And at least one weekend per month, she provides all-day care to several children whose parents have to report for duty at the Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.

Jackson is also licensed to provide overnight care, which she does occasionally as needed. 

Through these unconventional arrangements, Jackson provides 鈥渘ontraditional hour care,鈥� and as her schedule suggests, it can take a lot of different forms. Nontraditional hour care is a poorly understood yet widely sought form of early care and education, generally defined as any care being provided before 7 a.m. and after 6 p.m. on weekdays, and any hours on the weekends. 

It鈥檚 estimated that about 40% of children under age 6 with working parents spend at least part of their week in childcare during nontraditional hours, according to a from the Urban Institute, a social policy research nonprofit. The report, which analyzed household survey data from the National Survey of Early Care and Education, found this type of care to be more common among children from low-income families or in single-parent or non-parent households, as well as infants and toddlers. 

Families have a diverse range of circumstances and needs when it comes to care, especially working families with young kids. Sometimes, one parent can cover while the other works, or a relative such as a grandparent can step in to help. But in other cases, families must seek more formal arrangements. That鈥檚 where providers like Jackson and Desiree Reid come in.

Reid has been a licensed home-based childcare provider in the Bronx for about a decade. Before that, though, she had a long career as a financial manager 鈥� a role that required her to work late into the night and on weekends at times. In other words, Reid needed childcare during nontraditional hours before she became a childcare provider herself. Back then, when her son was still very young, she鈥檇 scrap together help from her mother and godmother during the week, and on the weekends, she鈥檇 take him to work with her and they鈥檇 hole up in her office. 

So when Reid opened her own childcare program and realized a lot of her families were doing shift work and needed flexible hours, she found herself adjusting her schedule. 

鈥淎t first it started with maybe one parent saying, 鈥極h, Ms. Desiree, I have to work till 8:30 tonight,鈥欌�� Reid recalled. 鈥淲hat am I gonna do? Say, 鈥榣eave your job, come get your kid and figure it out?鈥� No. So I extended my hours.鈥�

The vast majority of nontraditional hour care is provided in homes, through a mix of licensed and unlicensed caregivers. Data varies, but across multiple sources, unlicensed care 鈥� and particularly unpaid unlicensed care 鈥� is the most used nontraditional hour childcare arrangement, followed by licensed home-based care, and then licensed center-based care. Erikson Institute, a graduate school in Chicago focused on early childhood education, cites data from the 2019 NSECE survey which that about 8% of centers and 34% of listed homes provide some form of nontraditional hour care, while the rest of the care supply is found in unlisted homes, often provided by relatives, but also some nannies, neighbors, friends and babysitters. 

For licensed providers, the shift into nontraditional hour care tends to come organically, as it did for Reid. Because home-based care is typically provided in a smaller and more intimate setting, providers often develop strong personal relationships with the families they serve. So when one family has a schedule change or needs extra help, providers may be inclined to accommodate them 鈥� sometimes without any additional pay, said Juliet Bromer, research professor at Erikson and University of Delaware. 

Different types of nontraditional hour care tend to get 鈥渓umped together,鈥� Bromer said. But that can conflate the distinct experiences of providers caring for children during early mornings, late nights, overnight and on weekends.

鈥淢aybe we shouldn鈥檛 be talking about nontraditional hour care as this monolithic thing, because it isn鈥檛,鈥� said Bromer, who has studied this domain in Illinois. 

Each type of care comes with its own sets of challenges, routines and objectives. During weekend care 鈥� the most time for children to be in nontraditional hour care, according to the Urban Institute 鈥� many providers tend to offer children more downtime than they would during traditional weekday hours, said Diane Schilder, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute who led the think tank鈥檚 research on nontraditional hour care in 2023. That reflects what parents have said they want during weekend care for their children: a greater focus on play and rest, much like they would have if their parents were able to be with them. 

That鈥檚 true for Jackson, the provider in Alabama, who said the biggest difference in how she runs her program on the weekends, compared to a weekday, is that she gives the children more time to relax. 

鈥淭he schedule has been so rigid during the week,鈥� Jackson said. 鈥淚 get it. They need the downtime. 鈥� They need that time to just rest.鈥�

What that looks like in practice, she said, is extended time outdoors and more free time to do activities like puzzles and drawing. Just because their parents are at work, she said, doesn鈥檛 mean they shouldn鈥檛 get to unwind like other children do during their weekends.  

In New York, Reid鈥檚 weekend care is occasional, and a bit less predictable than Jackson鈥檚. She cares for the children of immigration lawyers, taxi drivers and nurses. Often, one parent is available on the weekend to care for their kids when the other is not. But sometimes, their schedules will overlap and they鈥檒l ask Reid to help. 

鈥淎s long as they can give me advanced notice and I鈥檓 available, sure,鈥� Reid said. 

鈥淚 have staff, so if I need to step back, staff can step up,鈥� she added, noting that she has one full-time and four part-time teachers to help with 14 children. 鈥淲hen I didn鈥檛 have staff, that was a different story. Oh, my gosh, that was exhausting.鈥�

Reid and Jackson, like most providers who offer care during unconventional hours, also care for children during traditional hours. Cynthia Davis, a home-based provider in Washington, D.C. who operates 23 hours a day, distinguishes between the two by calling one her 鈥渢raditional shift鈥� and the other her 鈥渢wilight shift.鈥� 

When she shifted into childcare a couple of decades ago, she decided that she would serve children from low-income families, whatever it took. 

鈥淚f I was going to have a program, I wanted to be sure I could serve all parents, regardless of what their shift was,鈥� she said. 

With her program located near a police station, a fire station and multiple hospitals, she has served children at all hours of the day 鈥� from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m., from 3 p.m. to midnight, from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the hours some of the parents needed,鈥� she explained. 

It鈥檚 a lifestyle that might wear on some people, but Davis enjoys it. 鈥淚鈥檓 a night owl,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I love overnight care. I love being up at night. Everybody is quiet. Nobody is disrupting you. It鈥檚 the daytime that wears me out.鈥�

When she cares for children overnight, her adult daughter who works at the program handles morning care so Davis can get some sleep. 鈥淚t鈥檚 why you need staff,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou have to balance it out. If you don鈥檛 have balance, you鈥檒l drive yourself crazy.鈥�

The most children Davis has cared for overnight, she said, is six. Eventually she learned that she couldn鈥檛 really care for infants overnight, since their sleep isn鈥檛 well established and they tend to wake the others. 鈥淥ver time you learn how the children鈥檚 patterns are,鈥� she said, noting that she鈥檇 strategically place an early riser farther from a child who sleeps in later. 

When children get dropped off for an overnight shift at Davis鈥� house, they must be bathed and ready for bed. She finds out from families what their bedtime routine looks like on a typical night 鈥� books, music, a bit of TV 鈥� 鈥渟o we can mimic what you鈥檙e doing at home.鈥� 

Most children sleep in twin-sized rollaway beds; she also has cribs, elevated cots, floor mats and air mattresses. She will put the beds out in the common area 鈥� spread throughout a spacious living room, dining room and back room 鈥� before the kids go to sleep. Then Davis posts up in her comfortable recliner chair. She has a refrigerator and table right next to the chair. She does not sleep when the babies sleep. 

In the morning, Davis helps the children brush their teeth, get dressed and eat breakfast. 

Soon, as she begins to think about winding down her working years, she plans to move away from traditional care and only offer the 鈥渢wilight shift.鈥� She鈥檚 a night owl, after all. 

Some center-based programs do offer care during nontraditional hours, but it’s uncommon and the programs that do so primarily serve a specific population, such as the children of shift workers near a large manufacturing plant or . 

鈥淭here are very, very few center-based programs that offer late night and overnight care,鈥� said Bromer. 鈥淚t鈥檚 unpredictable. No one needs overnight care every night.鈥�

Many home-based providers will request a week鈥檚 notice or a few days鈥� notice for nontraditional hour care, but when families鈥� schedules are constantly changing, it鈥檚 not always possible. That is incompatible with the staffing setup in most centers, Bromer noted. 

Then there鈥檚 the practical reality, which is that 鈥� especially late at night, very early in the morning and overnight 鈥� want their children to be in a residential home, not a fluorescent-lit commercial building. 

Most centers don鈥檛 have space for beds, pointed out Natalie Renew, the executive director of Home Grown, a national collaborative of funders committed to improving the quality of and access to home-based childcare. What they have, instead, is thin cots. If given the option, many families would likely opt for rollaway beds like what Davis has in her home over 鈥渇limsy cots鈥� in a center for their child鈥檚 overnight sleep. 

鈥淚n a home-based environment, children are an extension of the family, eating meals in the home, watching Jeopardy,鈥� Renew said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a little more intuitive.鈥�

For parents who work unconventional hours, it helps a great deal to know their child is sleeping in a bed inside someone鈥檚 home, even if it鈥檚 not their own, said Jackson. 

鈥淚t gives that parent more of a home feeling, versus in a commercial property, where it鈥檚 more of a business,鈥� she said. 鈥淔amilies need us. They need the continuity of care. They need to know their babies are being treated with the utmost of respect.鈥�

In many places, it can be hard to come by licensed providers offering care outside of standard business hours. Davis recalled a mom who would take the bus from southeast D.C. to her program in northwest D.C. to drop off her 6-month-old baby before going to her job as a security officer. She had to switch buses along the route, and when traffic was bad, it would take her two hours door to door. 

Access is one of the reasons that care from trusted family, friends and neighbors is by far the most popular option for parents who work nontraditional hours. (It is also the most care arrangement for families during traditional hours.) This could look like two neighbors who both work nonstandard hours taking turns watching each other鈥檚 kids in their homes. It could be a family friend helping out for a small fee. Often, though, it鈥檚 a grandparent or other family member.

These types of informal arrangements make up the 鈥渂ulk鈥� of nontraditional hour care, said Bromer of Erikson. Parent surveys have found that they prefer this care type for its flexibility, affordability and nurturing environment. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 not paid care,鈥� in many cases, Bromer added, 鈥渂ut it is childcare.鈥�

Tonia McMillan is an FFN provider in Southern California caring for her grandchildren during nontraditional hours. McMillan had a nearly 30-year career as a licensed home-based provider, during which time she did occasionally provide care outside of standard hours to families. She retired from that career in 2023, feeling ready to close that chapter. 

But then McMillan鈥檚 two adult sons 鈥� both single dads 鈥� had new babies on the way. At the time, she and her sons decided to 鈥渁ll get under the same roof鈥� to help each other with expenses, and that included childcare. 

Today, McMillan lives in a five-bedroom house with her sons and two of her four grandchildren 鈥� now ages 9 and almost 2 鈥� whom she regularly cares for in the evenings. During their dad鈥檚 late-night shifts with a trucking company, McMillan feeds them and puts them to bed. Some days, if he gets home especially late, she鈥檒l also get the kids up in the morning, give them breakfast and get the older one to school. It works well, she said. 

鈥淭he only difficulty for me is my age,鈥� said McMillan, who is 67. 鈥淗aving to lift car seats in and out of cars 鈥� That鈥檚 part of the reason I retired. There鈥檚 such a physicality to doing childcare that people don鈥檛 realize. But here I am again.鈥�

There are days when McMillan has to make sacrifices to be able to care for her grandchildren 鈥� she鈥檚 very social, she said 鈥� and that can be discouraging. But she loves that she is able to help and said she鈥檒l keep doing it for as long as her son needs her. 

Still, she doesn鈥檛 view it as charity, and she doesn鈥檛 want others to see it that way either. McMillan gets about $1,200 per month in subsidy reimbursements from the state of California to take care of both children. 

鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to see this role being downplayed or portrayed as 鈥榶ou鈥檙e the grandmother, it鈥檚 your duty,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淭hat strips away the importance of this work 鈥� how it fills a void, how it takes care of a gap. But it also binds families and makes them stronger and able to do what needs to be done for their children, for their household. It is such an important role that serves such an important purpose.鈥�

McMillan emphasized the importance of being able to provide childcare to her grandchildren in a space that is both theirs and hers. She can put the two children down in their own beds and then retire to her own room. 

鈥淚 can walk around in my moomoo,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 have to worry about if my hair is combed.鈥�

But the value runs deeper than that, too. 

鈥淭he comfort of being in a familiar surrounding with a familiar person who loves them unconditionally, it matters,鈥� McMillan said. 鈥淢y son doesn鈥檛 have to worry about calling or checking in, any of that. Just the trust factor alone carries so much weight. It carries so, so much weight.鈥�

By mid-afternoon, Nabila Chehab has worked nearly a full day running one of Colorado鈥檚 universal preschool sites out of her home. She鈥檚 been awake since 5 a.m. and on her feet for hours. 

By 2 p.m., two 4-year-old girls from the preschool program remain in her care. They will be picked up in the next hour or so. Then the doorbell rings and two more girls 鈥� 5-year-old Amira and 2-year-old Nadine 鈥� burst through the front door and head straight to the back of the house, joining their peers in Chehab鈥檚 classroom. 

Chebab鈥檚 first shift of the day is almost over, but her second shift is just starting. 

Around 2:30, she prepares an afternoon snack of watermelon and Goldfish for the four girls. It is the first of several meals she will prepare for Amira and Nadine over the next seven hours while their mother works at a food and beverage stand during a concert at Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, about 30 miles away. (社区黑料 is using the children鈥檚 first names only to protect their privacy as minors.)

As they munch on their snack, three more kids arrive. These are Chehab鈥檚 grandchildren 鈥� ages 6, 5 and 1 鈥� and the older two sit around the table as she prepares fruit and crackers for them as well. 

The naturally lit, brightly colored back room is alive with the chatter and boundless energy of young children. If Chehab is losing steam, she doesn鈥檛 show it. The 61-year-old just smiles and serves. 

By day, Chehab is a licensed home-based childcare provider. Her program, which can accommodate up to six children at a time, has earned the from the state. These days, she is primarily focused on serving 4-year-olds in Colorado鈥檚 relatively new , although she enrolls younger children as well.  

Chehab is only a few years into this arrangement. Before opening her program, she cared for her grandchildren as an unlicensed . And prior to that, she worked as a teacher for 15 years and a director for five years at center-based programs, she said. 

Chehab is licensed with the state to provide care from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays, but she continues to help families outside of regular business hours. On Saturdays, she hosts a three-hour Arabic class for young children. (Chehab moved to Colorado from Lebanon in 2009.) On Sundays, she cares for three young children while their parents work. And then, about once a week as needed, Chehab cares for Amira and Nadine in the evenings while their mom works at the concert venue. 

The kind of childcare Chehab provides on weekends and some evenings, often referred to as nontraditional hour care, is used by about under age 6 with working parents. It is most often provided in people鈥檚 homes through a mix of licensed and unlicensed care. This type of care can take place in the early mornings, late in the evenings, overnight and on weekends, based on the diverse needs of families. Often, providers like Chehab make themselves available during nonstandard hours only after a family that is already in their care has a change in plans or needs more help. 

That鈥檚 what happened with Amira and Nadine. 

Last school year, Amira was enrolled in Chehab鈥檚 universal preschool program. Nadine would occasionally join her older sister at Chehab’s house, so both girls became familiar with the provider. 

The girls鈥� mother, Marissa Kishell, has been working at Red Rocks since 2022, she said, taking shifts about three nights a week during peak season, which spans from spring to fall. Kishell鈥檚 mom 鈥� Amira and Nadine鈥檚 grandmother 鈥� would watch the girls at night while Kishell went to work, but when the girls鈥� grandmother got in a serious car accident in fall of 2025, she was unable to care for them for several months. 

Kishell enlisted Chehab鈥檚 help in the evening for the first time back in January, when she had a one-off work event, she recalled. When the Red Rocks concert season kicked off this spring, she began to turn to Chehab more often. 

鈥淣o one had ever watched them, especially at night, except for me and my mom,鈥� Kishell said. 鈥淲ith everything that goes on these days, it鈥檚 hard to trust your kids with people.鈥�

She worried, initially, about how it would go 鈥� but more so about how she would do leaving the girls than how they would do with Chehab. 

鈥淪he鈥檚 always so welcoming. Her house is cozy and clean,鈥� Kishell said of Chehab. 鈥淚 was never worried about if they would be OK.鈥�

Now, Kishell will typically get her work schedule about a week in advance, she said. Then she鈥檒l ask her 73-year-old mom 鈥� who watches the girls for free 鈥� which nights she can take them. Often, Kishell said, her mom will commit to all three nights but then, as the week goes on and she becomes more tired, she might ask to offload a night or two. (Her mom recovered from the car accident, Kishell said, but her energy level is not the same.) That鈥檚 when Kishell will ask Chehab, who lives about a 5-minute drive away, to take the girls for a night.

After hours of playing, the girls tell Chehab that they鈥檙e hungry. With Amira and Nadine in the kitchen alongside her, helping as much as they can, Chehab prepares a meal of lamb ribs, brown rice, Lebanese yogurt, salad, hummus and bread. The girls sit down to eat around 5:30 p.m. with Chehab, her husband Yassine Ahmed and a family friend. 

This is one of the elements of Chehab鈥檚 care that Kishell deeply appreciates. Both of her girls are 鈥渧ery comfortable鈥� at Chehab鈥檚 house and 鈥渉ave a lot of fun there,鈥� Kishell said, but it鈥檚 more than that.

鈥淚t鈥檚 nice for me that they get more of a home environment, and they鈥檙e having a home-cooked meal, and it鈥檚 more of a structure,鈥� she said, 鈥渢han going to a random babysitter鈥檚 house.鈥�

That鈥檚 important to Chehab too. It鈥檚 central to her philosophy as a provider. 

鈥淚 don鈥檛 treat my families like clients,鈥� Chehab said. 鈥淚 treat them like family.鈥�

Kishell pays about $30 per hour for Chehab to watch the girls in the evenings 鈥� $15 per hour per child 鈥� which she figures is about what she鈥檇 have to pay for the average babysitter. With Chehab鈥檚 experience and classroom materials and quality rating from the state, she feels it鈥檚 a great outcome for her and the girls. 

After dinner, Chehab helps the girls wash their hands then takes them on a walk around the neighborhood, during which they spot airplanes flying overhead. 

Back at Chehab鈥檚 house, she takes the girls into the greenhouse in her backyard, where they look for ripe vegetables to pluck and place in nets. Chehab鈥檚 garden is varied and sprawling. Inside the greenhouse, she has tomatoes and cucumbers, along with herbs such as parsley, cilantro and mint. Elsewhere in the backyard, she grows green grapes, sumac, apples, pears and peaches, although she said the fruit trees have not borne fruit during this especially hot summer. 

Both Amira and Nadine come out of the greenhouse with a few cherry tomatoes and finger-length cucumbers. 

鈥淭his one is so big!鈥� Amira says, admiring her cucumber. 鈥淚 want to take mine home.鈥�

Chehab helps the girls wash and pack their vegetables to take home later. 

Kishell saw the vegetables from the garden when she got home that night. The girls also brought home a flower craft they鈥檇 made. These kinds of keepsakes make Kishell especially grateful. 

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think they would get quite the same experience with anybody else,鈥� she said. 

Kishell鈥檚 appreciation is not lost on Chehab. 

鈥淪he values my work with her kids,鈥� Chehab said of Kishell. 鈥淪he sees how they improve.鈥� 

At about 6:45 p.m., Nadine begins to rub her eyes and show signs of sleepiness 鈥� she skipped her nap today, Chehab said. 鈥淪he鈥檚 ready for bed.鈥� Instead, Chehab will try to keep them occupied until pickup, which Kishell prefers.  

