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.
