Tell Congress: Invest in Child Care for Children With Disabilities!
Families across the country are struggling to find and afford child care, and centers are struggling to stay open. Half of the country lives in child care deserts, where the number of kids under age five far exceeds the number of child care slots. It’s hurting families and our economy.
Families of children with disabilities face even greater obstacles to finding care because many child care programs don’t know how or are afraid to include children with disabilities. In fact, families of children with disabilities are three times more likely to experience job disruptions because of problems with child care.
During the pandemic, emergency funding helped the child care industry stay afloat, but that funding has expired and now centers are closing and the entire system is collapsing.
To address the child care crisis, we need:
- Significant federal investment in training child care workers on how to effectively include children with disabilities in child care programs
- Greater collaboration between child care and disability services agencies
- Additional oversight of the anti-discrimination laws that protect children with disabilities in child care settings.
We need Congress to make child care a priority NOW!
TAKE ACTION
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