Portland, Oregon — The latest data on the child care industry in Oregon highlights complex, long-standing issues and barriers facing caregivers, providers, and children alike across the state. Research from state universities and national organizations is consolidated in a new issue brief from Our Children Oregon entitled Oregon’s Child Care Conundrum: Hurdles, Disparities, and Opportunities Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic. This brief details how the COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated issues of affordability and availability for families, capacity and well-being of providers, and quality of care necessary for our state’s working parents, children, economy, and society to thrive.
Child care in Oregon is as complex as it is underfunded. Across the state, historically and systemically underserved communities bear disproportionate impacts of this system, including women, lower-income families, families of color and immigrant families, and families in rural and frontier regions. Few issues facing families and children across Oregon exceed the need for accessible, affordable, quality child care. As the pandemic has shown, working parents and caregivers—particularly mothers—require the flexibility that child care affords to work, live, and parent sustainably. Yet, the industry’s landscape is marked by ever-increasing demand and costs, an insufficient workforce and facilities, and disproportionate and pervasive racial and regional disparities in both access and affordability. These challenges go hand in hand with developmental impacts on young children during their formative years.
The United States invests fewer public dollars (relative to GDP) in early childhood education and child care than almost all other developed countries — ranking 35th out of 37 countries The need for greater long-term state and federal investments in early childhood education is more imperative now than ever.
standing issues and barriers facing caregivers, providers, and children alike across the state. Research from state universities and national organizations is consolidated in a new issue brief from Our Children Oregon entitled Oregon’s Child Care Conundrum: Hurdles, Disparities, and Opportunities Amidst the COVID–19 Pandemic. This brief details how the COVID–19 pandemic has further exacerbated issues of affordability and availability for families, capacity and well–being of providers, and quality of care necessary for our state’s working parenmy, and society to thrive
Oregon’s Child Care Conundrum outlines findings from the most recent data on child care in Oregon, barriers to accessing child care subsidies, impacts of the recently expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC), child care deserts, and provides policy recommendations for improving conditions in Oregon for parents and providers alike. The experiences of child care providers across Oregon are shared through quotations that are highlighted throughout the document, offering perspectives into the lived expertise and struggles they have faced amidst the ongoing pandemic.long–
standing issues and barriers facing caregivers, providers, and children alike across the state. Research from state universities and national organizations is consolidated in a new issue brief from Our Children Oregon entitled Oregon’s Child Care Conundrum: Hurdles, Disparities, and Opportunities Amidst the COVID–19 Pandemic. This brief details how the COVID–19 pandemic has further exacerbated issues of affordability and availability for families, capacity and well–being of providers, and quality of care necessary for our state’s working parenmy, and society to thrive.
