The emergency childcare funding Congress allocated during the pandemic is set to expire at the end of the month, raising financial and public health concerns for the millions of families and childcare providers who relied on it over the last two years. The funding, part of the American Rescue Plan Act passed in 2021, included $24 billion in childcare stabilization grants, and were used by childcare providers to improve workers’ compensation, cover expenses such as rent, mortgages, and utilities, and purchase personal protective equipment and supplies. But the funding now faces a dramatic sunset and an estimated 70,000 childcare programs are expected to close as a result of lost funding, leaving around 3.2 million children without essential care, according to a study by the Century Foundation, a progressive think tank. Public health experts say that quality childcare services play a crucial role in promoting overall well-being and can have significant repercussions on children’s health in areas like nutrition and sleep. A decline in federal funding, experts warn, could hurt lower-income families and disproportionately impact mothers, who have returned to work at record rates since the pandemic and could soon be making tough decisions on how to handle childcare costs, which have risen faster than inflation for five straight months. READ MORE |