Kishell鈥檚 husband, Mo Shesao, will pick up the girls at 9 p.m. Shesao has his own car shop, where he works as a mechanic. He usually stays until the work is done, Kishell said, so if someone brings their car in midday and needs it back by the next day, he鈥檒l keep at it until he鈥檚 finished. 

Some nights, the girls stay at Chehab鈥檚 later 鈥� until 10 or 11 p.m. On those nights, Kishell will pack them a bag with toothbrushes, hairbrushes and pajamas so they can get ready for bed before they are picked up. Occasionally, Chehab said, Nadine will fall asleep at her house. Usually, though, they鈥檒l wait until they are in the car or at home. Both children are accustomed to a 10 p.m. bedtime at home anyway, Kishell said. Since she stays home with them during the day, they have nowhere to be in the mornings and will often sleep in.

Chehab reads stories with the girls until about 7 p.m. Nadine picks out, 鈥淏ig Gorilla: A Book of Opposites,鈥� and Chehab quizzes the girls on opposites. 

鈥淲hat鈥檚 the opposite of short? What鈥檚 the opposite of night? What鈥檚 the opposite of heavy?鈥�

Next, Chehab sets up a paint station for the sisters. They don aprons and each pick out three colors and a paintbrush. As the girls get going, Chehab says to Amira, 鈥淭ell me about your picture.鈥�

Amira has combined her three paints to create a dark blueish-brown hue, which she is trying to use to cover the entirety of her paper. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be different,鈥� Amira says, answering Chehab. She thinks about it more, then adds: 鈥淪pooky.鈥�

As they finish up, Amira tells Chehab and her sister, 鈥淣ext time, I鈥檓 going to take this to the museum 鈥� so they can hang it up.鈥�

It鈥檚 August, so at 7:30 p.m., it鈥檚 still light outside. The trio heads outside to sing and dance with scarves. Chehab gives no indication that her stamina is flagging. She continues to play with and engage the girls as if the day is new. 

Around 8 p.m., the sky darkens and the girls go inside to have one final snack. They eat pretzel sticks and drinkable yogurt with straws in the basement while Chehab finds them an age-appropriate show to play on the television for 15 minutes. (She watches the clock closely to make sure they don鈥檛 get more screen time than that.) 

Once the girls are settled with their snacks and show, Chehab and her husband roll out their prayer mats and kneel to pray a few feet away. Amira can be heard slurping the last few sips of her yogurt while her caregiver quietly recites her prayers.

Around 8:30, after night has fallen and with only a half-hour left at Chehab鈥檚, both girls become more subdued. They lay together on Chehab鈥檚 couch, still giggling and muttering, but more softly now. 

At 8:55 p.m., a car horn can be heard from the driveway. Moments later, the girls race to the front door to greet their dad. Then they give hugs and kisses to Chehab and tell her goodnight. As quickly as they鈥檇 entered the house earlier that afternoon, they now exit it, leaving a strange stillness in their wake.  

Chehab鈥檚 night is nearly over too. She will prepare her Turkish coffee for the next morning, take a shower, pray once more and then go to bed. She鈥檒l wake up tomorrow, without an alarm, at 4:30 or 5 a.m., she said. Then she鈥檒l head to the gym, where she swims every day, and return home, ready to greet another group of young children. 

This story was supported by New America鈥檚 Better Life Lab Childcare Reporting Grant.

At 10:30 p.m. on a Monday in the Bronx, it鈥檚 bedtime for many children. But at Juana Grisel Pe帽a鈥檚 apartment, 2-year-old Brandon is just arriving. Pe帽a, who goes by Grisel, greets him with a hug as he joins three other children 鈥� 7-year-old Sage and brothers Legend, 2, and Legacy, 1 鈥� who are playing with toys in another room as they wind down for the evening. (社区黑料 is using the children鈥檚 first names only to protect their privacy as minors.)

The four children are spending the evening at Al Despertar, a licensed, home-based childcare program Pe帽a runs out of her apartment, which sits three blocks from Yankee stadium. Their parents are working late-night or overnight shifts: one at the MTA, another at a local grocery store, and a third at Amazon. Some of the children will stay at Al Despertar late into the night, while others will sleep over and get picked up in the morning. 

From Monday through Friday, Pe帽a cares for up to six children in her overnight program, which runs from around 6 p.m. to 9 a.m. They arrive and leave at different times, depending on their parents鈥� work schedules. She has a staff of five childcare providers, three who typically work at the daytime program and two who assist her with night shifts. 

When Pe帽a started her program about 10 years ago, it was initially only open during the day, but she quickly noticed demand among working families with jobs that stretch beyond traditional business hours so she adjusted course to meet their needs. Over the years, she has transformed nearly every corner of her home around the children she cares for. Her living room is filled with learning activities and brimming with toys; bilingual signs about handwashing and nutrition standards hang in the bathroom and kitchen; and a pile of sleeping mats are neatly stacked in a closet of the second bedroom in her apartment, ready to be set up each day for the children.

鈥淚 want the parents to go to work and be in peace,鈥� Pe帽a said. 鈥淚 remember when I had my kids I didn鈥檛 feel that peace when they were in someone else鈥檚 care and I don鈥檛 want anyone to feel that way. I understand it鈥檚 not easy.鈥�

Pe帽a鈥檚 program meets a significant need for parents. Research by the estimates that 40% of young children under age 6 with working parents spend at least part of their week in childcare during nonstandard hours like early mornings, evenings or weekends. The care can be tough to find though since not all licensed childcare providers operate during those hours. 鈥淚 went through a lot of trouble trying to find this place,鈥� Sage鈥檚 dad said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 not a lot of overnight daycares.鈥�

There are countless small, yet meaningful moments that define the kind of care Pe帽a offers 鈥� whispered bedtime stories, shared mealtimes and comforting nighttime and morning routines that help children navigate transitions.

The photographs below, taken at Pe帽a鈥檚 apartment during one of her overnight shifts in August, offer a glimpse inside one provider鈥檚 experience operating around-the-clock care, revealing a side of childcare that鈥檚 rarely seen.

8-11 p.m.

11 p.m.- midnight

5:30-8:30 a.m.

This story was supported by New America鈥檚 Better Life Lab Childcare Reporting Grant.

Now, Illinois providers aren鈥檛 getting written up by the state for failing to carry quarters, but the fact that they could be because this outdated regulation has remained in the state鈥檚 licensing manual is problematic.

Childcare regulation is an active topic across many state legislatures and now, with the newly proposed Head Start rule, at the federal level as well. Every state has its , and stakeholders increasingly see streamlining regulations 鈥� while preserving health and safety standards 鈥� as one key to a healthier childcare system. As policymakers take steps to reform childcare regulation, they need to not only get rid of outdated rules, but also consider that interpretation and implementation drive how a regulation plays out in practice. 

Take fire code regulations, for example, which are set at the state and local level, and are core to child safety. To become licensed in any state, a childcare program must be compliant with these regulations, but that can be a complicated process, or even a barrier to entry. A 2025 about California鈥檚 childcare sector published by the Goldman School of Public Policy at University of California, Berkeley found that inconsistency in messaging and interpretation were widespread. 

Madeline Bradshaw, the report鈥檚 author, noted that 鈥淧roviders participating in this research consistently reported receiving conflicting information from fire officials and licensing agencies about what fire safety requirements apply to their specific childcare settings鈥� and that many 鈥渞eferenced receiving inconsistent messaging or inconsistent information, whether between fire officials at the state and local levels or even among fire officials within the same department.鈥� California also ran into issues in 2023, when a lack of communication about a statewide building code update created confusion between what fire marshals and state licensors required. That and left some on the hook for costly renovations in order to become compliant.

This is not a problem endemic to one specific state, though. This year, Colorado childcare owner RB Fast her Kafka-esque experience trying to expand her program by opening a new center. Confusion and conflicting directions from the city鈥檚 planning, zoning and fire departments have led to significant delays, financial hardship for her and her staff, and has prevented her from serving more families, she shared. 

In April, a report published by Opportunities Exchange, a nonprofit consulting group focused on early care and education, of a Massachusetts provider who 鈥渋dentified a classroom space that met the 35 square foot of usable space per child required by their childcare licensing authority.鈥� The report went on to explain that the provider 鈥� later learned that the local building occupancy code required 35 square feet per person, including adults. The discrepancy was not identified until renovations were well underway, ultimately forcing the provider to reduce enrollment capacity and absorb lost time and income.鈥� 

Beyond fire and building codes, which apply to many industries, there are unique regulatory interpretations that come into play specifically for childcare programs 鈥� and perhaps none have been in the news this year more than one about bananas. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat from Washington state, raised the issue when she introduced the Cutting Red Tape on Child Care Providers Act. Colloquially known as the 鈥渂anana bill,鈥� the measure would prohibit states from creating barriers to preparing fresh fruit and vegetables, including washing, peeling and cutting produce. On April 30, the U.S. House passed a large agricultural 鈥溾�� that incorporated provisions of the banana bill.

The banana kerfuffle stemmed from a Washington state requiring childcare programs to have multiple sinks if providers prepare and serve food and to have at least eight feet between that food preparation area and the sink used for handwashing after diaper changes. The rule was intended to avoid cross-contamination, but it鈥檚 been for being interpreted by certain state inspectors as requiring the equivalent of a commercial kitchen in order to peel and slice bananas. Even though a spokesperson from the state鈥檚 Department of Children, Youth, and Families the Department 鈥渉as never penalized a childcare provider for incorrectly serving fruit,鈥� the example has become an avatar .

Even when the scope of a regulation is clear, the capacity of a given governing agency to play their part can create bottlenecks. Consider the fingerprint background check requirement for new childcare employees, a step that is not particularly open to interpretation. A that requires background checks be processed through two state agencies 鈥� Georgia鈥檚 Department of Early Care and Learning and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation 鈥� is in some cases causing weeks-long delays in getting new hires through the process. One provider having four new hires stuck waiting for their background check forms to be processed. 

However, this kind of regulation isn鈥檛 always harmful to providers: of new background check requirements in Minnesota that went into effect in 2017 found that those requirements were not associated with increased closures among licensed family childcare providers and in fact appear correlated with fewer closures, suggesting that the implementation of those regulations has gone far smoother.

The disparate experiences of providers 鈥� often shaped by their geographic location or which inspector shows up 鈥� points to the need for local, state, and federal leaders to focus not only on the content of the regulation book, but how regulations are playing out in practice. If the goal of childcare regulation is to shape a system that promotes health, safety and quality with abundant supply, then policymakers must think beyond the words on the page and consider how rules and regulations are being implemented in everyday programs. 

Ensuring that relevant departments have consistent guidance, are adequately staffed, , and have updated technology in order to process forms in a timely manner is core to effective rollout. State policies should also be reviewed regularly, with an eye toward outdated or out-of-touch requirements that may hinder providers鈥� ability to best serve children and families. And when a new regulation is put into play, clarity and coordination should be the watchwords. 

Nationwide, nearly 40,000 Head Start jobs could be cut, affecting the program鈥檚 teachers, home visitors, child development specialists, family service workers and many other positions, according to an from Together for Head Start, a coalition of national, state and local organizations that formed in 2025 to protect and strengthen Head Start amid growing threats from the Trump administration. 

The analysis draws from projections made by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in its proposed rule, 鈥�,鈥� which was published on Aug. 7 and is now in a 60-day public comment period, set to end on Oct. 6.

Other impacts, the analysis found, include a 6% to 9% pay cut among some staff, including directors, fiscal officers and staff who oversee health services, as well as stagnant wages for teachers, even as they are expected to care for up to 32% more children. 

The proposed rule would also reduce healthcare services for children and families by up to , which could result in many families seeking out medical, dental and mental healthcare elsewhere, with some having to travel to access that care or, in some cases, going without it altogether.

To come up with these numbers, Together for Head Start analyzed projections detailed in the proposed rule change, which included a evaluating the potential costs, benefits and outcomes of the regulation if it were to be implemented. 

The proposed rule would give individual programs more discretion, but it鈥檚 hard to predict the precise impact, since some programs may make more changes to their operations than others. For that reason, HHS offers three scenario-based models for each regulation change over a five-year horizon: a low, primary and high estimate based on how many programs take advantage of the change. Together for Head Start used the high estimate scenario throughout its analysis. The group also used from Child Care Aware of America about the price and affordability of childcare to draw some conclusions. 

The administration mentions the word 鈥渇lexibility鈥� 160 times in its proposed rule, suggesting that fewer regulations and performance standards will give Head Start operators greater freedom in how they run their programs. Leaders at HHS are also quick to tout the they estimate would follow these changes by 2031. (The Head Start program is currently at about $12.4 billion annually.)

Staff involved in the leadership and operations of Head Start programs, however, have a much more bleak interpretation of the proposed overhaul. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 not a $2.2 billion savings. It鈥檚 a $2.2 billion cut in workforce and services,鈥� said Rhett Cecil, executive director of the Indiana Head Start Association, which is part of the Together for Head Start coalition.

In the analysis from Together for Head Start, which includes state-by-state impacts, Indiana is projected to lose nearly 600 jobs. That amounts to about 15% of the state鈥檚 Head Start workforce, Cecil said. The analysis also estimates that Indiana would face a $2.6 million decline in funding for healthcare services under the rule, and that each family accessing Head Start services could face an average annual increase of $622 in childcare costs per child. 

These changes, Cecil said, would 鈥渉andcuff鈥� families, particularly in rural areas. Half of Indiana鈥檚 Head Start programs operate in rural areas, he said, where Head Start is often the only provider of health screenings, disability screenings and mental health services for young children. 

鈥淚f we take that away,鈥� he asked, 鈥渨hat does that do to half our state?鈥�

Cecil is in favor of a comprehensive review of the , he said. He believes there is room for improvement. 

鈥淏ut you can鈥檛 do that without looking at the six decades of research and data that have been built around Head Start, then going out into the field and talking to seasoned leaders and practitioners in classrooms,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey鈥檒l really tell us where changes could get made.鈥�

The changes being proposed now, he said, seem to have come from people sitting in an 鈥渋vory tower somewhere in Washington, D.C.,鈥� without the involvement or consultation of people on the ground. 

Kara McFalls, executive director of the Pennsylvania Head Start Association, doesn鈥檛 buy the narrative the administration has put forward either. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 false flexibility,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t will only increase stress and burden dramatically.鈥�

Together for Head Start estimated that Pennsylvania would lose more than 1,300 jobs and almost $6 million in funding for health services, and that each family would face an average annual increase of $635 in childcare costs per child. The latter estimate comes from in which children receive 99 fewer hours of Head Start annually 鈥� a cost-saving mechanism for the government, but one that would place the burden on families to find alternative care arrangements for their children while they work.

That additional financial strain on families with children in Head Start 鈥� who are, by definition, living in poverty 鈥� would be enormous, McFalls said. To be for Head Start, a family of four must earn less than $33,000 per year, which equals 100% of the federal poverty level. For a family of two, such as a single parent and a child, it鈥檚 around $22,000. 

鈥淚t would be devastating for them,鈥� McFalls said of the projected $635 increase in annual childcare costs. 鈥淭hat could be their ability to stay in their housing. 鈥� That could be the difference of food on their table, food for all the people in their family for months. That could be the difference in their ability to fix their car to be able to go to work.鈥�

That鈥檚 to say nothing of the nearly 8% of children currently enrolled in Head Start who could lose access to the program altogether because their eligibility is based on family self-attestation. (The HHS proposal would as a way to satisfy eligibility requirements.) Many of these families are experiencing housing instability or homelessness and cannot provide the documentation needed to prove eligibility, said Yvette Sanchez Fuentes, senior vice president of government relations and federal policy at Start Early, a nonprofit advocacy organization that launched Together for Head Start and provided support for the recent analysis. 

鈥淭his whole [proposed rule],鈥� she said, 鈥渋s reducing access 鈥� and reducing equitable access 鈥� to families we know could use Head Start, deserve Head Start and for whom Head Start could actually make a huge difference in their lives.鈥� 

Sanchez Fuentes is not alone in worrying about what will happen to the Head Start workforce once teachers are asked to care for increasing numbers of children. The proposed rule change would remove Head Start鈥檚 notably low adult-to-child ratio requirements and ask that programs defer to state licensing guidelines. 

Currently, only two states align with Head Start ratio standards for 2-year-olds, and five states align with ratios for 3-year-olds, according to from the Children鈥檚 Equity Project at Arizona State University. That means a Head Start teacher working with 3-year-olds in the 45 other states could see their classroom size balloon. Rather than two teachers caring for 16 children, as is currently required in Head Start classrooms, that same pair of educators could end up serving up to 30 children in some states, including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas.

鈥淭hat is not education,鈥� said Cecil. 鈥淭hat is simply crowd control.鈥�

Increased class sizes, on top of reductions in support staff and essential services, could eventually lead qualified staff to leave Head Start, said Sanchez Fuentes.

鈥淚t鈥檚 only going to compound the pressure on people who are there every day,鈥� she said. 

When Sanchez Fuentes thinks about the legacy of Head Start over its past 60 years as a federal antipoverty program, she sees it as a leader in the field of early care and education, 鈥渁t the forefront of innovation,鈥� using science and data to inform its programming. Head Start expanded to serve infants and toddlers under Early Head Start in the 1990s, when 鈥渘obody was paying attention to babies,鈥� she said, offering an example. 

鈥淭o suddenly be at this point where 90% of those things are going to go away? It鈥檚 heartbreaking,鈥� Sanchez Fuentes said, referring to the fact that the administration is proposing Head Start standards be reduced from 133 pages to about a dozen. 

鈥淲e will no longer have this foundational piece of quality that鈥檚 good for kids,鈥� she added. 鈥淲hat does that say about how we care about our kids?鈥�

Bornfreund 鈥� a senior fellow at New America, where she previously was director of early and elementary education policy 鈥� shines a light on academic pressure on young children. In her book, she digs into the history of kindergarten and how it鈥檚 changed, chronicles her visits to over 50 classrooms in 13 states, and speaks to education and policy experts about ideas for transforming kindergarten to prioritize how kids learn best.

Kindergarten is regarded as the connector between pre-K and early elementary grades, but Bornfreund views the entire journey from pre-K through third grade as critical for young children鈥檚 development. 

In order for these years to lay a sturdy foundation for everything that follows, the kindergarten experience should , including connections with peers and teachers. Over the years, however, kindergarten has become increasingly according to Bornfreund, particularly in the aftermath of the No Child Left Behind Act, which became federal law in 2002. 鈥淭he new emphasis on testing and accountability under the law put pressure on schools and teachers to achieve at higher levels for each child,鈥� she wrote.

The book laments the state of kindergarten today, where classroom experiences are overly scripted and funding is insufficient in many communities. At the same time, Bornfreund finds teachers who are providing meaningful experiences for young learners against the odds. In the conversation below, she shares her perspective on what a strong kindergarten experience looks like and offers insights on how schools, families and policymakers can reshape kindergarten to help children thrive. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Why are children entering kindergarten with such a wide range of abilities?

That kindergarten year is the first accessible-to-all opportunity into formal public education. Even as widespread as pre-K has become, not everyone has access to that public opportunity, but every child does have access to kindergarten. If they attended a high-quality pre-K, the kindergarten year can often be somewhat of a repeat for them. If they were in childcare or any other kind of early childhood environment, it’s going to be pretty jarring. Or if they didn’t have any formal preschool experience at all, it can be fairly jarring. And so there does need to be more attention to 鈥� all the different types of experiences that children have before they get into kindergarten.

