Child Care You Can Count On : Model Programs and Policies.

This document is composed of an overview of the 1998 Kids Count data book, a pocket guide summarizing findings, and information sheets on various aspects of child care. The overview discusses the need for child care, examines its cost, presents information on the quality of available child care, describes potential solutions to make child care affordable and of high quality, and concludes that there is a national obligation to ensure that children of low-income working families have safe, supportive, and affordable care. The "Pocket Guide on America's Youth" presents national trends between 1975 and 1995 in the well-being of America's children. The statistical portrait is based on 10 indicators: (1) low birth weight infants; (2) infant mortality; (3) child mortality; (4) teen violent deaths; (5) teen births; (6) juvenile violent crime arrests; (7) high school dropouts; (8) teens not in school or working; (9) child poverty; and (10) families headed by single parents. Current state and national data are also provided for: (1) children under 6 with working parents; (2) children ages 6-12 with working parents; (3) children under 13 in low-income families with working parents; (4) child care workers' median hourly wages; (5) preschool teachers' median hourly wages; and (6) median hourly wages of all workers. Individual information sheets discuss the following: (1) child care affordability; (2) child care accessibility; (3) care for school-age children; (4) community building; (5) family child care; (6) child care quality; (7) professional development for caregivers; and (8) consumer awareness. Each sheet includes potential strategies and sources for additional information. (KB)

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