If you have a child and you must work for a living, there’s no way around it: You need child care.
That’s a reality for working parents regardless of income bracket, but it is a particularly vexing problem for single parents–overwhelmingly mothers–with minimum-wage jobs and those who are trying to make the transition from welfare to work.
There simply aren’t enough good, affordable child-care facilities to go around.
Yet the State of Illinois, which under welfare reform now requires mothers on public aid to seek jobs, is contributing to the dearth of licensed child-care centers rather than encouraging their proliferation.
That’s because the Department of Children and Family Services, which licenses day-care facilities, has a huge backlog of centers and homes waiting either for a first license (in the case of new facilities) or for renewal of a lapsed license.
That’s bad news for a number of reasons. First, previously licensed facilities are forced to operate without updated licenses, which undermines the gravity and importance of the state’s licensing regulations.
Also, potential day-care providers are being prevented from offering their services, and some may simply become discouraged from making the investment necessary to provide adequate child care.
That’s especially unfortunate as more women attempt to move off the welfare rolls. Some may qualify to become child-care providers, and others will need their services while they work elsewhere. But both groups of women are stymied in their efforts at financial independence if DCFS cannot inspect and license child-care facilities in a timely manner.
There are indications as well that the months-long backlog is indicative of a larger problem. DCFS simply doesn’t have the resources necessary to inspect day-care facilities, keep track of them and enforce the minimum standards required by the state.
And although 26 new staff positions were authorized in the spring, the department has not moved quickly enough to fill them with workers whose backgrounds and experience qualify them for the task.
The whole point of licensing is to minimize the risks to children in day care. It represents a serious obligation on the part of child-care providers to meet the state’s minimum standards and on the part of the state to rigorously enforce them. So far, the state is not measuring up.
Perhaps DCFS, with its myriad other responsibilities, is not the appropriate department for child-care licensing and enforcement. And perhaps the governor’s office needs to better coordinate all departments in the state’s efforts to move welfare recipients into the workforce. But one fact is clear: Lack of adequate child care will be a major stumbling block to welfare reform if this situation continues.
