Childcare
The quality, availability and affordability of childcare greatly impact women’s potential for economic self-sufficiency. Without childcare, women find it difficult if not impossible to obtain or keep a well-paying job, continue their education, or even seek healthcare or other services for themselves or their family.
• Only 17.4% of parents surveyed in 2009 reported having a regular source of childcare.
• Of children who were in childcare at least 10 hours a week, 23.2% were in the care of a grandparent or other family member, and 18.4% were looked after by a non-family member in his or her home. Fourteen percent were in a publicly funded daycare program like Head Start. Over a third (36.5%) was in more than one kind of care setting on a regular basis. (Source: California Health Interview Survey, 2009)
Costs
First 5 Monterey County reported in 2010 that “Licensed childcare for an infant or a toddler can range from $7,000 to $11,000 a year.” More than 4 in 5 Monterey County parents (82.6%) surveyed in 2009 reported that they did not have regular child care. Two-thirds of local women responding to this survey said either that they could not afford any childcare or that they could not afford the quality of childcare that they desired for their children. (Source: www.first5monterey.org)
A focus group with teen girls from Monterey County also identified child care as an essential resource for teenage mothers who would prefer to stay in school, rather than drop out without a high school diploma.
Confirmed in Compliance with National