Over the last month, thousands of family child care providers like you staged protests across the state and made calls to bring attention to a child care system in crisis. We’re all glad the state appears to have listened and has decided to cover the costs of waived family fees!
The state hasn’t provided much information at this time, and we all have plenty of questions. We will keep working to get more information and ensure that there is equity and transparency in the process of the family fees and that all our rights are respected every step of the way.
While this is a positive first step, we all must continue to call on state leaders to reimburse providers for rapidly increasing distance learning and operating costs due to COVID-19. We also must continue to call on the state to guarantee unlimited paid days for closures due to COVID 19. California’s child care system is still in crisis, with over 5,600 providers having closed and over 50,000 children losing access to early care and education in 2020. Without COVID-19 relief and permanent economic protections for family child care providers, a real economic recovery in California will be impossible.
We are all thankful to Gov. Newsom, Speaker Rendon, Senate pro-Tempore Atkins, and state leaders for listening to our calls and taking this important first step. We must ask state leaders to continue to act on the other critical issues we have raised. We look forward to continuing to partner with the state to address the issues that impact the most vulnerable children across California. Let’s all stay informed and committed to taking action.