1 in 3 families struggle to find child care, poll says

More than a third of families with young children struggle to find child care when adults need to work, according to a new poll conducted by National Public Radio, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The poll also found that in the past few months, 44% of households with children under age 18 have been facing serious financial problems. As NPR reported, that number jumps to 63% for Black families and 59% for Latino households.

Even as Congress debates a spending package that would aim to expand child care and the child tax credit and provide universal pre-kindergarten, American families can’t afford the child care they need to be able to work outside the home. And that’s only if they are lucky enough to be able to find a slot in one of the country’s many child care “deserts,” where children vastly outnumber available slots.

While families have long grappled with the child care crisis, only recently has it emerged in the national economic discourse.  

“The free market works well in many different sectors, but child care is not one of them,” said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in her remarks about a recent report on the grim state of child care. “Those who provide child care aren’t paid well, and many who need it can’t afford it.”