For almost two decades the American government has recognized the lack of affordable, good quality child care in America as a serious and pressing problem. Despite this, the United States has made very little progress in terms of instituting major reforms in regard to child care. In this article we will discuss how and why the child care problem in the United States has turned to crisis proportions. In addition, we will highlight the developmental concerns that surround the issue of child care, and the different child care options currently available for American families to choose from. Finally, we will propose a possible solution to this problem; a solution that could carry the United States in to the twenty-first century.Almost two decades ago, the 1970 White House Conference on Children deemed a lack of affordable, good quality day care to be the most serious problem facing our nation's children and families. The following year, Congress delivered the Child Development Act to President Nixon which called for an expansion of day care facilities, increased federal day care subsidies to welfare recipients, and augmented tax deductions to families using day care. However, due to political pressure from opponents of day care, President Nixon vetoed the bill. Since then, the United States has come no closer to instituting major reforms in regard to child care, and the situation has grown still more serious. The Magnitude of the Day Care ProblemAlmost two thirds of all school-aged children and more than half of all pre-schoolers have mothers in the out-of-home workforce (Kahn & Kamerman, 1987). Still more startling, Portions of this manuscript are adapted from: Zigler, E., & Freedman, J. (In press). Psychological-developmental implications of current patterns of early child care. In S. Chehrazi (Ed.), Working, parenting, and day care. American Psychiatric Press.
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