What are the key differences between children who have had some kind of formal experience before kindergarten and those who have not?聽

While pre-K often does build early literacy and numeracy skills, it’s also focused on the whole child. So the executive function that helps students to be able to sit and listen and line up and understand what it means to wait their turn, but also the social and emotional development. And that is one of the areas that is lacking in a lot of kindergarten [classrooms], not because teachers don’t understand that it’s important or don’t want to be able to focus more on the whole child, but because the schedule in many places 鈥� is so rigid, and the expectations of what teachers should be doing with students in kindergarten classrooms don鈥檛 allow for time to focus on those whole-child areas. 

Where did you find school districts that draw upon the research with the most fidelity?

The really transformed, starting with pre-K, and built their own curriculum. It’s called the focused on preschool, pre-K, kindergarten and they’ve also gone up to second grade.聽 鈥� It engages students in a lot of playful learning practices, and it has a heavy focus on not just building those reading skills, but also building the background knowledge opportunities for children to talk and interact with each other. Boston has really transformed the majority of their elementary schools now, and that has spread. Those approaches have spread to other parts of Massachusetts as well as Maine. The Focus Curriculum is open source, so anyone can take and use it or adapt it for their state specifics or regional differences.聽

Is it a more rigorous academic program or is it more play-based?聽

Both. It’s aligned with Massachusetts standards, and it incorporates within the curriculum these play-based approaches. 

And that’s something you’d like to see spread more widely?聽

Yes. Or other curriculum materials like that. And I would just say [that] for young kids, including kindergarten through at least second grade, the play-based approach is the rigor for those kids, because it’s how they learn best, when looking at the science of early learning and development. And it doesn’t mean free play, that kids are just doing whatever all day 鈥� Looking at Boston, that play-based learning is guided play. Teachers are curating the kinds of materials that are in different center activities. They are moving around the room when children are engaged in those activities, asking probing questions to 鈥� support children in using different vocabulary or getting at the specific standard that teachers are wanting to focus on in those particular centers. So it’s structured, it’s guided by the teacher and it’s rigorous. 

What鈥檚 your perspective on delaying kindergarten, as some experts recommend, especially for boys?

I would say that the problem isn’t that 5-year-old boys aren’t ready for kindergarten, or that some kids aren’t ready for kindergarten. It’s that kindergarten has become unready for 5-year-olds. Five-year-olds are active social learners, particularly young boys 鈥� and kindergarten teachers aren’t able to 鈥� or, in some cases, aren’t sure how to 鈥� deliver those active social learning opportunities. That’s the real challenge. So red shirting 鈥� or holding kids back a year isn’t going to solve that problem. 

Why is relationship-building so important in kindergarten classrooms?

Before children can learn from their teachers, they have to be able to trust them. That鈥檚 not a nice-to-have. Those relationships have to be in place between the teacher and the student, regardless of the grade, but it’s particularly important in kindergarten, when many children are coming together for the first time with another adult or with other children. They’re a core piece of that learning. 

How does technology support relationships and play? Or does it interfere?

I visited several classrooms in different places where children are on tablets 鈥� for much of the day or for too much of the day. There’s a place for technology. I think some of the programs that children are using are suited for supporting differentiation or just meeting specific skills that children are developing. 鈥� But the technology doesn’t build relationships. They’re a tool, not a teacher, and we shouldn’t treat them in schools as if they can replace a teacher and a relationship. 

Were there classrooms you walked into while writing this book and you were like, “Aha, this is it. This is what it ought to be like”?聽

There were a lot where I felt like I just wanted to stay all day, but in this one particular room [in Maine], I got into the classroom before students started coming in, and as students were coming in, the teacher was greeting them and asking them questions. This was a Monday. One question she asked was, “How did that softball game go this weekend?” 鈥� She was just picking up on things that she knew about students and digging in and asking them how certain things went and following up on that. And then students, during their morning work as everyone was coming in, there had been strong routines built because they knew exactly what they were going to be doing. They got their 鈥� morning STEM toys out, and they were sitting at tables and doing different things with their table mates. And that was just more of a before the day started free activity, a lot of choice in that, but kids were talking, they were working together. 鈥� Then they came together for their morning meeting. 鈥� That start of the day is a really important way to help children feel welcome and ready to learn and ready to be in a community with both their teacher and fellow classmates.

What else stood out from your travels?

I visited a classroom in Oklahoma [and] the teacher noticed the energy of her class was dipping. Her kids needed a break. So she called [for] a little dance party 鈥� two minutes to help everybody reset 鈥� and then got back to what her instruction was. In Ferndale, Washington, the superintendent has made play-based learning a priority for the whole district in kindergarten, and they鈥檙e moving it up to first grade too. The way that works is, there’s an hour of dedicated time that follows reading instruction. The students are essentially taking what they’ve learned in that reading block and then applying it to play-based learning. 

What鈥檚 one recommendation for making the transition from pre-K to kindergarten smoother?

One thing I would say is to give pre-K through first grade teachers dedicated time to plan together. 鈥� Having that dedicated time to think together and to plan together is one of the most high-leverage things that schools can do. Teachers appreciate it too.

What advice do you have for parents?聽

Ask questions about what kindergarten looks like. What opportunities are there for play-based learning, for building relationships, for science? One of the things I point out is that science is almost all but gone from a lot of kindergarten classrooms because there’s just not the time for it. So really probing and asking those kinds of questions of the teacher, but also of the principal is important for parents to be doing. 

What about policymakers?

Kindergarten is really the only grade where we fund it like an afterthought, but then [we] call it this important foundation. We should invest in what it takes to deliver on the teaching and learning that aligns with how we know students learn.

The program, which comes at no cost to families, added a new, pre-kindergarten grade level to public school districts throughout the state. The 2026-27 school year marks the second full year that all 4-year-olds in California are eligible for TK. 

It is, in many respects, a boon for families and the state. But for early care and education providers 鈥� many of whom have long depended on the lower cost of serving preschoolers to help offset the more expensive work of caring for infants and toddlers 鈥� the siphoning of 4-year-olds from their enrollment represents an existential threat to their businesses and, they say, the health of the sector and variety of options available to families statewide. 

Already, some private preschools have closed their doors permanently; others are trying 鈥� and often struggling 鈥� to pivot to serve younger children. 

鈥淧arents will likely have fewer choices for pre-K in the long run,鈥� said Anna Powell, associate director of research and policy at the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California, Berkeley. 鈥淚f we sort of accept that the 4s and 5s will move into TK, many providers will not be able to serve 3s and younger. If that happens, we could see fewer options for younger children as well.鈥�

Details of the challenges that TK has created for California providers are captured in her organization鈥檚 , which used data collected from a survey of 10,000 early childhood educators and focus groups with center directors and family childcare providers. 

TK expansion is just one piece of California鈥檚 鈥� it鈥檚 even just one element in the Master Plan to achieve universal pre-K for all 4-year-olds 鈥� but it is the one that has received the most attention and investment by far, said Powell, lead author of the report. 

鈥淭K has reached critical mass,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hat started as a trickle is now a tidal wave of movement. We have to reckon with that as a state.鈥�

In the 2025-26 school year, when all California children who turned 4 years old by Sept. 1 became eligible, about 52% of the eligible TK population had 鈥� more than 200,000 children, according to the California Budget and Policy Center. 

鈥淭his might seem like not a big deal,鈥� Powell added, noting that many people wonder why early care and education programs who have lost 4- and 5-year-olds can鈥檛 just pivot to care for more infants and toddlers. 鈥淭he business model has been calibrated where 4s and 5s are the biggest and most stable group. When you start to tinker with that, it can really raise problems for providers.鈥�

California is to roll out free, universal preschool for 4-year-olds, although no program ends up looking the same, given the fragmented system of early care and education in the United States, noted Powell. California鈥檚 approach of adding a new grade level to schools and making that the 鈥渙ne free choice鈥� for families inevitably pits the public option versus the private ones. 

An alternative, such as one , supports the mixed-delivery system of early care and education; the state pays licensed providers across a range of settings 鈥� such as centers, homes and schools 鈥� to serve 4-year-olds and lets families choose which setting best fits their needs. 

So when the public option is free, it becomes hard for private providers to find a winning argument with the families of 4-year-olds. 

That was true for Heather Posner. 

Posner is the former director of the , which closed permanently on June 12 after losing too much of its enrollment to the public TK program, she said. In the three years leading up to its full implementation in fall 2025, 鈥淚 lost a preschool classroom every year,鈥� Posner said. Her enrollment went from 30 kids one year, to 20 the next, and finally to 10 children last school year, she said. When the spring term ended, the school shut down. 

The garden school was licensed to serve children from age 2 to 6. Posner鈥檚 plan had been to 鈥減ick up extra 2s,鈥� creating classrooms for younger 2-year-olds and older ones. But between a low birth rate, hiring extra staff and all of the changes she would have had to make to the space to comply with licensing requirements for serving younger children, it just didn鈥檛 seem feasible. 

鈥淚t was kind of a double whammy,鈥� Posner said of losing older kids and being unable to adapt easily to serve the younger ones. 

In early care and education, staffing makes up the vast majority of a program鈥檚 costs. States set requirements for adult-to-child ratios based on age, since younger children typically need more attention and care. At a center-based program in California, three adults are required to care for 12 infants, while only one adult is needed to care for 12 4-year-olds. While childcare costs for infants tend to be higher than for preschoolers, it is not three times as high. As a result, older children help subsidize the cost of caring for younger children in many programs. 

Because of the challenges inherent in caring for infants and toddlers (defined as children under age 3), only one quarter of childcare centers in California are licensed to serve that age group, CSCCE found. The majority of programs, including the now-closed Carquinez Garden School, focus on serving older kids. 

Programs cannot pivot to serving infants and toddlers overnight, providers told CSCCE. Not only does it require more staff, it requires staff with different expertise and experience. 

鈥淥ur past research shows becoming an infant/toddler teacher is not a priority for preschool teachers,鈥� said Powell. 鈥淧reschool teaching is an identity.鈥�

Even for center-based administrators who want to make the switch, it鈥檚 not as simple as saying yes. Programs designed for older children typically have playground equipment higher off the ground that is not safe for children crawling or new to walking. They have fewer changing areas than would be needed for younger children. Prices would also need to be raised on parents to help afford the additional teachers. 鈥淎ll of those things would be necessary along the way,鈥� Powell explained. Several program leaders who have applied for a license to serve younger children told CSCCE they鈥檙e still in a queue with the state licensing division, waiting to get approved.

Family child care providers, who work out of their homes, face another set of constraints.

Rachel Bymun is the owner and director of Luv Muffins Preschool & Childcare, which she has run with her husband for the past 17 years. It is licensed as a large family childcare, meaning they can serve up to 14 kids. Only four of those children, however, can be under age 2, according to state licensing requirements. 

So even if Bymun wanted to transition to serving more infants and toddlers, she and other home-based providers are strictly limited in how many they can take. 

鈥淩eally everyone is struggling, maybe for slightly different reasons,鈥� Powell said of providers. 鈥淣one of them can beat the trend and keep their 4-year-olds.鈥�

Many are trying anyway, though. Bymun is one of the California providers who has been dabbling in marketing and education with families, she said. 

鈥淲e are trying to be more diligent about how we explain our program and what we do,鈥� she said, adding that she feels strongly that her program has several advantages over TK, even if the public program is free. 

For one, most traditional early care and education programs have smaller class sizes than TK. That means each child gets more attention and engagement from teachers, Bymun said. Another is that many children start in Bymun鈥檚 program and have 鈥渃ontinuity of care from 0 to 5,鈥� which she finds meaningful. Then there鈥檚 the fact that most TK programs are half-day, which is not a childcare solution for working parents; they still need to find another arrangement for their child for the second part of the day. 

TK is also more structured and academic. Some families now believe that, by age 4, that鈥檚 what their child needs to be 鈥渒indergarten ready,鈥� Bymun said. But she rejects the idea that 鈥渁 kid needs to be able to do a worksheet, sit at a desk and be quiet. We all know that鈥檚 not how kids learn, and it鈥檚 not best practice.鈥� 

Bymun鈥檚 program is nature-based and takes place primarily outdoors. Everything from reading, to dramatic play, to math instruction is held outside. That creates a stark contrast between her program setting and a school-based one, she said. 

Still, what Bymun and countless other California providers have found is that, even with their upsides, it鈥檚 hard to compete with free. Bymun鈥檚 preschool program is $360 per week for a 4-year-old, or about $18,000 a year. That鈥檚 a hard pill to swallow for a family who could otherwise choose the no-cost public TK option. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 going to be a lot more of us closing down, as it gets harder and harder to compete with 鈥榝ree鈥� and compete with the marketing of, 鈥榊our kids should go to TK,鈥欌�� Bymun said. 

Bymun was able to make inroads with her current families this year. She has 13 kids enrolled and is considered 鈥渇ull.鈥� One is school-aged, four are under age 2, and the rest are in that 2- to 5-year range, she said. This is the first year that she鈥檇 been able to convince her families with 4-year-olds to stay in her program instead of leaving for TK, she said. Next year, she said, could be a different story. 

鈥淧eople are ultimately price sensitive,鈥� said Powell of CSCCE. 鈥淓ven if they had a wonderful experience when their child was 3, it ends up not being much of a choice after all.鈥�

It鈥檚 not too late for the state and counties to step in to support providers during this period of upheaval and transition, Powell said. They could provide grants so teachers can get trained on working with children from birth to age 3 and programs can convert their facilities and equipment to better serve younger children. The state could focus on reducing turnaround times for centers that need to update their licensing to serve younger children. The state could increase reimbursement rates for providers who accept children whose families pay with subsidies. And the state could give more attention to the other pillars of its universal preschool strategy 鈥� not just TK. 

The impact on providers throughout the state is already being felt, Powell said, but 鈥淐alifornia doesn鈥檛 have to sit back and let this happen.鈥�

Multiple surveys of American parents over the past few years have revealed that pressures are mounting. In Stress in America 2023, an annual survey conducted by the American Psychological Association, parents were more likely than other adults to report certain stressors; reported that on most days, their stress is completely overwhelming. In April 2025, more than of parents of young children indicated experiencing emotional distress, according to data from the RAPID Survey Project. A survey published in May by New America found that who have children under age 6 expressed that they wished they had more quality time with their children. 

With this reality for parents, it鈥檚 no wonder that debates over the American childcare sector are intensifying as the midterm elections approach. 

A recent report, , reveals that in the absence of a functional childcare system that meets their needs, many families rely on a patchwork of informal and formal care for their babies and young kids. More than two-thirds of children under age 5, the analysis found, receive care from a relative and grandparents play a large and growing part in this picture, with nearly half of children under age 5 cared for by a grandparent.

Authored by economist Sarah Jane Glynn and published by the Roosevelt Institute, the report draws upon 2023 data from the U.S. Census Bureau鈥檚 , a longitudinal survey that provides detailed information on families鈥� childcare arrangements as well as income, employment, household composition and government program participation. Over the years, the U.S. Census Bureau has released reports on childcare using data from the survey, but the most recent version was published in 2013 with data gathered in 2011. Glynn鈥檚 analysis compares the data from 2023 with the data from 2011. 

: 鈥淔amilies are assembling care from the options available to them. A week of care might include a grandparent, an after-school program or a parent watching a child while trying to work. Some arrangements fit a family鈥檚 needs. Others reflect a more difficult reality of formal care that may be too expensive, too far away, or unavailable when parents need it.鈥�

In the interview below, Glynn, whose career includes time with the U.S. Department of Labor and the Center for American Progress, highlights how the current childcare economy differs from the more traditional center-based model often reflected in legislation and political debate. 

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

When analyzing the data, what are the big patterns you noticed?

The biggest change has to do with mothers reporting that they’re caring for their children at the same time that they’re doing other things. More than six times as many moms are saying that in 2023, relative to 2011. 

Do you anticipate that this trend will continue?

I think some of that is going to be sticky, honestly. We have seen some shifts in terms of expectations and the ways that people are organizing their work lives and their personal lives. And you can spin that in multiple ways. Whether it’s viewed as a positive or a negative, I think depends on perspective. 

Does this obligation of simultaneous work and caregiving represent a new way of balancing the economy on the backs of women?

Absolutely. And I think the age of the children really matters a lot here too, because if you’re thinking about a parent who’s a mom in her home office working, and her 8-year-old or 9-year-old is at the kitchen table working on homework in the afternoon after they’ve come home from school, technically, that mom is still supervising her child in some way. She’s still in the house. It’s what time-use researchers would call 鈥渟econdary childcare.鈥� You’re sort of supervising the kid and that you’re home if there’s an emergency or something, but you’re not actively engaging with them in the same way you would with a younger child. But we still see really high rates of moms reporting that they’re caring for their kid while they’re working or otherwise busy for children who are under 5. 

When you’ve got over a quarter of mothers saying that they’re watching their child who is under 5 while they’re working or doing something else, that is, to me, a very striking finding and is showing just how incredibly stretched those moms are, because that’s a lot to be juggling at the same time. You’re working, you’re going to school, you’re doing something else that requires your full attention and you’re taking care of a baby, a toddler, a preschooler. 

What other pressures are parents of young children facing?

Childcare prices have gone up at rates that are higher and faster than overall inflation. Everything has gotten more expensive, but childcare has gotten even more expensive in ways that are not just about what’s been happening across the economy more broadly. And there’s just extreme shortages in a lot of places where there are not enough slots. 鈥� Those waitlists can be really long. And anecdotally, I know people whose kids were entering pre-K when they finally got a call from the daycare center that they’d been on the waitlist for for three or four years.

What are the consequences of this situation?

Nobody wants children to be in an unsafe environment where there aren’t enough teachers, where the ratios are really bad, but that’s the scenario that we’re creating when we continue to erode job quality. Why would somebody want to enter into this field 鈥� even if they are passionate about it, deeply skilled and have a background in education 鈥� if people get burned out and leave because they can’t afford to continue working as early childhood educators? 鈥�

There’s a million different reasons why this is a market failure, but there has to be government intervention, in terms of funding, or we’re never going to be able to solve this problem. 鈥� I am heartened because there are multiple bipartisan bills in Congress right now. This is a bipartisan issue. Folks across the political spectrum understand why it’s a problem, that it requires a lot of money and that we鈥檝e got to figure out where that will come from.

Between 2011 and 2023, the years you analyzed data from, there were a number of factors that shaped your findings, including the pandemic and the rise of remote work. What else do you think comes into play? 

Some of them are what I would argue are more overall positive shifts, [including] heightened labor force participation among women, and among mothers specifically. 鈥� There were also some negative factors that were pushing folks into the labor force, like increased inflation and rising costs, but we had women and moms who, in other times might not have worked 鈥� who might have stayed home 鈥� going into the labor force during that time period. But you also have, at the same time, a lot of issues in terms of accessing childcare. We saw the number of childcare centers decline during the pandemic. A lot of those rebounded. There were a lot of efforts and a lot of money that was pumped into childcare as a result of pandemic spending to try to fix that problem. 

But the funding didn鈥檛 last.

No, it wasn’t sustained. So that’s part of the problem, too. Do folks have access? How uneven is that access? And so much of this depends on where you live, because there’s so much variation state to state in terms of the investments that are made in childcare access.

Which data trends surprised you?

One of the things that shocked me was how high the rate of grandparent care was. I did not expect to see such a large share of children being routinely regularly cared for by their grandparents. 鈥� I think about this in terms of people I know. My parents are not providing day-to-day care for my niece and nephews, but they do end up providing a good amount of childcare. And that’s great for us because my parents are retired. They are healthy and active and able to do that. That is a beneficial choice that my sister and my brother are making for their family when they have grandma and grandpa watching their kids. But for other families, maybe grandma doesn’t want to watch the kids or maybe she’s not in great health or doesn’t have great mobility, but she’s around and she’ll do it for free. And so it may not be the optimal choice that a family would want.

