Lobbying for child care funds
We all know child care is expensive. Now a survey of 600 women demonstrates how dramatically the costs may impact family planning. The group behind it hopes it'll turn up the volume on its call to restore federal budget cuts. Lisa Napoli reports.
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Scott Jagow: It's certainly not news that child care is expensive. If you have to pay for it, it's okay to nod your head in complete agreement right now. But a survey out today gives us an idea of just how much of an impact child care costs can have on families. More now from Lisa Napoli.
Lisa Napoli: The nonprofit group Fight Crime: Invest in Kids commissioned the poll and president David Kass says they posed the question . . .
David Kass: Have you had to delay having a child or having a subsequent child due to the high cost of child care? And one out of four women aged 25-34 said yes.
Kass says in the more expensive states, private pre-school can cost over $10,000 a year. That's more than the average cost of a year's tuition at a public university in the United States, which is why Kass's group wants to see the government revive more than $1.5 billion cut from national programs over the past five years.
Kass: We're saying at least let's go back to the 2002 levels, let's at least put money back into child care and Head Start so that families get the support they need.
A third of the poorest women polled said they already had or expected to put off other household purchases in order to pay for child care.
In Los Angeles, I'm Lisa Napoli for Marketplace.
