I am interested in this topic for several reasons. Initially I realized how inadequate the options are for working mothers when my little sister (a single mom) went to work after a divorce in order to support her and her son. However, the high cost of child care makes it impossible for her to make enough money to pay other bills. As discussed in class on Wednesday the options for child care which are currently available are highly inadequate.
In fact according to what I read a single parent who makes an average of $19,000 a year can expect to pay 41 percent of that income or an average of $7,800 a year to pay for child care. A single parent family with two children needing child care (these numbers are specifically for North Carolina but are fairly typical) will pay about $14,556 on average or 76.6 percent of the median family income. With costs like this it would actually be cheaper to send your child to College than to pay for childcare or kindergarten.
There is an interesting article on this if you are interested in reading. The information is good but I have to admit to being a little discouraged by the whole thing. I am not a family finance/consumer science person (although I do like money) and yet can't help seeing the really negative repercussions financially of the high cost of child care. Honestly, No wonder the birth rate in the U.S. is negative there are lots of reasons to not have children (the discomforts of pregnancy being only one=) and there are TONS of reasons to delay having children or significantly limit the number you have. The financial burdens are high for a two parent family... The cost to a single parent is comparatively astronomical. On a more positive note, hopefully there are policies that could be implemented to alleviate the burden of child care for both single parents and the two parent families.
In fact according to what I read a single parent who makes an average of $19,000 a year can expect to pay 41 percent of that income or an average of $7,800 a year to pay for child care. A single parent family with two children needing child care (these numbers are specifically for North Carolina but are fairly typical) will pay about $14,556 on average or 76.6 percent of the median family income. With costs like this it would actually be cheaper to send your child to College than to pay for childcare or kindergarten.
There is an interesting article on this if you are interested in reading. The information is good but I have to admit to being a little discouraged by the whole thing. I am not a family finance/consumer science person (although I do like money) and yet can't help seeing the really negative repercussions financially of the high cost of child care. Honestly, No wonder the birth rate in the U.S. is negative there are lots of reasons to not have children (the discomforts of pregnancy being only one=) and there are TONS of reasons to delay having children or significantly limit the number you have. The financial burdens are high for a two parent family... The cost to a single parent is comparatively astronomical. On a more positive note, hopefully there are policies that could be implemented to alleviate the burden of child care for both single parents and the two parent families.
Liz are you sure about those numbers? I'm pretty sure, from having family members who have done so, that if you make that little you get government assistance with childcare. If you could post the source, that would be helpful.
ReplyDeleteChildcare is another reason our definition of nuclear family has disadvantages to those of other countries whose families include more extended relatives that could care for children of single parents.
ReplyDeletePaul brings up a really good point. Of course, single parents are definitely at a disadvantage when it comes to this issue. My brother is a single dad with two kids, and he has a tough time finding and paying for childcare (his son has disabilities which brings up a whole other issue), but usually he is able to find family members who will help out with childcare. Could it be that low income families (or really large families in my case) rely more heavily on extended family for support instead of trying to pay for childcare out of pocket?
ReplyDeleteThe data that I cited all came from the article link that I have on my blog if anyone (i.e. Mocktalk=) is interested at looking at it. And to Patricia's question it is highly likely that low income families (or really large families) tend to rely on each other more for help with childcare. But as discussed in class it is more and more common for single parents to not have access to their own parents or extended families for this type of support. So, if they don't have family support and the child care costs so much... what are the options open to them?
ReplyDelete