What kinds of research need to happen to build upon the data presented in this report? 

In this research, we’re really focused on the children. The kids are the focus. Where are they? Who’s watching them? The [next step] is looking at the parents and looking at work disruptions as a result of childcare problems. Who’s experiencing a work disruption 鈥� whether that’s having to take a day off, having to cut their hours, or having to leave work entirely because they don’t have access to reliable childcare? There were much higher rates of disruption than I expected to see. It was common in a way that really surprised me, even as someone who’s been studying this for over a decade, it still surprised me how frequent this was. The less surprising piece is that it’s mostly moms who end up experiencing those disruptions far more than fathers do. 

What鈥檚 the one big takeaway from 鈥淲ho鈥檚 Minding the Kids These Days鈥�?

If you care about the economy and the ability of people to work, then you should care about access to childcare and other forms of care as well, because it prevents people from being able to participate fully in the economy.

Before I understood federal funding, program performance standards or the complicated systems that make Head Start possible, I understood what it meant to be a Head Start child.

Years later, I returned, first as a center director and later as a regional director of a Head Start program in Fort Worth, Texas. I have experienced Head Start from both sides: as a child who benefited from the program and as a leader responsible for ensuring other children and families received the same opportunity.

So, when the current administration says its proposed reforms will strengthen Head Start鈥檚 core mission by giving local communities greater flexibility, I have a perspective that is both deeply personal and professional. Let me tell you why I know I鈥檓 opposed to the changes outlined .

Head Start鈥檚 core mission has never simply been about putting more children in classrooms. The program was built on the understanding that a child鈥檚 ability to learn is connected to everything happening in that child鈥檚 life. That is why Head Start has always been more than early education.

Head Start recognizes that supporting a child often means supporting the entire family so the program offers a number of wraparound services to support families in helping their children thrive. From connecting parents with healthcare, dental care and mental health resources when needed, to providing nutritious meals for children, it鈥檚 about working alongside parents in partnership. 

The would dramatically reduce the federal standards that have helped define what families can expect from a Head Start program. 

For decades, Head Start has operated with clear expectations around the comprehensive needs of children. Under this proposal, many of those expectations would no longer be spelled out in the performance standards. Programs would have significantly fewer federal requirements governing how they address healthcare and developmental needs. 

As someone who attended Head Start, I have some of my earliest memories of being cared for in a safe environment by trusted educators and receiving healthy meals each day. For some families with limited resources, knowing their children would receive two nutritious meals and a snack helps ease the burden of choosing between keeping the lights on and providing healthy meals. Head Start also gives parents the opportunity to work while knowing their children are safe, cared for and learning. For my family, Head Start was not simply a place for me to go during the day. It was a support for our entire family.

As someone who has led a Head Start program, I know what these actions look like in practice. It looks like a teacher noticing something about a child and knowing there is a system for responding to the issue. It looks like a family services worker helping a parent navigate resources they may not have known existed. It looks like identifying a concern early enough to intervene. It looks like following up instead of simply handing a parent a referral and hoping for the best. 

Sometimes, Head Start is the first system that truly sees a family. That visibility and acknowledgment can change the trajectory of a child or a family’s life.

The proposed rule would also move away from many of Head Start鈥檚 existing expectations for curriculum, teacher development, coaching, classroom size and teacher-child ratios, to rely more heavily on state childcare requirements. 

I have managed Head Start centers and also worked as a preschool teacher. I know what happens when you increase the number of children in a classroom without increasing the number of adults responsible for their care. Someone pays the price. It may be a decrease in the individual attention a child receives, a delay in the teacher鈥檚 recognition of a developmental concern or less time available to build relationships with families. Removing any of these standards will have a domino effect. 

I struggle to understand how we can say we are giving communities more power while simultaneously weakening one of the clearest structures through which quality early education exists. 

Children growing up in low-income families do not deserve a lesser standard of early childhood education because it is cheaper to administer. They deserve high-quality classrooms. They deserve teachers who have the capacity to see them. They deserve safe environments. They deserve access to support when they need it. Their parents deserve a voice, and their families deserve to be treated as partners. That is what makes Head Start so successful. That is what contributed to my success. 

For generations, Head Start has represented creating opportunity by investing in the whole child and strengthening the entire family, and we cannot strengthen that mission by stripping away the very things that made it powerful.

I am a product of Head Start, and Head Start did not change my life by doing less.

In many cases, though, people are looking to move because they want to start or grow their families, said Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin, a real estate brokerage &苍产蝉辫;鈥� making the matter of childcare particularly relevant to their search. 

With housing and childcare for many families鈥� two biggest expenses 鈥� an intersection that Redfin explores in a 鈥斅� leaders at Redfin have been looking for a way to bring childcare into their own platform for some time.聽

Now, they鈥檙e debuting a new feature, in partnership with Winnie, a national online childcare marketplace, that gives families visibility into nearby early care and education programs right there on the property listing they鈥檙e viewing. 

鈥淪earching for a home often coincides with having a child,鈥� said Fairweather. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e trying to do the calculation on how much house you can afford, it鈥檚 helpful to know what your childcare options are before committing to that mortgage.鈥�

Beginning today, Winnie鈥檚 childcare data from more than 250,000 licensed early care and education programs nationwide is available on every for-sale property listing on Redfin鈥檚 mobile and desktop websites. The integration will be available on Redfin鈥檚 mobile application for iOS and Android by the end of September, said Isabelle Novak, a spokesperson for the real estate company. 

The childcare feature will live right alongside the K-12 feature from GreatSchools 鈥� a nonprofit that rates schools 鈥� that has been available on Redfin for over a decade, Novak added. Prospective buyers, scrolling down a property listing, will see a 鈥淜-12鈥� option and a 鈥淧reschool & daycare鈥� option.

The 鈥淧reschool & daycare鈥� feature pulls the Winnie profiles of nearby providers 鈥� including licensed center-, home- and school-based early childhood programs 鈥� displaying up to five options along with the ages each program serves and its distance from the home. A buyer can click the name of a previewed program to see a pop-up that offers more details, including a provider鈥檚 website URL, hours of operation, description, address, options for financial assistance, language and any parent reviews that have been published to Winnie. 

For further information, buyers can click through to the provider鈥檚 profile on the Winnie website, which may have information like available slots and tuition rates, said Sara Mauskopf, CEO and co-founder of Winnie. Winnie pulls from public state licensing databases to create provider profiles on its site, Mauskopf said. From there, providers can update their pages with additional information. About a quarter of the 250,000 provider pages on Winnie have been claimed, Mauskopf added, and providers who are active on the Winnie platform will frequently update the number and type of open spaces they have in their program, since it can change 鈥渄ay-to-day.鈥� 

Mauskopf believes this partnership will be very valuable to young families for whom 鈥渃hildcare is a necessity, not a nice-to-have,鈥� she said. 

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 really critical for families to be thinking about childcare upfront and not as an afterthought,鈥� she said.

Mauskopf, a mom of three, recalled that when she and her husband were trying to find a home in their area, their focus was on home prices, not care options. After they鈥檇 moved, they ended up 鈥渟crambling at the last minute to secure childcare,鈥� even having to consider whether one of them would need to step away from work until they could find childcare for their kids. 

That鈥檚 as important for families moving to quiet rural areas as it is for those in large metro areas, she said. They will want to know if they have many options or few, and if those are within walking distance or require a drive. 

鈥淥ne of the things we know is true is that there are sometimes areas where there is no childcare nearby 鈥� childcare deserts,鈥� Mauskopf said, referencing often used to describe areas that lack access to licensed programs. 鈥淭hose might actually be affordable places to live,鈥� she added, but if care is sparse or unavailable, that could be a dealbreaker for some families. The new feature can help families see whether there are care options near the home they鈥檙e eyeing. 

Indeed, Novak at Redfin said that the childcare integration will only show providers within a 10-mile radius of the address. If there are none, a message will appear noting that no programs were found within that distance of the home. 

One detail that many families will be seeking is the cost of childcare in a given area. Unfortunately, Mauskopf said, a lot of early care and education programs still require families to tour the space before sharing prices, 鈥渨hich is crazy,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 unlike any market.鈥� 

That may soon change, though. She has recently to a shift in the industry, in which providers are starting to post tuition information publicly 鈥� a change likely driven by the fact that families are asking AI about program rates, she noted. 

鈥淎 lot of providers, for the first time, are willing to list prices online, since AI will just give you an answer anyway,鈥� Mauskopf said. 

A majority of programs are still requiring parents to come in first, she said, but there鈥檚 increasing willingness to share costs upfront. She hopes that shift will continue and can soon be reflected in the Redfin integration so families can have a complete picture of their costs before making a move.

The Trump administration is pushing a total overhaul of Head Start that could fundamentally reshape the 60-year-old program that has provided childcare and key support for America鈥檚 lowest-income families.

A released last week put more than 1,400 regulatory provisions that govern how Head Start is implemented on the chopping block. Across the country, 1,600 Head Start grant recipients provide quality care for disadvantaged children, as well as support for families by connecting them to health insurance, job training, developmental screenings, specialist referrals and postpartum support.

This latest proposal is aimed at cutting red tape and allowing more flexibility in the programs, the administration said.

鈥淭here’s 1,600 providers across the country facing different conditions, and our proposed rule will reduce their paperwork. It will streamline duplicative statutory requirements and give them flexibility for things like personnel and workforce decisions, as well as licensing relief,鈥� said Alex Adams, the assistant secretary at the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), on a call with reporters.

But Head Start providers and experts say the proposal may actually make it harder for programs to operate and transform Head Start to look more like commercial childcare than an anti-poverty program.

鈥淔amilies lose the assurance that Head Start means the same thing everywhere, and taxpayers lose a clear measure of impact that Head Start funding should have,鈥� said Celena Roldan Sarillo, the president of Start Early, a nonprofit that advocates for quality early learning.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on a call with reporters to announce the changes that 鈥渋t is important to protect鈥� Head Start, which is administered by HHS and was created in part by Kennedy鈥檚 uncle Sargent Shriver during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration. Kennedy wants to see more nutrition and physical activity requirements added to Head Start, and agrees the new rules could streamline it and open seats for more children.

That messaging, however, is misleading, said Yvette Sanchez Fuentes, the senior vice president at Start Early.

鈥淎t first glance, these proposed changes might not seem so terrible, but as you dig deeper into it, what we will find is that there really are a lot of changes that will impact what is the heart of Head Start,鈥� Sanchez Fuentes said, adding that the performance standards are not just red tape, 鈥渢hey really are the foundation for how we ensure that programs across the country are supporting children, families and communities in the way that they want best.鈥�

Here is a breakdown of what the administration is proposing to change for Head Start.

Overall, how is this proposal changing Head Start?聽

Fundamentally, the changes would have Head Start operate much more like other childcare centers under state and local rules. Because quality is such an important benchmark in Head Start, its rules are more stringent than the rules governing other childcare options 鈥� in many places, those differences would disappear.

鈥淪tates didn鈥檛 design their childcare programs to serve the population that Head Start serves. They design those to regulate private businesses and set a floor for safety, like they regulate hospitals or restaurants, not to prepare a high-need community for school,鈥� said Katie Hamm, who oversaw the Head Start program under the Biden administration.

Are there any immediate impacts to my child鈥檚 Head Start program?聽

No. The public has until October 6 to comment on the proposed rule before HHS reviews the comments and issues a final rule. That review process can take time 鈥� months or longer 鈥� in addition to any legal challenges that may arise, so it鈥檚 unlikely, though not impossible, for changes to happen this year.

How would classrooms change?聽

One of the biggest changes in the proposal is eliminating Head Start鈥檚 teacher-to-student ratios. One of Head Start鈥檚 quality initiatives is that it offers more individualized care 鈥� each teacher is in charge of a smaller number of students than in most other childcare settings. The policy is both about safety and support for low-income kids, some of whom need more focused attention.

Under the proposed changes, an estimated of children currently in Head Start would be subject to worse ratios. The maximum number of toddlers per teacher in nine states: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina and Texas.

The proposal also removes the cap on group sizes, so it鈥檚 likely classrooms would have more children.

Another big change: All instruction will have to take place in English instead of offering bilingual support to children who are not native speakers. in Head Start come from homes where a language other than English is spoken.

The only exception is for Head Start programs on Tribal lands.

Are there any changes that impact health and safety?聽

Yes.

Detailed requirements on how to prevent lead exposure are gone and replaced with a broader requirement that programs prevent children from being exposed to lead in water and paint in however way they see fit.

A requirement that a bus monitor be on board any buses transporting children at all times has also been removed.

Other detailed rules on facilities, safety training, hygiene, disaster preparedness and equipment and materials are also gone; instead programs are instructed to follow state laws in those areas.

Is discipline changing under the new regulations?聽

Currently, children generally cannot be expelled from Head Start. The proposed rule would remove that prohibition and allow programs to set their own disciplinary rules, as long as they align with state and local requirements. Head Start would still need to provide children with any behavioral problems with screenings and referral services.

The administration said it made these changes because when the expulsion and suspension rules were first implemented in 2016, many states did not have their own rules governing those issues. Since then, many states have adopted their own.

鈥淭hese proposed changes are not an endorsement of suspension and expulsion as approaches to address persistent and serious behavioral concerns; rather, the intent is to allow programs to determine their own discipline policies, within the context of state and local licensing requirements,鈥� the rule says.

Are there changes related to health support?聽

Head Start typically offers a variety of mental health and health screenings as part of its program requirements. For example, of enrollment, programs have to check that a family has insurance or ongoing medical care; within 45 days it needs to check for or conduct vision and hearing screenings; within 90 days, it needs to check on whether children have immunizations up to date, have had their well-child pediatrician checkup and had dental visits. Programs also require that children brush their teeth at school. All of those specific requirements are gone under the proposed rule.

Many mental health supports, such as a monthly mental health consultation, would go away.

So while the requirement from the Head Start Act 鈥� that programs support families with a comprehensive array of health services 鈥� remains, the set rules on how to achieve that, like the timeline requirements, disappear. Advocates say this could lead to inconsistent care and less accountability.

How does this impact children with disabilities?聽

Similarly, the proposed rules require that Head Start programs comply with all applicable federal and state regulations in providing services to children with disabilities, but eliminates much of the structure for how to provide those services.

What about impacts on unhoused children?聽

The proposed rule removes a provision that allows families experiencing homelessness to simply confirm their situation and thus qualify for Head Start. Families that are unhoused may also be in situations where they are living with someone else or in a temporary structure 鈥� situations they could rarely prove through documentation.

Under the new rules, families and children would have to provide some documentation.

Would newborn and pregnancy services be impacted?聽

Yes. Early Head Start, which services low-income pregnant people and children under the age of 3, would lose a lot of tailored requirements. Newborn home visits would still be required, for example, but the requirement that they happen within two weeks of birth was dropped.

Also gone is a requirement around addressing racial and ethnic disparities in birth outcomes. Currently, programs must track demographic data on pregnant people, identify any disparities and provide services to close those gaps. The administration said cutting that requirement is in line with its mission to cut back on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and claims programs said it was beyond the scope of what they could reasonably be expected to do.

Would parent involvement change?聽

Possibly.

The way Head Start works now, parents are actively engaged with much of the decision making at individual centers. Each center is required to have a parent committee that has power in advising the school on activities, policies and services, and the regulations determine how those must function.

Under the proposed rule, those committees would be optional, and the rules that govern how they operate would also be eliminated, which the administration said were designed to give programs more flexibility.

Are there any new rules being suggested?聽

Yes, and they largely have to do with nutrition and physical activity.

Programs will be required to offer 30 minutes of physical activity, ideally outside, for every three and a half hours of classroom instruction. That would expand the existing that programs 鈥渞ecognize physical activity as important to learning and integrate intentional movement and physical activity into curricular activities and daily routines.鈥�

require that programs generally fulfill a third to a half of children鈥檚 daily nutritional needs with meals at Head Start. Three- to 5-year-olds must get healthy meals and snacks that conform to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines, and meals should be culturally appropriate as well as developmentally appropriate 鈥� infants and toddlers are fed according to their individual needs and readiness.

Under the new proposal, they will also be required to offer nutrient-dense whole foods within the framework of the USDA Child and Adult Care Food Program meal standard, ensuring that 鈥渁ll the meals are aligned with the dietary guidelines,鈥� Kennedy said.

What is the new addition around 鈥渉ealthy marriage”?

One of the less-talked-about additions the administration is proposing is providing educational material to children that 鈥渄emonstrates healthy marriage as a positive good,鈥� in concert with new strategies to engage parents in their kids鈥� learning, and particularly fathers, the rule says.

鈥淭his proposed change to current requirements reflects ACF鈥檚 commitment to supporting strong families as the cornerstone of a healthy society,鈥� the administration said.

If the rule is finalized, do programs have to adhere to it?聽

It鈥檚 unclear.

Adams emphasized that programs can continue to operate as they currently are if they wish to. In the areas where the administration is adding new requirements, however, such as nutrition and physical activity, programs would have to make changes.

鈥淚f a program likes its ratio, it can keep its ratio. If a program likes its group size, it can keep its group size. This does not require them to do anything different. As I said, flexibility is permission; it’s not a mandate,鈥� Adams said.

But the actual regulations that would be part of the final rule 鈥� 鈥� don鈥檛 specify that most of this is optional.

鈥淚f they truly mean, for example, a program can decide to keep the ratios that exist in the regulations today, the regulation should say that. It should say programs have a choice,鈥� Hamm said. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 say that, and so that鈥檚 a problem for a lot of reasons.鈥�

Head Start centers receive grants from the federal government to offer services 鈥� it鈥檚 unclear what assurance there is that the administration will offer grants to programs that choose to adhere to prior rules.

There鈥檚 already some evidence HHS could target programs it deems to be in misalignment with聽 the Trump administration. Earlier this year, the agency to Head Start programs that used words like 鈥渨omen鈥� and 鈥渞ace鈥� in their grant applications, what it perceived to be diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that have been a target of the administration.

Head Start programs in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin sued and a judge granted them a preliminary injunction, blocking the Trump administration from cutting funding while the case is litigated.

鈥淲hen grants get negotiated or when there are grant competitions, and HHS is selecting a grantee, they have a lot of power in that,鈥� Hamm said. 鈥淥ftentimes, a Head Start grant feels like they need to comply with what’s being asked of them.鈥�

Why is the administration pursuing these changes?聽

Since the start of the Trump administration, Head Start has .

Project 2025, the for President Donald Trump鈥檚 second term, advised eliminating the program, claiming it lacked positive outcomes and was rife with abuse. A leaked White House budget in early 2025 showed the administration was hoping to eliminate it altogether before massive backlash from Head Start parents and alumni persuaded the administration to change course.

But programs continued to face financial challenges. Funding was cut off at the start of 2025 as part of a government-wide freeze, leading some to close their doors. Then in April of last year, the administration closed five of the 10 regional offices that support Head Start programs.

Last summer, the administration released a proposed rule that would bar undocumented children from Head Start entirely. The proposal is on pause due to ongoing litigation.

Adams said the goal of the proposed rule is to provide flexibility in the program, not dismantle it.

鈥淚n broad strokes, what we are trying to accomplish is we built this rule around trusting local leaders to make the decisions that are best for their local communities,鈥� he said.

