School-Age Child Care: Overlooked and Under-Resourced. Fact Sheet

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how critical child care is for families while also highlighting and exacerbating the existing inequities in the sector. Even as schools are beginning to reopen, continued investment in school-age care is essential to meet families' needs and address the long-standing inequities that children, families, and providers have faced. To ensure that parents--especially mothers--who wish to work can remain or return to the workforce, the nation must strengthen the infrastructure of the child care sector, including school-age child care, through public investment. Fortunately, Congress and the administration are beginning to address these significant, long-overlooked needs with numerous viable and meaningful proposals now on the table including options that would have a tremendous, positive impact on school-age children's access to care. Policymakers must continue making large-scale investments in the sector to ensure that all children, including school-age children, can access the care they need. By prioritizing significant investments in child care, policymakers can secure a strong economic recovery and support establishing an infrastructure that creates a more equitable, sustainable child care system.