Donna and Bruce Davis* were in shock when they found their infant son Charlie, who couldn't yet roll over, asleep on his stomach when they came to pick him up at his daycare center. They had chosen the reputable center, one of their area's best, for Charlie and his older sister Amy, though the fee -- $370 a week -- ate up more than half of Donna's salary. It wasn't perfect: There was no shaded outdoor play area, and four different providers had left Amy's class in nine months. But the Davises assumed that everyone there knew babies should be put to sleep on their back to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome. "Every time we think about it, we get angry all over again," says Donna, who went straight to the center's director with her complaint, hoping to elicit change.
All young families but the super-rich are grappling with America's daycare crisis, a tangle of related problems experts describe as a "trilemma" of poor availability, affordability, and quality that's taking a serious toll on parents, adding a huge stress factor to their already full lives. Typical daycare costs half of what a two-income, minimum-wage family earns. And even middle-class families struggle with annual costs higher than state-college tuition on top of months of searching and waiting for a spot. The quality piece is even more frightening: In 40 percent of daycare centers' infant and toddler rooms, caregivers rarely hold or speak to the babies and don't follow basic sanitary practices, according to a study noted by the Child Care Action Campaign.
But the most disturbing aspect of this widespread substandard care is what it's taking from the children. High-quality daycare, studies show, leads to complex play, secure attachments, reduced behavioral problems, better adjustment to school and school attendance, and improved literacy, academic performance, and even health. Child welfare advocates argue that the low-quality care so many children receive is therefore jeopardizing their ability to study, to work, and eventually, to parent.
[STYLE {*Some names have been changed.} {ATTRIBUTION}]
Jill Hamburg Coplan is a freelance writer, journalism professor, and mother of one living in Brooklyn, NY.