If the changes were enacted across programs, the administration estimates a savings of $2.2 billion that would be reinvested in the program to open as many as 236,000 new Head Start spots. There is no national repository of waitlist data on Head Start, though programs are required to be filled and maintain an active waiting list.

鈥淲e’re trying to ensure that programs have the flexibility not just to meet their community needs, but to start clearing out some of their waitlists, ensuring more children are served,鈥� Adams said.

How could these changes impact childcare staff?聽

The administration is proposing a reduction in how much money programs can spend on administrative overhead, lowering it from 15 percent to 5 percent.

The justification, Adams said, is 鈥渟o that more money is reaching children and families, and less is going to administrative overhead, like administrator salaries or administrative offices.鈥�

But childcare providers have argued that the reduction will actually mean less money to operate Head Start 鈥� money that goes to things like buses and human resources, or to conduct background checks and fix the refrigerator when it breaks.

鈥淒on’t believe that somehow that 15 percent makes our Head Start directors rich. It does not. Everyone I know in Head Start, including myself, has never become rich from being a Head Start employee,鈥� said Lori Pittman, the co-founder of the Washington State Parent Ambassador Program and a former Head Start parent.

By the administration鈥檚 own analysis, the changes could lead to at centers across the country. Other workforces that : home visit staff, health and mental health personnel, child development specialists and bus monitoring staff.

Is there any new money for Head Start under the proposal?聽

No. Funding for Head Start has remained flat for the past three years 鈥� about $12 billion 鈥� even though operating costs and inflation have risen.

How can I comment on the regulations?聽

Comments in the federal registrar . The open comment period will close October 6.

was originally reported by Chabeli Carrazana of . .

A.J. Johnson鈥檚 oldest son was born in 2019, the year residents of his home state of Washington could receive benefits from its newly passed paid family leave program. Johnson, a full-time firefighter, had to save up accrued sick leave to take time off around his son鈥檚 birth. He took six weeks off to bond with his son and said he was grateful for the time, though he felt he had to fend off his 鈥済rizzly, old, mustachioed鈥� co-workers who bragged about taking just two hours to be in the hospital for their children鈥檚 births before returning to work. 

But it was very difficult on him and his wife. 鈥淚t was certainly shorter than I wanted,鈥� he said. His wife, a middle school counselor, was able to take a lengthy leave of absence from work and then had the summer off. But his son still wasn鈥檛 even sleeping through the night when Johnson had to return to work. 鈥淚t was really hard,鈥� he recalled. He worked 24-hour shifts and was anxious about leaving his wife and newborn at home alone for such long periods of time.聽

Things were completely different when his second son was born in late 2021 and Washington鈥檚 paid family leave program was fully established. He was able to take about five months of paid leave total, including 12 weeks through the paid family leave program and an additional eight weeks of sick leave. He also added accrued vacation time on top to ensure he received his full pay beyond the state鈥檚 benefit cap and kept his benefits. 鈥淚t was like nothing changed financially for us, but we got to have that almost six months of time together,鈥� he said. 鈥淗aving the ability to be there for my 3-year-old and my wife, but also being able to bond with my newborn, was the most amazing [few months] of my life.鈥� He felt much more bonded to his younger son than his first after spending uninterrupted time together instead of 鈥渞ushing off to go back to work and being gone for an entire day,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 was able to more quickly become a more confident parent.鈥�

It was also particularly useful at a time when children still couldn鈥檛 get COVID-19 vaccinations. Johnson and his wife were able to figure out how to entertain and protect their children together. It allowed them to 鈥渏ust spend time together and navigate what it鈥檚 like to be a family of four, not having to worry about not going to work or one of us not being there when we鈥檙e trying to put a baby to sleep or bathe the kids,鈥� he said.

By the time he took time off for his second son, the workplace culture around him had changed, too 鈥� which he chalks up to his state鈥檚 implementation of paid family leave. The men he works with now almost uniformly take the full amount of paternity leave available to them. They think, he said, 鈥淚 have this opportunity to spend an extended period away from work and with my family and I鈥檓 going to take it.鈥�

Fourteen states and Washington, D.C., now have paid family leave. In most of those programs, fathers are now taking nearly equal shares of bonding leave to spend time away from work with their new children as mothers, according to a from Paid Leave For All, an advocacy organization. In two states, Colorado and Washington, men are actually taking a greater share of bonding leaves. And in states where men aren鈥檛 yet taking equal shares of bonding leave, they increased their share last year compared to the year before. 

鈥淒ads really want to be able to take leave to bond with their children, and when presented with the opportunity through this public investment, dads are showing up, stepping up and taking advantage of this opportunity,鈥� said Molly Weston Williamson, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and author of the Paid Leave for All report.

The findings track a trend in the rest of the country in which more and more men have been taking paid leave to bond with their new children in recent years. But in the that don鈥檛 yet have paid family leave programs, fathers still aren鈥檛 on par with mothers, according to by the Center for Economic and Policy Research. As of 2018, only of Americans worked at a job that offers paid paternity leave to all workers. Indeed, it is in the states with paid family leave where gender parity in bonding leave has advanced the most. 鈥淪tate paid leave programs are providing the opportunity for dads to do the thing they have wanted to do all along, but don鈥檛 necessarily have the ability to do elsewhere,鈥� Williamson said.聽

Men in states with paid family leave programs are also much less likely to forgo taking leave at all. Before any of the programs started up, three-quarters of fathers took no leave to spend time with their newborns, compared to less than 18% of mothers, according to the CEPR report. 鈥淭here鈥檚 been a total explosion in the number of claims from men,鈥� Williamson said. 鈥淰irtually all of the growth in bonding leave claims has come from this massive, massive increase in claims from men.鈥�

That trend looks set to continue, Williamson said. Comparing numbers from this year to last, the share of dads just keeps growing. 鈥淭hat is really suggesting this is a lasting trend 鈥� we鈥檙e not seeing a blip,鈥� she said. 

The Paid Leave for All report could only examine full data for programs that have been in operation for a year or more, which include nine states and Washington, D.C. But preliminary data from those that launched in 2026 is also promising, according to Paid Leave For All鈥檚 report. In Delaware, fathers took 46% of bonding leaves, compared to 54% for mothers, and in Maine it was 44% for fathers and 56% for mothers. The gap was wider in Minnesota 鈥� 36% of bonding leaves for fathers compared to 64% for mothers 鈥� but it was still off to a better start than California, the first state with a paid family leave program, where men took just 15% of bonding leaves in 2004, the program鈥檚 first year. 

Things have also changed greatly in California and many of the other early states to get to such equal numbers. California and New Jersey, for example, have increased how much money employees can receive while on paid family leave and added job protection so they can return to their positions when leave is over, Williamson said. That鈥檚 helped fathers take more advantage of the programs: In New Jersey, men accounted for 11% of bonding leave claims in the program鈥檚 first year, and 33% last year, according to the Paid Leave For All report. Last year, California fathers accounted for 50% of bonding leaves.

Research has revealed that there are a multitude of benefits when fathers take paternity leave. It can . The confidence fathers gain from caring for and bonding with their newborns has been found to when their children are older and help them with their children. Paternity leave also how heterosexual couples share childcare and paid work, with fathers more likely to at home. Research shows the benefit can and can . When fathers take leave, it benefits mothers too: it , improves their and increases . 

鈥淒ads taking leave is good for everybody,鈥� Williamson said. 

James Liu, who works for a small technology company in San Francisco, took his 12 weeks of leave in two batches a year ago when his daughter was born. For him, living in a state that has had a paid family leave program for over 20 years, the culture of men taking leave was already solidified. 鈥淢ost families I know, both parents took leave,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 almost took it for granted: 鈥極h yeah, if we have a child, I鈥檒l take leave.鈥欌�� 

Liu鈥檚 employer topped off California鈥檚 program, giving him a bit more time than the state鈥檚 mandated eight weeks and covering his full pay while he was out. The first month he took off was mostly spent surviving the chaos of the early infant days, but he took the rest of his time when his daughter was 5 months old and his wife went back to work, and it was far more meaningful. 鈥淚t really helped me grow in confidence as a dad,鈥� he said. 鈥淗aving that one-on-one time, I really felt like I鈥檓 a primary parent, too.鈥�

Had he not been able to get paid while on leave, Liu thinks he would still have taken time off, but he said it would definitely have been for a shorter amount of time 鈥� possibly only for a week or two at the start of his daughter鈥檚 life. He鈥檚 grateful not just for the time with his daughter, but for the peace of mind bonding leave brought him. He was glad to have her cared for at home for so long before she started going to a childcare program and relieved that he didn鈥檛 have to worry about job security while he and his wife were on leave.

Liu and his wife started looking at childcare options when their daughter was just a few months old and realized that many Americans don鈥檛 get paid family leave and send their children to childcare just weeks after birth. 鈥淲e felt really, really grateful for the time,鈥� he said, while 鈥渁lmost mourning that this is not the default for many folks.鈥�

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the number of states that don’t have paid family leave programs. There are 36 states that don’t have paid family leave programs.

The turning point came several years ago for Reed, who lives in Spokane, Washington, when she was offered transitional housing in an apartment building that happened to be co-located with a Head Start program. 

Reed, a single mom, enrolled her youngest child, an infant daughter named Evie, in Head Start.

The federal antipoverty program is best known for providing high-quality early care and education to young children from low-income families, but as Reed soon learned, what truly sets it apart is the slew of wraparound services that meet families where they are and help them build toward something better. 

Head Start provided Reed with essential goods like diapers, formula, clothing and food. Staff helped her navigate the public school system with her older son, who has autism, even though he wasn鈥檛 in the program. Head Start provided her daughter with free hearing and vision screenings and dental care. It empowered her to 鈥渇ind her voice鈥� by giving her a leadership position with the policy council, a majority-parent group involved in each Head Start program鈥檚 decision-making, a step which she said has made her a 鈥渂etter mom and 鈥� better community member.鈥� 

鈥淚 felt like they loved my children like they were their own and cared about all of our well-beings,鈥� said Reed, whose daughter is moving on to kindergarten later this month. 鈥淭hey saw us as a whole and tried to help wherever they could. And if they couldn’t, they would sit down and research what would help.鈥�

Some of the very services that proved to be transformational for Reed and her family, however, may now be at risk. 

In a proposed rule change on Aug. 6, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. invoked the name of his uncle, Sargent Shriver, who led Head Start’s creation in 1965, saying his department was “removing unnecessary bureaucracy” that would return the program to its roots. Others say the changes will weaken or eliminate most of the standards that have long positioned Head Start as the 鈥済old standard鈥� for early care and education licensing and quality in this country. “Nothing else compares,” said Shantel Meek, founder and executive director of the Children鈥檚 Equity Project at Arizona State University.

The Trump administration is proposing that the of Head Start Program Performance Standards be reduced to about a dozen pages, eliminating requirements for standards such as low adult-to-child ratios; services such as medical, dental and developmental screenings and individualized services for children with disabilities; and requiring programs to conduct all education in the English language. The , which will officially be published to the Federal Register tomorrow, outlines the drastic reduction in standards. If passed, these changes would allow Head Start programs to adhere only to state and local childcare licensing requirements, which typically fall of the quality and safety standards long embraced by Head Start.

鈥淚t basically takes the country from the ceiling to the floor,鈥� said Meek. 鈥淭he kids that Head Start serves will bear the brunt of the impact, but it will go beyond. States and the field in general see Head Start as a north star we鈥檙e trying to build to, and they鈥檙e trying to tear that down and gut the heart of the program.鈥�

In addition to removing many Head Start standards, this proposed rule would also change the cap on administrative overhead from 15% to 5% of a program鈥檚 total costs. Trump officials believe this, plus other cost-saving measures such as having fewer teachers on staff, serving more children in each classroom and spending less money on services such as home visiting and mental health supports, will reinvest up to $2.2 billion in the program, allowing Head Start to 鈥減reserve or expand鈥� services to an additional 236,000 children nationwide. Critics, however, believe that reducing the quality of care for the sake of adding slots is a dangerous game to be playing 鈥� especially when quality has been a hallmark of Head Start throughout its history. 

鈥淚t feels like the Trump administration is saying, 鈥楲et鈥檚 see who can do this for the cheapest.鈥� That鈥檚 not what I think anyone wants 鈥� or should want,鈥� said Joel Ryan, executive director of the Washington State Association of Head Start and the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program. 鈥淚 see this rule as incredibly destructive. I see it as another attempt to dismantle the Head Start program.鈥�

Ryan鈥檚 colleague Lori Pittman, chief strategist at the WSA and a former Head Start parent, said the 5% cap would be a 鈥渞eally, really scary thing.鈥�

鈥淭o take away the foundation and the structures that build this house called Head Start,鈥� Pittman added, 鈥渨ill only destroy it, and we鈥檙e not going to let that happen.鈥�

The publication of the full proposal tomorrow will kick off a 60-day period of public comments, during which administration officials will receive and review feedback. The federal changes could also face legal challenges, many stakeholders told 社区黑料.

Katie Hamm, former deputy assistant secretary for early childhood development under President Joe Biden, said that the proposal would strip away the elements of Head Start that make it exceptional. 

鈥淲hat sets Head Start apart from other programs are its quality standards, comprehensive services, parental involvement in shaping the program, and a commitment to welcoming all children,鈥� Hamm said. 鈥淎ll of those things are undermined in the revision.鈥�

Trump administration officials see it differently. The proposed rule is about cutting red tape and 鈥渢rusting local leaders to make the decisions that are best for their local communities,鈥� said Alex Adams, who leads the Administration for Children and Families at HHS, during a call with reporters, adding that 鈥渙ne-size-fits-all mandates from Washington cannot fully account for the realities facing the 1,600 grantees.鈥� 

Later in the call, Adams referred to the proposed rule as a 鈥渞ight-sizing鈥� of Head Start and emphasized that the flexibility these changes are meant to provide is 鈥減ermission, not a mandate.鈥�

Yet leaders on the ground fear that if it鈥檚 not required, it won鈥檛 hold up in most programs. 

鈥淗ow quickly this affects families will vary by program, and that’s the problem,鈥� said Hamm. 鈥淚f the floor is gone, it comes down to whether each local decision-maker chooses to hold the line or start cutting corners. That’s happening against flat funding and rising costs, with pressure to serve more children. When a standard isn’t on paper, it becomes optional.鈥� 

Head Start, a federally funded early childhood development program that turned 60 last year, has come under fire repeatedly since the start of the second Trump administration a year-and-a-half-ago. 

The program serving nearly has long been a target of the right, most recently with the conservative playbook calling for its total elimination and a leaked appearing to cut funding for the program altogether. Though that ultimately didn鈥檛 pass, the administration turned to what Hamm called 鈥渢he death-by-a-thousand-cuts approach,鈥� repeatedly delaying funding and disrupting grants, closing roughly half of the program’s regional offices and eliminating a number of federal positions that supported Head Start.

The administration then unsuccessfully attempted to ban practices involving diversity, equity and inclusion and exclude scores of immigrant kids from the program, meaning preschoolers without legal status 鈥� and even some with鈥� . And it the federal policy protecting childcare programs 鈥� and other so-called sensitive locations 鈥� from immigration enforcement. Meanwhile, last year鈥檚 government shutdown also locked thousands of the nation鈥檚 most vulnerable kids out of Head Start programming. And more recently, the administration a Biden-era rule requiring higher wages and better benefits for Head Start teachers.

This week鈥檚 proposal to overhaul Head Start鈥檚 regulatory standards will only further contribute to the widespread uncertainty and confusion, various stakeholders told 社区黑料. And if the changes are confirmed, they will have enduring consequences for children, families and early educators. 

To middle and upper class Americans, the value of some of Head Start鈥檚 signature services may seem overstated, noted Nancy Baker, Head Start director for the Butler County Educational Service Center in southwest Ohio, which oversees 631 children in Early Head Start and Head Start across 16 sites in two counties. 

But the reality is that for many children in Head Start, the classroom setting may be their only opportunity for services such as oral care or a vision screening. 

鈥淭hese families are in poverty,鈥� Baker said. 鈥淭hey may not have transportation 鈥� If you are working in a low-paying job that may not offer sick leave, when the doctor鈥檚 visit comes due and you have to work that day, a parent will have to choose between, 鈥楧o I go to work, or do I take my child to the dentist and risk being fired?鈥欌�� 

鈥淓very day missed is money out of your pocket,鈥� Baker added. 鈥淚t becomes kind of a vicious cycle.鈥�

Head Start鈥檚 comprehensive services are provided, in part, out of a recognition that families who are eligible for the program face resource constraints and other barriers that may prevent them from meeting their children鈥檚 basic needs. The program aims to address those needs so families can pursue stability and children can be free to learn, develop and thrive. 

Plus, Baker added, physical impairments in a young child can be mistaken for behavioral issues. A child with imperfect vision may be perceived as inattentive and unable to focus. With a pair of glasses, their entire learning experience 鈥� and classroom identity 鈥� can change. Head Start also tests children for lead, Baker added. They鈥檝e discovered children in Butler County with high lead levels, which 鈥渃an mimic ADHD-type behaviors,鈥� she said, adding that 鈥渃ontinuous lead exposure can lead to some pretty serious cognitive delays.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 a holistic program,鈥� Baker said of Head Start. 鈥淚t鈥檚 much, much more than childcare. It鈥檚 even much more than preschool. That鈥檚 where the standards start coming into play.鈥�

Baker is proud of the services her community鈥檚 Head Start programs provide to children and families, from nutrition to family engagement to mental health consultations. And she is 鈥渄isheartened鈥� by this new attempt to 鈥渨hittle down鈥� Head Start. 

鈥淪ome things they鈥檙e looking to reduce or eliminate are not massive, budget-saving things,鈥� Baker said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e just good things to do for kids, particularly for children experiencing poverty.鈥�

Most of the standards the administration wants to eliminate, she added, are 鈥済ood, proven services that don鈥檛 break the bank. We鈥檙e not tied up in bureaucracy and red tape. These are health screenings. Why would you want to get rid of that?鈥�

Meek feels similarly about the 鈥渃utting red tape鈥� argument from the administration. 

鈥淏rushing kids鈥� teeth and providing inclusive services for kids with disabilities and 鈥� using ratios that are manageable so adults can engage in the learning process with kids 鈥� none of that is red tape,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hose are all essential things to make sure kids are safe, healthy, developing and learning.鈥�

Some parents have echoed these concerns. Reed, the mom in Spokane, worries about the elimination of Head Start鈥檚 low ratios, which allow adults to work with fewer children at a time, thereby giving each child more care and attention. 

If this proposal is confirmed later this year and Head Start programs do begin to align only with state and local childcare licensing requirements, many programs could see dramatic increases in ratios and group sizes. 

For example, Early Head Start, an extension of Head Start that serves infants and toddlers, allows one adult to care for up to four 2-year-olds at a given time. Only three states meet that same benchmark for 2-year-olds, according to an from the Children鈥檚 Equity Project. By contrast, in Mississippi, one adult is permitted to care for up to 12 2-year-olds, and in Texas and Florida, one adult can care for up to 11 toddlers. If a Head Start teacher begins caring for two or even three times as many children as before, they not only risk missing warning signs in some children 鈥� such as a behavioral issue or a physical need going unmet 鈥� but they are also much more likely to burn out and leave the position.

Meek, at the Children鈥檚 Equity Project, said this is one of the standards that she feels most strongly about. Another, she said, is the impact on dual language learners. 

Currently, Head Start standards include several provisions specific to children who are learning English alongside the language that is spoken at home. For example, if a majority of children in a program speak a primary language other than English, at least one staff member who regularly interacts with those children must also speak that language. 

