Raising a child is expensive—almost $250,000 through age 18, according to 2014 estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. One of the big expenses many parents must face is the cost of childcare, which is at a premium in the city. According to a new report released by the New York Public Advocate, Letitia James, the average cost of infant care in the city is $16,250 annually. And it’s increasing.
Meanwhile, New York City does not have enough affordable childcare options, according to the report, and even with subsidies, many of the existing options stretch the budget of parents who use them. So the challenge for families is often two-fold: subsidized care is neither accessible nor affordable. Even with a subsidy, a single parent with an income of $25,000 a year would pay $3,172 in fees to city-operated day care (private day care is not subsidized), which is about 13% of their income, according to a spokesperson for James—a huge bite for people who must also balance rent, food and other expenses. That means that roughly three quarters of the families eligible for subsidies don’t have access to affordable childcare because they can’t afford to pay more than $3,000 in fees for public daycare.
That’s why Marcielo Solas, a Brooklyn mother of a one-year-old girl, opted out of conventional childcare options. She relies on her mother to watch her daughter during the day. “If I didn’t have my mother to help out, I don’t know what I would have done,” said Solas, 24. “The prices of daycares are way too high. I can’t afford to spend thousands of dollars on it, and I also can’t afford to miss work. ”
Other parents aren’t as fortunate as Solas, and must rely on daycare. Ellen Goldsborough is the single mother of three-year-old twin boys. She also has a full-time job. “There was just no other option than to put them in daycare,” Goldsborough said. “I really didn’t want to, but I have to work.”
Yeni Pineda, the owner of Pollitos Daycare, argues that parents pay for the quality of care their children receive. “We offer a Spanish-English program where children can learn words in both languages,” Pineda said. “Parents are paying for that quality of care. You pay more and you get more.” The cost of her bilingual program is $495 per week.
But that is more than $25,000 a year—out of range for many parents. They often decry the system and its rising prices.
Chart: Elizabeth Tew
As for accessibility, the number of available slots for infants and toddlers in public child care is decreasing. There are only 35,256 public childcare slots in 2015, as compared to total of 48,971 seats in 2012, according to the report.
For parents of children ages zero to two, the problem is worse. There are only 2,188 seats for children ages zero to two within the EarlyLearn, New York’s publicly funded childhood education program, as of January 2014, according to the report. The reason for the dwindling seats: lack of funding and of contracts in part because of the New York childcare structure, James’s spokesperson said. Funding comes from the federal government, but is filtered through New York state and then New York City before reaching day care providers through discretionary funds, vouchers, and the city’s annual budget. There is no direct distribution of funds from the top.
James’s recommendation for solving the problem: Expand the city’s childcare tax credit to include families making up to $65,000 a year, which would make 34,000 more children eligible. The current income limit is $30,000. Families can receive as much as $1,733 through the credit.
Goldsborough, who isn’t currently receiving the credit, said she thinks James’s idea is a step in the right direction. “I couldn’t receive assistance before because I made too much, but increasing the credit would make me eligible,” she said, “and it would help.”
James’s spokesperson said the next step is working with the city administration to move forward on some of the recommendations as well as create public awareness on the issues of childcare affordability and accessibility. She said they are contacting city council members to encourage them to lobby for changes to the current system.
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