Houstonians have long known the tragic story of Jessica Tata and the day care fire that took lives of so many young children. But the New Republic writer Jonathan Cohn looks at the case as part of a much larger reality for American families.
Cohn writes “”trusting your child with someone else is one of the hardest things a parent has to do — and in the U.S., it’s harder still, because American day care is a mess. And about 40 percent of children under 5 spend at least part of their week in the care of somebody other than a parent.”
The author examines the history of the day care system in America, as well as the various efforts to regulate and equalize its quality it when costs can vary as widely as $4,000 to $15,000 per year. And in a Wednesday in-depth interview on Fresh Air Cohn adds, “One of the tragedies of the situation, is that parents need these day cares to work, to make a living. You’re talking about single parents a lot of the time. You’re talking about families that aren’t making a lot of money. They desperately need someone to watch the kids or they’re not going to be able to make it, and there are just not a lot of options out there.”