That standard has been in place since 1975, when the original regulatory standards for Head Start were published, the Children鈥檚 Equity Project found. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 not something new and crazy and ideological that was added,鈥� Meek said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been there since the beginning.鈥�

The changes for dual language learners 鈥� including the requirement that all programs educate children only in English 鈥� would affect an estimated of children in Head Start.

Adams at ACF told reporters in the press briefing that he hoped the 60-day public comment period would lead to 鈥渞obust engagement and thoughtful engagement with the community so we can get this rule right in broad strokes.鈥� 

But at least some families and providers involved in Head Start worry that the major decisions around this rule change have already been made. 

鈥淭his is like a slow-moving disaster,鈥� said Ryan, 鈥渁 slow erosion as dollars fade away, people fade away and ultimately quality fades away. And that鈥檚 the real danger in this.鈥�

Roughly 2,000 families received offers for a spot in the inaugural year of 2-K, New York City鈥檚 new free childcare program for 2-year-olds, officials announced Tuesday.

Around 5,700 families applied for the , which were restricted to priority neighborhoods in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx.

鈥淭oday represents a monumental step on the path to universal childcare here in New York City,鈥� Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at a press conference Tuesday morning in the Bronx. Mamdani made a key campaign pledge.

鈥淲e are writing a better chapter for 鈥� the generations of New Yorkers many years from now who will start families here in our city and who will not need to worry about leaving their job or moving out of the neighborhood they love to make it all work,鈥� he said.

The release of the offers comes after city officials spent months spreading the word about the new program with events such as a 鈥� in Manhattan鈥檚 Fort Tryon Park and a judged by Cardi B and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

The initial interest in 2-K comes as welcome news for Mamdani after his administration鈥檚 efforts to boost publicity for the city鈥檚 3-K and prekindergarten programs Those programs, while wildly popular and oversubscribed in some neighborhoods, have in other parts of the city.

Officials didn鈥檛 share any details about how the initial round of applications and offers were distributed between the priority neighborhoods: Washington Heights and Inwood in Manhattan, Canarsie and Brownsville in Brooklyn, Ozone Park and the Rockaways in Queens, and Fordham, Belmont, Riverdale and other nearby neighborhoods in the Bronx.

Emmy Liss, the executive director of the mayor鈥檚 Office for Childcare and Early Childhood Education, said the 鈥渕ajority鈥� of the children who received offers live in the priority districts. Officials prioritized applicants who have siblings at the program they applied to, or were already attending that program, and those who live in the same district, Liss said.

More than 80% of applicants got into one of their top three choices, and more than half got into their first choice, officials said. Families that applied and didn鈥檛 get an offer will automatically be added to waitlists.

In a press release Tuesday morning, officials said that the application results from this year would help guide the expansion of the program next year. Mamdani has pledged that the program will grow to 12,000 seats next year and expand citywide by the end of his first term, though Gov. Kathy Hochul has only committed funding for the first two years. A found that it will likely cost around $9 billion to provide free universal childcare for all children under age 5, about $5 billion more than the city is currently spending,

Officials haven鈥檛 yet shared where the additional 10,000 2-K seats for next year will be located, except that they will likely add seats in the priority neighborhoods and some of the new seats will be in Staten Island, the only borough not a part of this year鈥檚 2-K rollout.v

Seats are split between center and . Unlike 3-K and pre-K, which mostly follow the K-12 school calendar, .

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at .

CHICAGO 鈥� A bipartisan group of state lawmakers is calling for an overhaul of the nation鈥檚 childcare system, which they say is failing children, parents and providers. 

The group of 13 Republican and Democratic lawmakers, who have spent the last year studying childcare access and affordability problems, offered an array of policy recommendations during the National Conference of State Legislatures annual summit in Chicago this week.

During a panel discussion Monday, lawmakers underscored the persisting challenge with childcare that costs families too much and pays providers too little. That has led to vast access gaps in many parts of the country as demand for childcare far outstrips supply.  

鈥淓very state is experiencing a childcare crisis,鈥� said Jenna Bannon, associate director in the Children and Families Program of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In its 33-page  laying out causes and potential solutions to childcare shortages, the lawmakers鈥� policy group  called for more private sector employer participation, higher pay for childcare providers and a reconsideration of childcare regulations that may be outdated.

鈥淭he childcare system is at a crossroads,鈥� the report says, 鈥渁nd decisions made now will shape how well systems meet the needs of families and economies in the years ahead.鈥�

Many of the policy prescriptions inherently cost money. But Maryland state Del. Aletheia McCaskill said states can鈥檛 go it alone. McCaskill, a Democrat and a childcare provider, said the issue requires investment from outside sources, including philanthropic organizations and businesses. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 going to take more than just taxes,鈥� she told Stateline. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to take real investment by other folks. We have to do this with everybody playing their part. The government, absolutely, but we can鈥檛 do it all.鈥�

During the presentation, McCaskill urged other lawmakers to reframe childcare discussions in economic terms.

鈥淲hen you talk about childcare, you can鈥檛 talk about children. Imagine that,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou have to talk about the economy, pockets and how all this works together.鈥�

South Dakota state Sen. Tim Reed, a Republican, said businesses are increasingly interested in assuring their employees have access to childcare. 

Reed was previously the mayor of Brookings, the state鈥檚 fourth most populous city. Before the pandemic, he said, businesses reported workforce challenges as their biggest constraint. And the lack of workers, they said, was directly linked to a lack of accessible childcare.

Reed pointed to a local bank that provided childcare for the children 鈥� and even grandchildren 鈥� of employees years before it became a prominent issue across the country.

鈥淎nd you know what? They鈥檙e the first place that people want to work because they have childcare,鈥� Reed said during Monday鈥檚 panel. 鈥淥nce you get businesses involved in this 鈥� because they do understand the economic realities of it 鈥� that鈥檚 when you can become successful.鈥�

In 38 states, the costs of childcare outpaces the average cost of in-state college tuition, according to , a nonprofit advocacy group. For 2025, that organization calculated an average annual cost of childcare of about $13,000, with average prices of infant care surpassing $15,000. Those costs vary widely by state, though, with center-based infant care ranging from $6,492 a year in Mississippi to $27,067 a year in Massachusetts. 

Monday鈥檚 discussion聽聽where Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham last year announced the nation鈥檚 first free universal childcare system, funded by state investment earnings from oil and gas revenues. 

New Mexico state Sen. Linda Trujillo, a Democrat, said during the discussion that the new universal system doesn鈥檛 yet guarantee universal access. In her community of Santa Fe, for example, she said the city lacks about 1,200 spaces for infants to 5-year-olds. 

Several lawmakers noted the changing federal environment, which has raised funding questions about many social service programs, including healthcare and food assistance. 

Bannon, of NCSL, said the states are now leading the charge on childcare as Democratic and Republican state lawmakers increasingly explore new legislation to childcare access.

鈥淗istorically, the federal government played a really big role, and the states really kind of looked to the feds to guide them,鈥� she told Stateline. 鈥淎nd I think now there鈥檚 been kind of a role reversal and states are stepping more into the space, and the feds are watching them to see what they do.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org.

A bipartisan coalition of state lawmakers from around the nation on Monday identified lack of facilities and high costs as two leading challenges states are facing in addressing childcare needs.

The bipartisan group, which includes a New Mexico lawmaker, presented their findings at the National Conference of State Legislatures in Chicago, along with several proposed solutions.

The report found that nearly 30% of the nation has a childcare gap, meaning more children require care than daycare centers can accommodate. Economically, the report found that childcare averages a cost of $13,000 annually 鈥� and that infant care, in particular, can run as high as $27,000, roughly equivalent to . And it found that the median annual wage for childcare professionals nationally is just $32,000.

The panel proposed seven solutions: expand access and availability; address affordability; invest in the childcare workforce; modernize licensing and quality-rating systems; strengthen small childcare businesses; find for the future; and elevate state early childhood governance and leadership.

Monday鈥檚 discussion often turned to New Mexico, where Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in late 2025 . Earlier this year, the state Legislature passed during specific times of economic decline.

State Sen. Linda Trujillo (D-Santa Fe) told a room of conference attendees Monday that work to create the universal program had been underway for years, although many people in and out of New Mexico hadn鈥檛 heard of it until late last year.

鈥淣ew Mexico didn鈥檛 just wake up one morning and say, 鈥楬ey, we鈥檙e going to provide universal childcare,鈥� 鈥� she said.

In 2019, while a member of the state House of Representatives, Trujillo to create the , which now oversees universal childcare. The next year, state leaders with an investment of more than $300 million. The fund鈥檚 balance, which pays for universal childcare in large part, .

Jenna Bannon, associate director of the NCSL鈥檚 Children and Families Program, added that the very report conferencegoers discussed Monday was born in New Mexico. The bipartisan group of 13 state lawmakers first met in Albuquerque in mid-2025 to compare notes on their respective states鈥� challenges surrounding childcare access and affordability, she said.

The work, she said, was important because childcare has gone from being a family-based, private issue to a public, economic issue. Leaders in most every state are looking for direction on how to navigate the many issues childcare affects, particularly workforce development, she noted.

According to Bannon, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts about 160,000 job openings for childcare workers each year in the coming decade. If those workers can鈥檛 make livable wages, that can have an impact on households where both parents want to work outside of the home, she said.

鈥淚f childcare is the workforce behind the workforce, we have a problem on our hands.鈥�

Trujillo said that problem is felt even in New Mexico, where every family is eligible for free childcare.

鈥淛ust because we say we have universal childcare doesn鈥檛 mean that we have universal access,鈥� she said. 鈥淚n Santa Fe, I have a working group of city councilors, county commissioners, community college and school board members because we have a shortage of 1,200 spaces for birth to 3-year-olds.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Source New Mexico maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Julia Goldberg for questions: info@sourcenm.com.

For as long as anyone remembers, no childcare center on Kaua驶i has had a single opening for an infant or toddler. Not one.

On this tropical island lush with vegetation, the childcare landscape is desolate. Kaua驶i is the only major Hawaiian island that has gone without center-based infant and toddler care for most of the past 15 years if not more 鈥� the data just doesn鈥檛 go back any further. 

There are spots on the island鈥檚 military base, but those are reserved for military families. There have historically been about 22 licensed home-based childcare centers that could also take infants and toddlers, but they鈥檙e limited to only two children under 18 months; most choose to only have one infant or none at all. That amounts to about 10 to 14 seats for the 700 babies who are born on the island every year. And hiring a nanny on Kaua鈥檌 is a prohibitive cost for many: The going rate is between $35 and $40 an hour. 

On the mainland, if parents are in a childcare desert, they often get around it by driving to the next nearest town or moving neighborhoods to be near family. On Kaua驶i, there鈥檚 nowhere to go without leaving the tiny island behind. So parents have made it work because they had to. Families living intergenerationally relied on each other to help with the care. Grandmas and aunties stepped in to help. Moms took their kids to work with them or they found a job that they could do from home to give them more flexibility. In many cases, moms left the labor force altogether. 

This has gone on so long that it has become an accepted way of life. 

Across Hawai鈥檌, of parents report leaving their jobs due to childcare challenges, according to a 2025 survey by the Chamber of Commerce Hawai鈥檌. On Kaua驶i, 鈥渋t is a very stressful situation, and in most cases it’s going to be the mother that has to to quit her job and stay at home and it puts on an additional burden to the family financially,鈥� said Carol Wear, the executive director of PATCH, Hawai鈥檌鈥檚 childcare resource and referral agency.

The situation came to a head during the pandemic, which decimated the scant childcare options on Kaua鈥檌. Five home-based childcare centers had shuttered by 2023. Families鈥� finances got tighter after the island鈥檚 top industry, tourism, much of 2020. An already unwieldy housing affordability problem . Fewer families could afford to have one parent home not working to care for their child. 

Faced with a need that was growing more desperate, the island鈥檚 first known infant and toddler spots opened up by 2024. The Kaua驶i Montessori Project, a preschool in L墨hu驶e, the county seat, opened 12 infant and toddler spots thanks to some grant funding that came through during the pandemic. Then an Early Head Start center serving the lowest-income children 鈥� 鈥� opened in 2025 with eight infant and toddler spots. Coming soon is a third center, a renovated grocery store space, that the county decided to turn solely into an infant-toddler center in response to the need. It will open with 32 seats for kids ages 6 weeks to 3 years old early next year. 

That brings the count of infant-toddler spots to about 30 currently 鈥� still only enough for about 4 percent of the island鈥檚 infants. For the Head Start center, the kids on that waitlist alone could fill three more centers, said Novelyn Hinazumi, the director of Kaua驶i programs at Child & Family Service, the nonprofit that operates Head Start programs on the island. 

鈥淭his shortage has placed enormous strain on families, contributed to workforce loss and increased community awareness of the need for systemic change,鈥� said Natasha Perry, the county鈥檚 early childhood coordinator. 

For moms, it has put into question whether their families can continue to live on Kaua驶i at all. 

Aakara Wiegand, a single mom of a 2-year-old who has lived in Hawai鈥檌 for 15 years, has to take her daughter with her to work at a rental car company. With her other business running wellness retreats, she can only do about half as many events because she can barely manage it with her toddler. 

The nanny rates are unaffordable, Wiegand said. And even finding a nanny at the last minute is difficult. She had one nanny lined up for an upcoming colonoscopy, but the nanny had to travel, so Wiegand was forced to cancel her appointment. 

It has put severe strain on her life, she said: 鈥淚 have basically stopped doing things.鈥� 

Even more complicated is the fact that her toddler is receiving early intervention services for her speech and social emotional development. The very few options on the island don鈥檛 often cater to children who need additional support, Wiegand said. Last year, she was able to get her daughter a spot at a daycare, but she only lasted there four days. 鈥淪he just couldn’t emotionally fit in that group, but it was the only option available. So that was frustrating at that time,鈥� Wiegand said.

With no family or support on the island, Wiegand is starting to research a move to North Carolina in the next year. Becoming a parent has changed her experience on Kaua鈥檌.

鈥淚t鈥檚 just not a very sustainable environment anymore,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely taken a toll on me.鈥�

Part of how Kaua驶i found itself with such a severe infant and toddler care shortage is a familiar story. In Kaua驶i, like much of the country, infant and toddler spots because no one makes money from them. Per Hawai鈥檌鈥檚 licensing rules, there needs to be one teacher for every four infants in each infant-toddler classroom, which makes staffing expensive. 

But on this island, there鈥檚 also a space problem. 

Hawai鈥檌鈥檚 licensing guidelines require of play or instructional space per child as well as 75 square feet of outdoor space per child, not unlike what most other states require. In most places that鈥檚 not a big constraint, but on an island 33 miles wide with a massive housing shortage, real estate is tight. 

Mandie Gibson, the principal of the Koloa Early School, a preschool on the south part of the island about 10 miles west of L墨hu驶e, said she鈥檚 been trying to add an additional building to run an infant-toddler center for seven or eight years, but on the island, the process is lengthy. Even if it does come together soon, which she expects it may, construction is projected to take six to 10 months. Adjusted for Kaua驶i time 鈥� everything takes longer here, she said 鈥� it鈥檒l likely be closer to a year and a half.

Gibson first sought to add infant and toddler spots as a workforce retention tool for her own staff. But the addition didn鈥檛 come together in time; she lost one full-time teacher last year when his wife had a baby and he had to move into a part-time position elsewhere. 

She鈥檚 seen families on both ends of the spectrum: those with the means to hire nannies to care for their younger children and those who had to move away to find care. 

鈥淗ere, it’s very transient. It’s three to five years for a lot of people. The island spits you up or embraces you,鈥� Gibson said. 

Kaua驶i鈥檚 retention problem also extends to its teachers. If the island wants to continue to add more infant-toddler centers, it鈥檚 going to have to figure out how to recruit and train staff. Under Hawai鈥檌 regulations, infant and toddler teachers depending on their education level need one to two years of experience with that age group to qualify. How do you get experience on an island that has never really had spots to begin with?

Toni Fujimoto, the early childhood education program coordinator at Kaua驶i Community College, has been working on that side of the problem for years, including helping shape recommendations to the state to modernize the childcare licensing requirement. One of her goals is to set up apprenticeship programs for her students in partnership with the island鈥檚 centers. Some students can currently get experience at home-based centers or at centers like Gibson鈥檚, which takes kids as young as 2 and technically counts as infant-toddler experience. But the options are severely limited. 

And it鈥檚 already hard to recruit students to early childhood because the positions are among the lowest paid jobs in the country; some students just choose to work in tourism or other industries instead of pursuing the education needed to work in childcare. Last semester, Fujimoto had only four graduates from the associate鈥檚 degree program. She is now recruiting as early as middle school, sussing out any students who may have interest. 

One of Fujimoto鈥檚 recent graduates, Alysha Palacio, grew up on Kaua驶i with her grandparents caring for her. But she did not have that option when she became pregnant her senior year in high school in 2021. Her fiance is a plumber and couldn鈥檛 bring their daughter with him to work. Her mother is a store manager who works from sun up to sundown with no days off. Her father is a waiter who often works double shifts. Her grandparents passed away. Already, Palacio鈥檚 sister-in-law had to leave the island because of lack of childcare.

Palacio chose to study early childhood education 鈥� hoping, at first, that it would also prepare her for being a mom 鈥� and kept her daughter with her while she did classes on Zoom or went to campus. It took her four years to complete her associate degree. She graduated in May hoping to go work at a preschool but is still waiting to hear back about a job.

Out in the community, she sees the struggle reflected in other moms. At a restaurant recently, she noticed her server鈥檚 young children sitting alone at a back table. 

鈥淎nother waitress comes in and she has her kids, and she puts her kids on this back table, and it clicked in my head that they’re bringing their kids here because they have nobody else to watch them, so their kids are literally going to work with them,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen I see that in public I feel really bad.鈥�

At Kaua驶i Montessori, director Marci Whitman has had to weigh whose pocketbook she would hurt more. She recently lost two teachers because they couldn鈥檛 afford housing on the island; another two nearly became homeless. But to pay them, she had to raise an already high tuition. 

She chose the teachers, who are paid between $20 and $27 an hour. 

Over the past several years, Kaua驶i鈥檚 efforts to add more infant spots have butted up against a growing affordability crisis that is among the most severe in the nation. As much as some parents may want to put their youngest in childcare, few can actually afford it.

Tuition for infant spots at Kaua鈥檌 Montessori is $2,400 a month. On an island where the median household income is about $83,000, that price would swallow about a third of it. So though Whitman may have 12 spots for infants, only three are taken due to the high cost.

Statewide, the average cost of full-time, center-based infant care in Hawai鈥檌 is per year, according to an analysis by Child Care Aware. That鈥檚 second only to Massachusetts among the 47 states for which there is data. 

Businesses on Kaua驶i are as they can. Tamara Lawrence, a mom of three young kids, opened a play space in 2023 to try to offer some respite for stay-at-home parents or those working from home with their kids. But the business struggled to make a profit 鈥� people said the play space was too expensive. 

They recently moved into a new space on the main street in L墨hu驶e and established a nonprofit arm that will help them take in some grant funding to lower costs. After their grand opening next month, they鈥檒l start marketing the Play Hale鈥檚 drop-in childcare option: two hours a day for $25. 

鈥淢y goal is to eventually make it very minimal payment or no payment at all 鈥� that’s what our community wants and needs,鈥� Lawrence said. 

