Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years (PACEY)’s Post

Does it STILL take a village to raise a child? Last week, I asked the question: "With more grandparents stepping in as caregivers for their grandchildren, should they be financially compensated for their time and effort while their children work?" The winning verdict was: It depends on circumstances. The 'Families in Australia Survey' Report (2021) found that two in five grandparents with a grandchild under 13 are providing some form of childcare. For many young families, grandparents are stepping in, either on a casual or regular basis, to help parents balance work and family life. While some provide occasional care, one in four grandparents are providing childcare at least once a week as well as providing care during school holidays, often driven by the need to support working parents. Further complicating the issue, many grandparents are still in the workforce themselves, so they may be spending their days off providing childcare. Yet, this caregiving goes beyond logistical support - it's also about building strong relationships and staying connected with family. But here's the question: As lines between family care and work-related support blur, should we rethink how we acknowledge and support grandparents in these roles?

Finding common ground on child care, a diverse group, including conservatives and liberals, crafted a cross-partisan Blueprint for Action. This plan aims to enhance care quality and accessibility, emphasizing it as a societal good and advocating increased support and flexibility. #ChildCare https://ow.ly/XVRQ50R2yFo

Living in Florida is becoming increasingly challenging, especially for single parents. Did you know that a single parent with just one child needs to make over $77,000 annually just to survive? This stark reality is compounded by the extremely high cost of childcare, which exceeds $9,000 a year for one child. Families are faced with impossible choices every month. Do they pay for rent, transportation, food, or childcare? The pressure on parents is immense, and the impact on children is profoundly unfair. No child should experience the trauma of financial instability. We must advocate for making living in Florida affordable for everyone. Working families are bearing the brunt of this crisis. They often earn too much to qualify for any assistance but not enough to make ends meet. It's time for a change. Let's come together to support policies that ensure a living wage for all Floridians, making our state a place where every family can thrive. #LivingWage #AffordableLiving #SupportWorkingFamilies #FloridaEconomy #ChildcareCosts #Advocacy

🗳️ As part of our budget survey, you can tell us what you think about investing in services to keep children safe, and support for families and schools. For those children who are looked after by the council, long-term family-based placements such as foster families and kinship care give children and young people the best opportunity to thrive. We also want to invest in supporting families across the county to access the services they need, like family hubs, youth services, early years and childcare services. Whether you are a parent or carer yourself or just want to have your say, tell us what you think on these issues and more ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/eeyvbJCh

Child support can be confusing, and I often get questions from clients about what’s covered and what’s not. Here are 3 of the most common questions: 1️⃣ Work-Related Child Care: What counts? Typically, necessary childcare expenses while you work do count. 2️⃣ What Does Child Support Cover? Child support is designed to cover the basics—food, shelter, clothing—but it may not cover everything, like extracurricular activities. 3️⃣ Extracurricular Activities: Courts can go either way on whether these are included in child support. Often, parents decide to split these costs in a way that works best for their family. Child support is about ensuring your child’s needs are met. If you have questions about what’s included in your situation, reach out—I'm here to help! https://bit.ly/3OnRium #DivorceTips #ChildSupport #ChildSupportFAQ #Custody #CoParenting

Important report on success of large scale child care policy change in CA driven by powerful parent & provider organizing (Ty Mary Ignatius and Parent Voices CA!) Also important: role of everyone who contributed to enactment of big increase in federal child care $ during COVID, which created the context to make it happen. TY to all for this amazing coming together of national & state advocacy & organizing - creating a foundation to win again for the whole country (2025?).

The bad news is that the childcare climate is a mess. It's too expensive. There's not enough childcare available. It's so hard to find the right provider. KPBS has a new #childcareseries out showcasing how challenging things are for working families today and just how expensive childcare has gotten for families. Parents need HELP. The good news is that is doesn't have to be this bad. America deserves better and we can do BETTER. Kids Care Finder is here to help. And we will not rest until we have reduced the number of parents forced to leave their jobs due to lack of childcare, brought down the average cost for infant care, and helped to increase the total amount of available #childcare. #childcarecrisis #childcarecosts #childcare #workingfamilies #womenintech #femalefounders #startups #womensupportingwomen Kate Murphy Tania Thorne

The need for affordable childcare has become increasingly evident. It is inequitable for the cost of childcare to be comparable to housing expenses. Furthermore, while government support for childcare is substantial, the technological infrastructure of many childcare assistance programs remains outdated. For those in my network seeking to improve childcare administration, I would be delighted to discuss how Beam is working to alleviate this administrative burden. This, in turn, will empower governments and community-based organizations (CBOs) to maximize their impact.

Affordable, safe and reliable childcare is so important for families in New Hampshire.