Customer Reviews

America's Child Care Problem: The Way Out

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This book gives a complete summary of the major problems with child care in the United States related to the high cost to parents, the mediocre quality of most care, and the difficulty parents have finding it. The authors argue that the affordability problem can only be solved through large increases in financial aid and that the federal government is the only practical source given the magnitudes involved. They also make recommendations for more public spending to create incentives for parents to demand good quality services and for providers to give it. I found the book extremely informative, authoritative, and easy to read.

This books was written in 2001, but it's very relevant even now ten years later. It's much easier to read than all the edited, biased, "advertising contaminated" information that is available on the internet these days. We know that there's a crisis in the child care industry, but alot of people do not know just how serious the problems are. Children under the age of three who are being warehoused in poor quality child care centers are being damaged psychologically from the poor care. Their brain functions are being stunted and important developmental milestones are being missed. These kids are being changed for life by long days spent in the care of poorly trained and disattached caregivers. The child care crisis is huge and the authors havfe done a fantastic job covering the details. There are solutions and I'm so glad that the authors addressed these in their book.