The community also needs something really basic: childcare . Over and over again, the question of came up in more than a dozen conversations The 19th had with parents, providers and childcare experts on Kaua驶i. In a place where, for decades, people have relied on their family and each other for care, growing to trust more formal childcare options is a barrier in itself (for those who have the luxury of choice). Hawai鈥檌 also seriously in its reporting of incidents of serious injuries or abuse at childcare centers. Though the state is required by federal law to report such cases annually, regardless of whether there are any incidents at all, it hasn鈥檛 . 

Lawrence said that, culturally, trust was a big issue, which is why she always advises her staff to create a connection with every patron that comes through their doors. Even remembering someone鈥檚 name can make someone more likely to return.

Nora Gregg, a stay-at-home mom of a teenage daughter and two boys under the age of 2 said the philosophy among most of the moms she knows on the island is that mom should be home with their baby. Some moms put their kids in nature pods, unlicensed childcare options where kids learn outside, or they gather together to share the caregiving. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 actually how women have mothered for many centuries 鈥� that鈥檚 the village,鈥� she said.

鈥淧arents here, they don鈥檛 just give your kids to strangers,鈥� said Gregg, who has lived in Kaua鈥檌 for three years. 鈥淲hen I think back to how I put my daughter on the East Coast in daycare that I didn’t know the person, isn’t that weird?鈥� 

On Kaua驶i and elsewhere in the United States, a country that has now been in , so much of the experience continues to be shaped by what little choice parents even have in the matter. 

Connie, a single mom of a 4-month-old who has lived on Kaua驶i for five years, doesn鈥檛 trust anyone to care for her baby. So she brings her daughter along as she cleans Airbnb鈥檚 across the island. Cleaning is a lucrative job for women here; on any given year, 1.4 million tourists visit an island of 74,000 locals. She can鈥檛 afford to lose the job, which she needs to keep her health insurance. But Connie鈥檚 boss doesn鈥檛 know she brings her daughter to work. The 19th is only using her first name to protect her identity. 

鈥淚鈥檇 be lying if I said it was a walk in the park,鈥� Connie said. 鈥淚 could be just about done with the job, and she gets really really upset or fussy, and sometimes there’s nothing I can do to calm her down until we can get in the car and she falls asleep in her car seat. Or I could be just about done with my job, and my boss is like, 鈥極h, hey, can you go here? Can you go there? Can you do all these extra things?鈥� 鈥�

She doesn鈥檛 feel like she has options. She can鈥檛 afford a nanny. But as her daughter gets older, she is going to have to seriously consider asking her family to move to the island with her to help, she said. 

Until then, she sneaks her daughter鈥檚 bouncer and toys with her to work hoping her boss won鈥檛 find out.

鈥淚 have to take the risk every day.鈥�

was originally reported by Chabeli Carrazana of . .

Amid an often bleak landscape, Kentucky was recently able to pass with bipartisan support, making significant investments in childcare by improving subsidy reimbursement rates, codifying free childcare for childcare providers, requiring training to better support children with special needs and easing regulations that stand in providers’ way.

The state鈥檚 effort started in 2024 with the launch of the Kentucky Collaborative on Child Care. The project 鈥� a partnership between Convergence Center for Policy Resolution, the Kentucky Chamber Foundation and the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Center for Policy and Research 鈥� convened 40 childcare advocates and leaders from across Kentucky to meet regularly in 2024 and 2025 to come up with policy recommendations for the legislature to ensure the state鈥檚 families have access to high-quality childcare.聽

Convergence, a national nonprofit that specializes in bringing people together with differing backgrounds and opinions, facilitated the collaborative, which was able to come to consensus on a number of polarizing issues. The nonprofit is 鈥渄esigned for issues where progress has stalled,鈥� noted Mariah Levison, CEO of Convergence. 

That was the case in Kentucky. It was among the many states that came to realize how many challenges plague the sector when the COVID-19 pandemic threw everything into disarray. There was 鈥渁 surge in advocacy around childcare,鈥� particularly in 2022, said Charles Aull, executive director of the Center for Policy and Research at the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. But while there was a lot of energy and activity around the issue, there wasn鈥檛 a shared set of goals. 鈥淭here was an identified problem, we had a whole bunch of people who cared about the problem, but there wasn鈥檛 a whole lot of cohesion among those folks,鈥� Aull said. He added that state lawmakers also understood there was a problem but, because they aren鈥檛 subject matter experts, told the advocates that they weren鈥檛 sure what exactly should be done to solve it. Some had 鈥渋ssue fatigue,鈥� said Mandy Marler, a childcare lobbyist at Baldwin Consulting who participated in the collaborative. 

The group debated a number of childcare solutions over the course of 18 months. Marler came in prepared to fight tooth and nail against any efforts to deregulate childcare, noting that the state already has some of the child-to-staff ratio requirements in the country. 

鈥淚 had been in so many rooms and so many situations where it was, 鈥榃e鈥檒l just cut regulations and it won鈥檛 be a problem or unaffordable anymore,鈥� 鈥� she said. But she found that 鈥渘o one was trying to come for our ratios.鈥� Instead, the conversation was about unwinding the red tape that really did get in providers鈥� way without changing health and safety standards for children, such as allowing microcenters that serve less than 24 children to skip some requirements intended for larger centers like having a playground or cooking meals in-house.

Meanwhile, Gus LaFontaine, another member of the group and co-founder of LaFontaine Early Learning Center 鈥� a childcare program in Richmond, Kentucky 鈥� was nervous about proposals that would have the government mandate specific training for his staff, rather than leaving the choice to owners like him. But he was eventually able to get on board with earmarking a portion of the 15-hour annual training requirement for childcare providers for helping staff better support children with disabilities. The group鈥檚 process required him to 鈥渃hoose wisely the hills you want to die on,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 came full circle on that topic.鈥� 

The strongest disagreement the group had was over bonuses for childcare workers, Levison said. Members couldn鈥檛 come to a compromise on the issue, so it was left out of its recommendations. Instead, they prioritized pushing the state to cover the entire cost of childcare for childcare workers 鈥� something Kentucky started doing in 2022 and has since caught on in other states but had never been codified by legislation. 

鈥淥ne of the things the group agreed on is it鈥檚 so important it should be in statute,鈥� Aull said. 鈥淚t should be permanent and should be funded.鈥� And while such a program doesn鈥檛 offer childcare staff more take-home pay, it saves them a lot of money on the cost of their own children鈥檚 care. 鈥淲e actually did accomplish some wage supplementation without that name on it,鈥� LaFontaine said. 

In the end, the group was able to develop everyone could agree to. That included improving the state鈥檚 existing childcare subsidy program, streamlining burdensome regulations, improving care quality, and addressing the low pay and high turnover among childcare staff. But the collaborative鈥檚 members were clear that the report they eventually produced wasn鈥檛 the end of the process, but rather the beginning. They spent a lot of time meeting with state lawmakers and sharing the results of their work. When they gave the report to lawmakers, the process and wide array of advocates brought a lot of people on board. Marler, who has worked as a lobbyist on childcare for nearly a decade, said of the report, 鈥淚 have never in all my years working on any policy had that kind of endorsement.鈥�

The group鈥檚 recommendations deeply informed , which became law in April. The legislation free childcare for providers, changed state subsidy payments to reflect the true cost of care, required training for caring for children with disabilities and modified the state鈥檚 quality rating system to better take outcomes into account. It also eased the paperwork required for employers to participate in the state鈥檚 Employee Child Care Assistance Partnership, which pools state, employer and employee money to cover the cost of care, and launched a pilot program to create one-room microcenters caring for up to 24 children. 

That it was numbered six is significant, because the House saves its priorities for bills one through ten every year, Aull noted. 鈥淓ven two years ago, if we had brought up the possibility of a House majority making childcare one of its top ten priority bills, you would have been laughed out of the room,鈥� he said. The bill passed 鈥渨ith overwhelming bipartisan support,鈥� Levison noted. 

The group鈥檚 work also informed , which directs the state鈥檚 auditor of public accounts to study statutes, regulations and policies that relate to opening and operating childcare centers with an eye toward streamlining them to make it easier on providers. It passed the legislature unanimously.

Kentucky has made significant progress through the passage of House Bill 6 and HJR50, but moving the legislative packages forward wasn鈥檛 all smooth sailing. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear allowed HB6 to go into law . He also vetoed HJR50, that the auditor of public accounts lacked 鈥渢he programmatic and policy expertise鈥� to carry out the study and that it would require spending taxpayer dollars to hire an outside auditing service, but the legislature overrode his veto, and Aull noted that it did so with bipartisan support. 

The legislature, for its part, blocked an effort that could have had a much larger impact on increasing parents鈥� access to affordable childcare. Last June, Beshear a 鈥淧re-K for All鈥� initiative and convened an advisory committee for the issue. But the legislature , refusing to include funding for it in the state budget, with Republican members citing worries about the cost of such a program and what effects it would have on private childcare providers. Instead, this May Beshear created pilot pre-K programs in two counties as a smaller-scale alternative.

The advocates who pushed for the reforms now enshrined in law aren鈥檛 done, however. 鈥淲e never envisioned this as the final word,鈥� Aull said. Next, the group plans to make sure that the legislation is implemented well. 鈥淎nytime you鈥檙e able to accomplish policy change, [there is an] importance of continued cultivation of that legislation,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou need to continue to work on its implementation phase 鈥� it takes a long time.鈥�

With costs up, many are facing financial hardship at a level even greater than what was seen at the onset of the pandemic. That economic strain is taking a toll on the emotional well-being of children and their caregivers.

That鈥檚 according to that have asked families how they are faring. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 really clear that it鈥檚 a really difficult time to be a parent in America right now,鈥� said Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union. 鈥淚 feel like we鈥檙e being squeezed in so many different ways.鈥�

The administration鈥檚 approach to tariffs has forced up the price of many basic goods and services, she noted. The conflict in Iran has caused oil prices to spike. And federal legislation 鈥� namely H.R. 1, known as the 鈥淥ne Big Beautiful Bill鈥� 鈥� has led to the beginning of a pullback of social safety net programs such as SNAP and Medicaid.聽

As a result, Americans are dealing with soaring gas prices, increased grocery costs, higher utility bills, and untenable healthcare premiums that have prompted some to 鈥渞oll the dice鈥� and go uninsured, Rodrigues explained. On top of all of those ballooning expenses, parents must also weather the costs of childcare; extracurricular activities for the kids; and food, clothing and medical care for their dependents. 

鈥淎ll of these things compound and create this context of misery that we鈥檙e all feeling pretty acutely this summer,鈥� said Rodrigues, whose organization recently released the results of a of parents of more than 1,500 K-12 public school students. 

Among parents of children in kindergarten through fifth grade, NPU found that about two-thirds of respondents expressed that they think the economic conditions in the country are getting worse, with an overwhelming majority saying that the costs of housing, basic goods, healthcare, childcare and extracurricular activities were each 鈥渟omewhat鈥� or a 鈥渧ery big鈥� problem right now. Three in four parents of kids in grades K-5 said inflation had changed their summer plans. Trips have been canceled or dialed back. Summer activities, such as camp, have had to be reconsidered. 

Magda Zalewska, a mother of three children under age 6 in Romeoville, Illinois, is one of the parents feeling immense financial pressure this year. She wants to sign up her two older children 鈥� ages 4 and 5 鈥� for soccer, but it鈥檚 not something she can afford. Trips to the grocery store and fueling up her car are crushing her right now, she said. She has no money in a savings account in case of emergency; she鈥檚 always hoping her air conditioner doesn鈥檛 go out, that her car keeps running. 

鈥淚鈥檓 already working from sun up to sun down,鈥� said Zalewska, who works as an early intervention therapist. 鈥淚鈥檓 already stretched so thin, and it’s frustrating because you want to give your kids this life but you can鈥檛 keep up with expenses.鈥�

Her compensation, even as it has gone up, never seems to keep pace with inflation, she added.

鈥淓verything is going up in price,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 keep climbing the ladder, climbing the ladder, [but] I鈥檓 always at this paycheck-to-paycheck scenario, no matter how far I advance in my career.鈥�

Zalewska has benefited from financial assistance over the years, from WIC, SNAP and Medicaid, but she said she lost Medicaid coverage recently and has been told she鈥檚 going to lose her SNAP benefits as well. Already, she said, she can鈥檛 remember the last time she ate fresh fruit. When SNAP is gone, she said, 鈥淚t won鈥檛 be produce I鈥檓 not eating, it鈥檚 going to be meals I鈥檓 skipping.鈥� (She focuses on making sure her three children have enough to eat before she feeds herself.)

鈥淗ow am I supposed to pour into their cups when my cup is not filling?鈥� she asked. 鈥淭he support is being taken from our fingertips. It鈥檚 just all gone.鈥�

Zalewska takes some comfort in the knowledge that she鈥檚 not alone. She notices a 鈥渦niform struggle鈥� in the families she works with. 鈥淚f it鈥檚 not financial, it鈥檚 overall stress and mental well-being. Most families are burnt out.鈥�

Her point is reflected in data from Stanford鈥檚 RAPID Survey Project, which has been gathering information monthly from parents and childcare providers for over six years. Indeed, 44% of families with infants and toddlers reported challenges paying for basics such as food and housing in 2025, according to a by the nonprofit Zero to Three, which compiled RAPID data from families with children under age 3. That represents the highest rate in the prior five years of survey data, including in 2020 when 42% of families reported the same difficulties.

By the end of 2025, families鈥� financial hardship seemed to peak, said Samantha Melvin, director of policy research at Zero to Three and author of the report. 

鈥淭heir struggles really grew throughout the course of 2025,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 say discretely that one thing changed, but there is this kind of cascading, consistent onslaught of uncertainty and distress.鈥� 

Families specifically mentioned the heavy burdens of affording food, housing and utilities, she said. Economic pressure often affected emotional and mental well-being, with parents reporting increases in anxiety, depression, stress and loneliness over the course of the year. 

Those stressors affect not just adults, but entire families, Melvin noted. 

鈥淚f you鈥檙e afraid of paying for rent, putting food on the table, it may impact how you鈥檙e interacting with your baby or [how] your baby is perceiving that stress,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t can have long-term consequences and harm for babies to be living in this constant place of uncertainty and deprivation, unstable and inconsistent relationships.鈥�

Often, people will respond to moments of hardship by noting that children are resilient. And they are, Melvin agreed. 

鈥淔amilies and the relationships are what creates that resilience,鈥� she clarified. 鈥淏abies are resilient because of their parents.鈥�

So when parents are taking on extra jobs to cover expenses, waiting in line at a Medicaid or SNAP office to access benefits they are eligible for, or visiting food banks to make sure their kids can eat dinner, that inherently pulls them away from quality time with their children. 鈥淗ow do relationships get formed?鈥� Melvin asked. 鈥淚t鈥檚 with that time.鈥�

This resonates for Zalewska. She鈥檚 been taking on more and more work to help her family鈥檚 finances. She estimates that she works about 65 hours a week. 

鈥淚 barely see my kids,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 missing all their milestones.鈥�

Her current circumstances have left her in 鈥渇ight or flight mode,鈥� she said. Her nervous system is 鈥渉aywire.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 exhausted,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 feel it in the bones of my body.鈥�

Clara Busse, a mom in Philadelphia with an infant and a 3-year-old, doesn鈥檛 worry so much about meeting her basic needs, but she and her husband have to make some sacrifices to afford the annual cost of their childcare, which is around $35,000 for her two children, she said. 

鈥淓very friend I have with young children is facing the same challenges,鈥� Busse said. 鈥淲e need policies that make sense for young families. It鈥檚 really basic stuff. People are really frustrated.鈥�

These issues are not likely to improve in the near term, with major cuts to SNAP and Medicaid looming in early 2027. Rodrigues and Melvin both emphasized the need for policies that support families, rather than ones that continue to take programs away and make life with young children less affordable.聽

鈥淔amilies are having such a hard time,鈥� Melvin said. 鈥淭hey shouldn鈥檛 have to be working so hard, but the way they keep showing up for their babies 鈥� we need our policymakers and elected officials to be showing up for them.鈥�

Nearly every child in Hawai驶i lives in a community that lacks adequate licensed childcare, with access rates falling far behind the national average, according to recent reports from the Center for American Progress.聽

Challenges finding affordable childcare have also worsened for some families this year as they face delays with receiving state subsidies reducing the costs of preschool. 

聽measure the percentage of kids in every state who live in childcare deserts 鈥� communities where at least three kids are vying for a single seat in a licensed program. These programs include options like public or private preschools, group childcare homes and Head Start, said Hailey Gibbs, associate director of early childhood policy at the Center for American Progress.聽

In 鈥嬧�婬awai驶i, 96% of kids live in these deserts 鈥� more than double the national average. Of these kids, 86% live in communities with no supply of licensed childcare providers at all, according to the Center for American Progress report.聽

The data highlights the need for greater investments in childcare programs, including more support for staff, Gibbs said.  mean that some programs that are already in high demand may need to cut back on the number of students they serve, she said. 

鈥淧rovider financial viability is essential to standing up a childcare system that can actually meet demand,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou really need to be able to attract educators into the field.鈥澛�

The study does not include unlicensed sources of care, such as grandparents, neighbors and , which allow kids to learn alongside their family members, said Malia Tsuchiya, early childhood policy and advocacy coordinator at Hawai驶i Children Action鈥檚 Network. 

Even taking these options into account, she said, families need more access to early learning programs. The state has aggressively expanded its public preschool programs in recent years, adding more than 1,800 seats in traditional public and charter schools since 2022. But the capacity of private childcare providers has fallen by roughly 950 seats in the same time period, according to a  from the Department of Human Services and Executive Office on Early Learning. 

Hawai驶i鈥檚 workforce of early educators shrank during the pandemic and never recovered, Tsuchiya said, leading some providers to close some classrooms and reduce their enrollment.聽

鈥淲e鈥檙e blessed to have multi-generational families and aunties, uncles, cousins, grandmas that are willing to step in and help supplement childcare,鈥� Tsuchiya said. 鈥淏ut do they have a choice?鈥� 

State Aid On Its Way?

For some families, securing childcare has only become harder to navigate as they face delays with receiving state tuition subsidies. 

Operating under the Department of Human Services, Preschool Open Doors provides tuition subsidies for young children whose families make up to 500% of the federal poverty level. The maximum subsidy ranges from $1,200 to $1,500 a month. 

Typically, the application window opens near the  to give the department time to process families鈥� applications before the payment period begins on July 1. This year, the application opened on , giving the department just over a month before families expected their subsidies to kick in. Parents need to reapply for the subsidy every year. 

The applications opened later than usual because the Department of Human Services needed to update its administrative rules expanding Preschool Open Door鈥檚 age eligibility to 2-year-olds. The department was initially expected to expand the program to 2-year-olds back in January, but it instructed families to  applying at the time to create more time for the rule change. 

As of last week, the program received over 6,100 applications and had processed 1,282. Staff process 10 to 15 applications a day, Joseph Campos II, director of the Hawai驶i Department of Human Services, said in an emailed statement. The department is exploring strategies to reduce the backlog, he said, adding that wait times are longer than usual because of the high number of submissions the department received as soon as applications opened in May.聽

But the delayed release date has left families scrambling for answers. 

Parent Christine Russo said she submitted an application for her twin daughters the morning of May 29, hoping an early submission would secure a quick response time from Preschool Open Doors. But more than a month later, she doesn鈥檛 know if her daughters qualify for the program 鈥� and the subsidy she was receiving through June has stopped.聽

Last year, Russo鈥檚 daughters qualified for Preschool Open Doors, meaning that she paid only $28 a month for their preschool tuition. But the program year ended on June 30, meaning that Russo is now covering the full costs of tuition for July 鈥� over $2,700 for both girls.聽

Russo said she doesn鈥檛 want to pull her daughters out of preschool, since it would mean losing her deposit and two spots that are in high demand. Russo lives in 驶Ewa Beach, a community with a scarce licensed childcare supply, according to the .

