Child Care Crisis Archives - Early Learning Nation

Community Health Workers Can Play a Key Role in Keeping Families Healthy

A report calls for the integration of community health workers into early childhood well-child care.

Mark Swartz·May 8, 2025·4 min read

The well-child visit is standard pediatric practice for the first three years of life. Every few months, parents or caregivers...

‘There Goes My Son’s Help:’ Wave of Washington Head Starts Shut Down as Chaos Engulfs Federal Program

After months of layoffs, funding freezes and uncertainty, Trump's new budget proposal calls for eliminating the anti-poverty early childhood program.

Amanda Geduld·Apr 21, 2025·9 min read

Editor’s note: This story originally published on The 74 on April 18, 2025. After the story published, the Washington state...

HOAs are Creating Barriers for Home-Based Child Care Providers, Lawmakers Told

Proposed legislation would bar most homeowners associations in Nevada from prohibiting licensed home-based childcare operations within their communities.

April Corbin Girnus, Nevada Current·Mar 26, 2025·4 min read

This story was originally published at The Nevada Current Deetra Stewart provided home-based child care for more than two decades...

Child Care Centers Embedded in Empty Classrooms Support Teachers, Schools

Micro-centers rely on flexible licensing to provide child care at K-12 schools, helping parents with costs and schools with teacher retention.

Mark Swartz·Mar 25, 2025·4 min read

Correction appended March 27 Midway between Nashville and Atlanta, the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, makes original use of a resource...

Families and Providers Deserve More Notice When Child Care Programs Close

When a program closes its doors abruptly, parents are left scrambling for care, providers are out of work and children lose the stability they need.

Elliot Haspel·Mar 19, 2025·6 min read

Imagine getting an email that your favorite restaurant has decided to close at the end of the month. That’s sad,...

How COVID Shaped Child Care and Early Learning

The pandemic temporarily devastated American child care. Five years later, a number of effects have rebounded, but experts say challenges persist.

Kendra Hurley·Mar 13, 2025·8 min read

In March 2020, when states and cities ordered widespread school closures in hopes of curbing the spread of COVID-19, many...

Cuts to Colorado Early Intervention Program Threaten Therapies for Young Children with Disabilities

State cuts threaten therapies for Colorado children with disabilities.

Ann Schimke·Mar 6, 2025·3 min read

Speech therapy, physical therapy, or other services for some Colorado babies and toddlers with developmental delays could be pared back...

Could New York Become the First Major City to Offer Universal Child Care?

Several mayoral candidates and an organized advocacy campaign are pushing to expand free child care access to children as young as 6 weeks old.

Bryce Covert·Mar 4, 2025·6 min read

New York City could well become the first major city in the country to enact a universal child care program,...

A New Documentary Makes a Powerful Case for Early Education

The film “Make a Circle” aims to raise awareness about the child care crisis and to advocate for investment in high quality child care.

Mark Swartz·Feb 26, 2025·5 min read

Updated March 4, 2025 A startling statistic scrolls across the screen: “25 million parents in the United States rely on...

How Intergenerational Day Centers Benefit Children, Families, Seniors and Providers

Kindness Creators, a child care program housed in a senior facility in Illinois, builds empathy, fosters community and combats social isolation.

Mark Swartz·Feb 13, 2025·4 min read

Jaime Moran brings her mother, Joan Johnson, to work each day at Kindness Creators, the child care program she co-directs...

What We Can Learn From Red States’ Approaches to Child Care Challenges

Which policies have earned cross-partisan support and could be a good fit for North Carolina’s early care and learning landscape?

Katie Dukes and Liz Bell, EducationNC·Feb 12, 2025·13 min read

Policymakers across the political spectrum ran for office on child care issues in 2024. From the presidential campaigns to local...

Family Child Care Providers See Gains Under Vermont’s New Child Care Law

Act 76, the state’s version of near-universal child care, is giving family child care an overdue boost.

Rebecca Gale·Feb 11, 2025·7 min read

Chelsea Chase’s house sits on a rural road in Vermont, four miles from interstate 91. A row of cubbies filled...

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