On June 30, Policy Equity Group President Jeffrey Capizzano testified before the Congressional Mamas’ Caucus at the United States Capitol. Chaired by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the Caucus advocates for mothers and working families, especially mothers of color, standing up for affordable child care, living wages for providers, reproductive justice, paid family leave, and Black maternal health.

Jeff was invited to testify by Mothering Justice, a longtime partner of PEG. The hearing gathered congressional leaders, advocates, and policy experts to examine the challenges facing mothers today, particularly Black and Brown mothers, and to explore solutions that improve economic security, maternal health, caregiving support, and overall family well-being.

“…the child care crisis is taking a profound toll on maternal health. Unstable child care fuels chronic stress, anxiety, burnout, and postpartum depression at precisely the time when mothers and babies need stability, support, and nurturing relationships the most.”

In his testimony, Jeff made the case that child care is a critical support for maternal health and child well-being, and that one of the most powerful ways to support the healthy development of a child is to support the caregivers around them. Read his full written testimony below.

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Developing for an Anticipated World: Maternal Health, Child Care, and Child Development

Chairwoman Tlaib and members of the Caucus, thank you for the opportunity to be here.

Over the past 25 years working in early care and education—a field powered overwhelmingly by women, particularly women of color and immigrants—I have had a front-row seat to the many ways that early care and education supports maternal health and how maternal well-being profoundly influences children’s development.

My work on maternal health has always been through the lens of child well-being, and there is one truth that has guided this work: Children develop for an anticipated world.

What children experience in the earliest years of life sends signals to them about the world around them and how to develop to meet its demands.

If their early experiences signal to them that they are growing up in a world of scarcity, without enough food to eat, then their physiology will develop to meet the demands of that world, and they will be at risk of health issues in the future.

Signal that the world is unsafe, and they will develop with a heightened stress response system that will make it difficult for them to develop trusting relationships and to sustain their attention when they enter an educational setting.

But the opposite is also true.

When children are surrounded by responsive, nurturing relationships, in stable environments, and when their caregivers have the resources to support their needs, children develop for a world of opportunity and possibility.

Early experiences shape future well-being. This is a basic tenet of human development.

And the best way to ensure the well-being of a child’s future is to promote the well-being of their caregivers. This is why child advocates fight so hard for policies that support all caregivers, whether at home or in a child care setting, because caregivers, and more often than not, moms, are the most profound influence on a child’s future well-being.

Maternal health is critical to positive child development and early care and education is critical to maternal health.

Access to high-quality child care reduces stress, promotes economic stability, and increases a mom’s access to medical care—all factors that contribute to maternal health and foster positive child development.

But our child care system is broken. Child care is difficult to access, unaffordable, and, on average, of poor quality.  Just ask a family who is placed on a waiting list behind 200 other families even before the child is born. Or the family whose child care costs rival their mortgage or rent yet still watches their child’s teacher leave because the program cannot afford to pay a living wage.

Black, Latina, disabled, lower-income, and rural mothers are more likely to face barriers to finding affordable, high-quality care, compounding longstanding inequities in maternal health and economic opportunity.

It is no surprise, then, that the child care crisis is taking a profound toll on maternal health. Unstable child care fuels chronic stress, anxiety, burnout, and postpartum depression at precisely the time when mothers and babies need stability, support, and nurturing relationships the most.

Conversely, access to high-quality child care is a powerful protective factor. It reduces maternal depression and parenting stress, strengthens social support networks, connects families to health and community resources, and gives parents the stability they need to thrive.

And yet, the federal government is taking child care policy backwards.

  • The Administration for Children and Families has rolled back important regulations for child care and Head Start that have helped child care providers sustain their businesses and increase pay for workers, specifically those working in Head Start that serve our nation’s most vulnerable children.
  • Congress continues to significantly underfund the two major early care and education programs—Head Start and the Child Care and Development Block Grant—providing only minimal increases to these programs, in the face of significant need for these services as child care costs continue to rise.
  • Finally, policymakers at the highest levels of our government have worked to paint child care providers as fraudsters. While the child care sector understands and welcomes the need for accountability, the scrutiny on state child care systems has increased to such a degree that many providers are no longer willing or able to accept families that pay using a child care subsidy. States are delaying payments, forcing providers to close their doors, reducing the supply of child care, and making child care even more unaffordable for the families who need it most.

The early care and education sector needs your help.

First, we need to make child care universal. Child care should be available to every family at no cost, just as we provide free public education for all children starting at kindergarten. A universal system would eliminate burdensome eligibility rules and application processes that exacerbate parenting stress and could ensure every child has access to nurturing, high-quality care from birth.

Second, we must fund the true cost of care. Public funding should cover the full cost of providing high-quality child care, allowing programs to pay educators well, expand supply, and eliminate tuition for families.

Third, we must invest in our caregivers. Child care is expensive because caring for young children—especially infants and toddlers—is labor-intensive, highly-skilled work that cannot be scaled. A single educator can safely care for only three or four very young children, meaning that the educator’s salary must be supported by the tuition of just a handful of families. The math simply does not work when families alone are expected to bear the full cost.

Building this system will require significant public investment. But the cost of failing to invest is even greater. Mothers and children are paying for the cost of inadequate child care through decreased maternal health, lower workforce participation, higher poverty, and children at increased risk of poor developmental outcomes. Investing in child care is not simply an expenditure—it is one of the smartest investments we can make in the health, prosperity, and the future of our country.

Our children deserve to anticipate a world that is safe, secure, and full of opportunities to succeed. The best way to do that is to care for our moms by ensuring every family has access to high-quality child care.

Thank you for being a member of this Caucus, and for all that you do to support children and families. I’m happy to answer any questions you might have and look forward to the discussion.