Expecting to cover the full costs of preschool this month, Russo is worried what will happen if the tuition payments don鈥檛 kick by August. Earlier this week, she learned her application is being processed, but she鈥檚 still waiting to hear if her daughters qualify for the subsidy.聽

鈥淢y anticipation was if they open this late, they鈥檝e got it under control,鈥� Russo said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not looking good at all.鈥� 

The Department of Human Services will retroactively issue tuition subsidies dating back to the date of children鈥檚 preschool enrollment or families鈥� application, whichever came later, Campos said. Families who applied for July benefits and enrolled their children in preschool will receive subsidies for the full month if their application is approved, he said.聽

Even with the reassurance of tuition backpay, some families and providers are stuck in limbo. 

At Seagull Schools, which offers early learning programs at six O驶ahu sites, some parents have decided to withdraw their children for the month of July because their tuition benefits haven鈥檛 come through, said Chief Executive Officer Megan McCorriston. Other families who are new to the school are holding off enrolling their children until they know they can qualify for the subsidies, she said. 

It鈥檚 a difficult situation for working parents, she said, and it also puts more stress on providers. Seagull Schools will hold seats for families who are waiting to hear back from Preschool Open Doors, she said, but that means some spots remain unfilled for two to three months at a time. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 sort of a wait and see situation,鈥� she said. 

This story was originally published by . Civil Beat鈥檚 education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy, and 鈥淒ata Dive鈥� is supported in part by the Will J. Reid Foundation.

The mismatch between the childcare arrangements parents say they prefer and those that public policy tends to emphasize 鈥� which I call the childcare preference gap 鈥� was reinforced by two recent surveys. 

A administered to 1,000 parents with children ages 5 and under in December 2025 by GBAO on behalf of Third Way 鈥� a center-left think tank 鈥� found that around half of parent participants preferred having a parent stay home to provide care, with another 15% preferring a family, friend or neighbor caregiver. While families were generally satisfied with the care their children were receiving, only around half of those using home- or center-based care said it was their preferred childcare arrangement, compared to 80% of those with a parent staying home and nearly 70% of those using FFN care.

The largest U.S. of parents with children under the age of 6, released in May by New America鈥檚 New Practice Lab, echoes these findings. When asked about their ideal childcare arrangement, 49% of nearly 5,500 parent participants said they鈥檇 prefer to care for their child themselves or for the child’s other parent to provide the care. Meanwhile, 11% preferred an FFN caregiver, and just 15% listed their ideal as a formal setting.

Surveys conducted earlier in the 2020s by and reported similar results. Importantly, these preferences are dynamic: As children age, there is more interest in formal programs, such as licensed childcare centers.

It鈥檚 important to consider that most of the polls described above asked parents to envision their ideal childcare scenario, setting aside costs and the financial impact of having a parent stay home. But families don鈥檛 live in hypotheticals. There are real financial implications for decisions about childcare, and when opportunities to access free or low-cost licensed early care and education arise 鈥� like universal pre-K or childcare 鈥� . What鈥檚 more, the strong preference for parental care in the first year of life seems to implicate a need for better paid leave policy as much as childcare policy, particularly since .

There鈥檚 also the reality that what people say they want to do in a survey can differ from what they actually do when making choices. However, the data can still be meaningful and should be considered when designing family and childcare policies. It is no more justified to ignore the desires of parents who prefer their children in licensed programs than those who prefer to provide the care themselves. 

Doing so can give policymakers a false impression that all parents need is access to any childcare slot, regardless of its characteristics. However, from the nonprofit Child Trends found that among the 622 families surveyed, 64% of those that used any form of nonparental childcare said there was moderate or high 鈥渕isalignment鈥� between their current care setup and their preferences and needs. That misalignment reflected parents using programs that didn鈥檛 fit their budget, align with their quality standards, reflect their beliefs or match their ideal setting. This discrepancy can actually cause material harm: Studies have found that when parents feel uncomfortable about their childcare arrangement, it may lead to . 

Yet current federal childcare policy, as well as most reform proposals over the past 20 years, do a rather poor job of reflecting parents鈥� stated preferences. While public policy does not always match public opinion (if it did, the U.S. would have, for example, and ), there is clearly room for improvement here. 

When it comes to childcare, for example, receive most of the funding from the Child Care and Development Fund, a federal program that sends grant money to states and is a key source of funding for childcare subsidies. Families with stay-at-home parents are categorically ineligible for childcare subsidies, and the most recent reauthorization of the law governing the program, the , made it harder for FFN providers . The Build Back Better Act that passed the House during the Biden Administration did not make any fundamental changes to that orientation.

To understand the persistent preference gap, one must understand the origins of modern U.S. childcare policy. Because childcare became , the conceptual underpinnings of the CCDBG Act are grounded in the premise that childcare assistance can increase employment and earnings, ultimately (the reasoning goes) enabling families to move out of poverty.

The appeal of such an approach is understandable: It鈥檚 far easier for policymakers to wrap their hands around licensed programs caring for children during parents鈥� reported work hours than to engage with the messy complexity of actually ensuring that parents have the care they prefer in order to bond with and healthily raise their very young children. Closing the preference gap, then, requires politicians on both sides of the aisle to reframe the goals of childcare policy 鈥� and to get more comfortable with trusting parents.

America鈥檚 current approach to childcare policy isn鈥檛 the only pathway. In the past, the U.S. actually did experiment with that allowed eligible low-income parents to use subsidy dollars to pay themselves, though such efforts never caught fire. Other countries have also built examples to look to. A recent from the People鈥檚 Policy Project highlighted how Nordic nations have built a childcare system that couples affordable licensed options with support for informal care. While the financial support available in the Nordic countries is unlikely to be high enough to enable a parent to stop working entirely, it could be the key to unlocking greater flexibility in balancing work and family responsibilities.

A shift does seem to be underway in America. Some policies are becoming more inclusive. New Mexico鈥檚 universal childcare system, for example, allows and receive $750 a month per child, though it does still exclude stay-at-home parents. Politicians are changing their tune, too: Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna that would create new structures to compensate FFN and stay-at-home parents alongside licensed programs, while the Democratically-aligned Project 2029 recently that would guarantee parents the right to choose the childcare that works best for them by offering access to either free licensed programs or a monthly stipend of $1,000 to compensate stay-at-home parents or FFN caregivers.

More and philanthropic leaders are also speaking up about the need to meet parents where they are at. For instance, the WeVision EarlyEd initiative, led by the Bainum Family Foundation, reimagining childcare policy to support two pathways for families: high-quality licensed ECE, and 鈥渢rusted caregivers鈥� which include parents and FFN caregivers.

This evolution can鈥檛 come fast enough: All families deserve the freedom to get as close as possible to their ideal childcare arrangement. That would benefit kids, parents and society writ large. The more that public policy can align with family childcare preferences, the better off the country will be.

Disclosure: The Bainum Foundation provides financial support to 社区黑料.

Imagine operates as an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, or ESOP, giving staff the unique opportunity to become co-owners of the organization and participate in company decision-making. In a profession often marked by , minimal benefits and , the model stands out: Imagine is the only childcare program in the country that is 100% employee-owned through an ESOP, according to the National Center for Employee Ownership, a nonprofit organization supporting the ESOP community.

At first, when she became an employee owner, Zamorano thought, 鈥渨hatever, I don鈥檛 own anything.鈥� But once she participated in the company鈥檚 ESOP education programs to learn more about the benefit, she said, 鈥淚 started to figure it out, and it feels great 鈥� like you鈥檙e the CEO of the place you鈥檙e at.鈥�

Could this business model be part of the solution for some of the sector鈥檚 longstanding challenges that make it tough to retain staff? And as New York City explores pathways to recruit and retain the staff needed to expand childcare access with its , could Imagine鈥檚 approach offer inspiration?

Breaking down the ESOP model

An ESOP is a retirement plan that allows employees to build ownership in the company through shares granted over time. The longer an employee stays at the company, and the better the company does financially, the more workers earn. The value of the ESOP is realized when an employee leaves, retires or if the company is sold. 

鈥淚t feels nice to own something, especially nowadays when you can’t own anything,鈥� said Zamorano, adding that the ESOP is a critical tool for her future, particularly because she believes 鈥渟ocial security is not going to exist鈥� by the time she retires.

According to Laura Tulchin, Imagine鈥檚 chief executive officer, the nearly 200 educators at the company get a salary that ranges from $37,000 to $90,000 depending on seniority and tenure and have ESOP accounts with balances that range from $1,484 to $167,000.

The center, which has operated since 2002, became partially employee-owned in 2018 and it transitioned to 100% employee ownership in 2026. Because Imagine is fully employee-owned, any gains go directly to employees instead of to outside shareholders.聽

The ESOP model isn鈥檛 new: The . But it鈥檚 gained steam in recent years: Well-known companies like and are both ESOPs.

As of 2023, there were in the United States, with 15.1 million participating employees, according to the NCEO.

There鈥檚 evidence that the ESOP model has plenty of workforce benefits. According to research from the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing at Rutgers University, companies that adopt an employee ownership model have when compared to non-employee-owned companies. More from the institute suggests that ESOP workers enjoy higher work autonomy, are more satisfied and feel less futility with their participation in workplace decision-making than non-ESOP workers.

That appears to be true at Imagine. 鈥淲hatever your position is here,鈥� said Tijuana Jackson, a lead teacher, 鈥渂ecause we鈥檙e an employee-owned company, you also have a voice in the direction of the company. That鈥檚 what I love.鈥� 

鈥淲hat I appreciate about Imagine is they trust my insight 鈥� I help with the school aesthetics, I helped develop the curriculum for the week of the young child,鈥� Jackson said, noting that lead teachers are also given a credit card to make direct decisions on classroom supply purchases.

Jackson鈥檚 experience is what Imagine leadership was going for when they transitioned to the model. 

鈥淥ur hope is that we have a competitive advantage from a business sense, by centering our employees and being a more resilient, stable childcare company in an industry that is unstable,鈥� said Tulchin.

To be a more stable business, Imagine hasn鈥檛 just worked to improve employee retention, but it has established a unique structure, which Tulchin describes as 鈥渕ultisite, not tiny and not a huge chain.鈥澛�

And that makes a difference when it comes to the program鈥檚 ability to leverage the ESOP model. The childcare sector includes a mix of for-profit and non-profit models, with center- and home-based programs that range from small operations to large organizations. 

Imagine鈥檚 size puts it in a unique spot, Tulchin said. 鈥淭he culture is still the mom-and-pop personal feel with the benefits that come from a larger company, where we have a recruitment manager and finance person.鈥�

Can this shared ownership model help attract and retain childcare workers?

As an ESOP, Imagine is in a better position than most to meet the demands of Mayor Zohran Mamdani鈥檚 initiative to increase access to childcare in New York City.

At the beginning of the year, the state and city of New York jointly announced the . The program is planned to roll out in phases with opening in the , 12,000 seats expected to be available in the fall of 2027, and by 2029, when the program is fully built out, advocates estimate that nearly 55,000 children will participate.

To create the spots the program promises, Lauren Melodia, director of fiscal and economic policy at the Center for NYC Affairs and one of the leading voices on the structural economics of child care in New York, said the city needs to address a core issue: retention challenges. 

Melodia, whose area of focus is explained that childcare programs face significant staffing challenges and are often 鈥渇orced into a situation where they’re hiring temps, early career people, training people up, hoping that they’ll stay with them long-term, then they move on to higher wages in the public sector.鈥� This creates a vicious cycle, she added. Centers invest in training staff only to lose them to better-paying K-12 positions.

Leaders at Imagine are working to disrupt this cycle. According to Imagine鈥檚 annual employee survey, 83% of staff report being satisfied with their jobs, and 81% of staff say they see themselves working at Imagine in two years. Despite employees鈥� high satisfaction rate, the business still competes with the public school system. 

Imagine gets its revenue from multiple sources, including a mix of private tuition, publicly funded child care subsidies and employer-sponsored child care agreements with government and university institutions. In a time of federal and state budget cuts and rising costs for families, childcare centers like Imagine are at the mercy of legislators and the economy, while public schools have less risk.

Even as an employee-owned childcare center with a diverse revenue model, Imagine isn鈥檛 immune to the challenges of running a childcare business.

The economics of childcare may prove challenging for ESOPs

The retention power of employee ownership lies in its promise of something wages alone don鈥檛 offer: wealth-building. 

鈥淚t lifts you up to know that you own something and you want to make sure that it grows bigger and bigger,鈥� said Zamorano.

Owning a share of a profitable business can greatly increase a worker鈥檚 wealth and financial security, but owning a share of a struggling business that doesn鈥檛 have a reliable cash flow cannot. 

鈥淭he one factor that all successful employee-owned businesses have from their outset is that they are starting from a place of profitability,鈥� said Tim Garbinsky, head of communications at NCEO. 

For Imagine to make good on the growth of employee ESOP account balances, the company has to remain profitable enough to have cash on hand to reinvest after covering its financial obligations. 

For many childcare centers, profitability remains a challenge. Melodia recognizes the business realities that could limit the expansion of childcare access. 

鈥淪mall business owners are always facing risk,鈥� she said. 鈥淎ny childcare center is going to have a hard time guaranteeing job quality and job security if they鈥檙e not able to charge what it actually costs to run these programs, which none of them are able to.鈥�

New York City leaders are looking at ways to enable providers who contract with them to charge what it costs, said Emmy Liss, the executive director in the Mayor鈥檚 Office of Child Care and Early Childhood Education. 鈥淲e have to take care of the people who provide this essential service.鈥� 

Liss acknowledges that 鈥渇olks who work in childcare programs face challenges when it comes to wages and benefits,鈥� and that across the industry, teachers don鈥檛 make enough to 鈥渓ive and thrive,鈥� and providers don鈥檛 have the resources to change the equation. It鈥檚 a problem that needs to be solved if care is going to be expanded across the city, and as more states like New York and New Mexico seek to provide residents with universal childcare. 

In a field rife with workforce challenges, notably low compensation and poor benefits, the ESOP model offers providers an approach to building their wealth over time. But the model鈥檚 promise as a solution to the sector’s longstanding retention challenges hinges on reliable revenue 鈥� and for most childcare programs, that requires systemic change.

For Tulchin, the economic challenges are hard to ignore. 鈥淚t’s still a very low-paid industry,鈥� she said, and while the goal of shared ownership is to do right by employees, the math is difficult when workers are 鈥渓iving paycheck to paycheck, and the value that you’re talking about is 40 years down the road.鈥�

Nestling House typically operated with a dozen staff who served over 30 children from age 6 weeks to 12 years old. But the program had lost almost half of its staff and some families stopped sending their children. 

鈥淲e were operating in pods, there was less staff. The hours were less. Everything felt like less,鈥� said Loryn Denny, the center鈥檚 executive director.

When the acute crisis had subsided and the center reopened, there were fewer children enrolled, but the leadership team decided to reduce rates to make the cost more affordable for remaining families, which resulted in lower revenue. 

Nestling House, like many other programs, was able to stay afloat with federal pandemic relief funding provided through the American Rescue Plan Act. In Wisconsin, the funds were distributed through , a program that sent monthly payments to the state鈥檚 providers. 

In addition to supporting the center鈥檚 operating costs, the additional funding allowed Nestling House to give its staff bonuses, buy new outdoor playground equipment and purchase a gently used school bus which they were able to use to shuttle kids to and from the center. 

When the ARPA funds originally dedicated to Child Care Counts , Wisconsin was able to stretch the funding and continue the payments . The state subsequently created , a temporary 12-month program that sends monthly stipends to providers based on enrollment and staffing, which will end on June 30.聽

After about six years of receiving these monthly payments, the shift will be a stark change for Wisconsin providers and programs, including Nestling House, which receives close to $4,000 a month in bridge payments, split between its two locations, according to Denny. The leadership team doesn鈥檛 have an immediate plan for how to make up the shortfall other than charging families higher rates or paying providers even less, neither of which they want to do. 

Nestling House will lose close to $50,000 per year, Denny said. One way to close the gap would be to add three additional infants to the full-time program, which would bring in about $21,000 a year each, but the program is already at capacity, and they have been as creative as possible with ways to add space. 

鈥淲e aren’t going to make up the money,鈥� said Jannelle Litos, the center鈥檚 enrollment and financial coordinator. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 given substantial raises, we have held off and then given two bonuses which felt good. It would be nice to pay more 鈥� and hire more qualified people.鈥� Every year, she said, the team talks to a healthcare broker to see if Nestling House can afford to provide health insurance for employees, and every year they don鈥檛 have sufficient funds to do so.

鈥淢y fear is losing highly skilled staff because they can make more money and better benefits elsewhere,鈥� said Betsy Guerrero, a director at one of Nestling House鈥檚 two locations. 

In 2025, the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Wisconsin Department of Children & Families published a highlighting findings from a survey that asked childcare providers about what would happen if the Child Care Counts Stabilization Payments Program expired.

that providers anticipated negative impacts for their childcare programs, including trouble with staffing, lower compensation, higher tuition payments for families and a decrease in their ability to provide high quality care. A quarter of the providers surveyed said they were likely to close. 

At Nestling House, leaders are concerned that many of their staff may leave. 鈥淵ou get what you pay for. 鈥� If I am continually having to replace a quality hire with an untrained person, I am spending more time managing adults than curating the program,鈥� said Denny. 鈥淭he focus in childcare should be on the children in our opinion.鈥�

For Tamara Summerville, a home-based childcare provider in Milwaukee, the Child Care Counts payments have been core to her business model. She opened her program in December 2020, and began receiving the payments the following year. The monthly stipends allowed her to buy supplies, nutritional snacks and pay her staff more through bonuses. Even as her program鈥檚 enrollment fluctuated (as several children have changed residences through the state鈥檚 foster care system), the extra funds allowed her to consistently keep staff on hand. 

鈥淚 love kids. Especially in this community,鈥� Summerville said. 鈥淚 want to provide somewhere safe for them to be.鈥� She estimates that she brings in about $800 a month through bridge payments. 

鈥淐hildcare is not promising. It makes enough money to be sustainable, sometimes,鈥� said Summerville, but she explained that it’s not enough to make ends meet.

Wisconsin has benefitted from an historically large and there is 鈥渉uge discussion about what the dollars will get used on,鈥� said Sara Shaw, deputy research director at the Wisconsin Policy Forum. Shaw posits that the two main suspects for additional dollars would be increasing aid for K-12 schools and lowering property taxes, but an earlier deal and no plan emerged. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not clear where childcare is falling on the list of priorities, but the possibility is there,鈥� she said. 

Some that have gained attention in Wisconsin include expanding employer tax credits and and then directing some of the additional revenue toward early care and education.

Gov. Tony Evers is , so a new governor will be elected this fall. The change in leadership could impact where childcare falls in the list of state budget surplus priorities. But no immediate change is coming, so after June 30, providers will be left to figure out immediate stopgap solutions to stay open. 

鈥淚 don’t know if it’s possible to go back to things pre-COVID,鈥� said Shaw. Childcare has gotten more attention on the national level, and the influx of public funding has been widely proven to have a positive impact. When that funding dries up, the state’s childcare providers 鈥� including Nestling House and Summerville 鈥� will be left to figure out how to balance their budgets and stay open. 鈥淲hat we hear is that in order to continue competing they will need to raise prices, which is pricing out families, or close,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e will have to see what actually happens.鈥