know, our mission is not simply to reduce caseloads.
Our mission is to put people to work – to start them on a career
path and keep them there.
The President set a goal of hiring 10,000 welfare recipients in federal
government by 2000. Well, we’ve hired twice that number – a
full 22,000. But in the end, only the private sector can guarantee the
success of welfare reform. You prove that every day. Since we began our
welfare reform, the Partnership has hired more than 650,000 former welfare
recipients in a wide array of jobs. That’s an achievement of historic
proportions.
Still, we know that while welfare reform has had many successes, our
work is far from over. We still face major challenges in welfare reform
– including providing adequate training for new workers so they can
move from their first job to a second and third. A second major challenge
is the one I want to focus on today: Making sure working families have
quality child care.
Quality child care is absolutely indispensable to welfare reform. If
we are going to demand responsibility from parents, then we must also
give them the tools they need to go to work. And, frankly, there’s
no more important tool than child care. You know that – and I know
that.
Now the time has come for Congress to get the message.
There are three important points to keep in mind about child care.
One – We must provide affordable and reliable child care
for all working families who need it.
Two – When it comes to child care, it’s the quality
of the care that counts.
And three – It’s not enough to meet the demand for child
care if we don’t also provide working families with other basic supports
they need to stay on the job.
Let me speak briefly to each of these points.
First, it’s relatively easy in this economy to put people to work.
The more urgent question – as I’ve already suggested –
is whether they’ll be able to keep working. A recent poll conducted
by the Partnership found that child care assistance is the single
biggest barrier for the private sector in retaining employees.
While the federal government and the states provide child care assistance
to help low income working families pay for child care, the dollars are
far too low to meet the need. By our latest count in fiscal year 1998,
families of only 10 percent of eligible children were getting help paying
for child care. That’s only one and half million children out of
15 million. In many states, families earning as little as 20,000 dollars
a year do not qualify for child care. That’s just not good enough.
We must do better.
Research has shown that when families receive child care subsidies, it
makes a big difference for parents who are trying to get and keep a job.
And – as you would expect – the opposite is true when families
are placed on long waiting lists. They either reduce their work hours,
or worse, lose their jobs. Others may unknowingly put their children in
risky – or even unsafe – child care arrangements.
If we’re to keep our promise to families leaving welfare, then we
must increase funding for child care. To accomplish that, the federal
government must increase its investment in child care. Three years ago,
the President held the first ever White House Conference on Child Care
– as well as the first ever White House Conference on Early Childhood
Development. Both these historic events pointed out the pressing need
for more reliable and affordable child care.
That’s why – as part of the President’s Child Care Initiative
– we’ve requested, for the upcoming fiscal year, an additional
817 million dollars in child care funds.
That’s why we’re asking for an additional one billion dollars
for Head Start – the single largest increase in the history of the
program.
And that’s why the President has proposed an Early Learning Fund
– a 3 billion dollar investment over five years to help improve child
care quality.
Which brings me to my second point: We must have not only more child
care – but better child care.
Again, research tells the story.
We know that quality early childhood programs make a huge difference
in the lives of children – their development, behavior, and academic
performance in school.
Today we’re releasing a new
report that, for the first time, analyzes the economics of investing
in quality child care. Our report finds that investment in quality child
care is not only good for children – it’s good for business.
The report describes a broad range of steps that government at every
level can take to improve the quality of child care, including:
- Better information to parents so that they can make more informed
choices;
- Greater financial incentives for caregiver training;
- Improved state regulation and licensing requirements;
- Tuition subsidies and tax credits for parents;
- And better incentives for employer-subsidized care.
Once the critical need for quality child care is addressed, what else
can we do to help guarantee that a new worker will stay employed?
That brings me to my last point: All working people need basic supports
to advance on the job.
That means career development, mentoring, transportation, and continued
education, especially on that first job. We’ve given states a great
deal of leeway to invest their federal TANF money in these critical areas.
In other words, they don’t have to spend their funds entirely on
cash assistance. For example, states can use TANF money on child care
subsidies, training and retention services after people start working,
or to help employees with transportation costs.
So TANF dollars are extremely flexible. Nevertheless, there are other
critical needs for families. That’s why Congress should not be telling
states that because of TANF, there is no need to increase funding for
child care.
That is simply not true.
Remember what I said earlier: In our most recent 1998 study, only one
in ten eligible children were receiving the child care help they need.
So this problem is a long way from being solved – and the time for
Congress to solve it is now.
I’d like to close my remarks by reminding you of a modern proverb
that says, "Lots of people want to ride with you in the limousine, but
what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo
breaks down." The Welfare to Work Partnership has always been willing
to get on the bus, always been willing to be partners – not just
with the federal government, but with communities and families.
You didn’t quit when the skeptics said welfare reform was doomed
to failure. Just as important, you didn’t use the drop in caseloads
as an excuse to quit either – to simply say: Our work is done.