
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 12, 1994                   TAG: 9404140008
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE:    By KAY COLES JAMES
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Long

STATE HAS ECONOMIC INCENTIVE TO MEET CHILD-CARE NEEDS

AS THE Roanoke Times &World-News so ably pointed out in the Feb. 27 Business Section (``Meeting day care's costs'' by staff writer Kathleen Wilson), the child-care challenge has reached our communities. The safety and well-being of their children during the work day is a universal concern for working families. While my children no longer require child care, as a working parent I can identify with the families interviewed for your news articles: worrying about whether children are happy and well-cared for; juggling job responsibilities and a sick child's needs; struggling daily to do one's best at home and at work.

In Virginia, more than 770,000 women with children under the age of 13 are in the work force. More than 200,000 of Virginia's preschool children have working mothers! Working mothers in two-parent and single-parent households represent, and will continue to represent, the largest segment of Virginia's new work force. At the same time, child-care costs are consuming larger parts of most family budgets. On average, child care costs approximately $4,000 per year per child - a staggering expense for families of low and moderate incomes. This has tremendous implications for Virginia's families and the state's economic health, now and in the future.

There are many links between quality child care and a healthy economic climate. Employers want to locate in communities where they'll be assured a reliable, productive work force. Because working parents, particularly working mothers, represent a high percentage of today's labor pool, employers increasingly consider availability and reliability of child care as important aspects of the business environment.

Existing Virginia businesses also recognize the link, reaching out in their own communities to promote quality, affordable child care for their employees. Some have established child-care centers for employees; others assist with child-care costs, or have reserved slots in child-care facilities for employees' use. Many employers provide child-care resource-and-referral services, which include recruitment activities to develop more child-care programs. More and more employers, including the commonwealth of Virginia, have established ``family friendly'' employee-benefits packages. In a 1991 survey of businesses employing more than 100 people, the state's Council on Child Day Care and Early Childhood Programs found that 35 percent of the 1,200 survey respondents offered at least one type of child-care assistance.

Communities vying for new business and industry find that an adequate supply of reliable child care is one element that will determine whether they succeed in attracting new jobs. Increasingly, employers are also concerned about their future work force, that is, children of their employees. Leading the way in recognizing the link between quality early-childhood experiences and success in school and beyond, the business sector wants to be sure the next generation of workers is spending its formative years in stimulating environments that nurture the whole child.

In partnership with the business community, state government is working with localities to address these important issues. Providing technical assistance, information and networking for communities, the state is helping localities to meet child-care needs now and in the future. Through modest grants, the state offers seed money for creating new child-care programs in localities throughout Virginia. The state has also established a Child Care Financing Program to provide low-interest loans to assist in the development of quality child care.

While the state has a role in developing child care, parents play the most critical role in assuring the quality of child care, as consumers of that care. Child care is one of the most important purchases a parent will make, yet parents often have difficulty finding available care, and then knowing how to judge its quality. In parents' focus groups conducted by the state's Council on Child Day Care and Early Childhood Programs, parents describe the search and selection of child care as ``scary,'' ``difficult'' and ``a trial-and-error process.''

Parents should have the tools to make the selection of child care better and safer. Virginia will soon begin a statewide child-care education campaign, reaching out to parents with information that will help them select and monitor their child's care setting. In addition, three pilot Centers for Families That Work - regional one-stop shops where parents will be able to find out about available care and get the tools they need to select the best care for their children - have been established to serve communities around Roanoke, Norfolk and Fairfax. If successful, these will become prototypes for similar centers assisting all working parents in the state.

If Virginia's economy is to thrive and grow, we must have a strong foundation. Private and public sectors recognize that strong, healthy families are the core of that foundation, with child care as an essential component of working families' economic security. Working together we can meet the challenge of today's working families and tomorrow's work force.

Kay Cole James is Virginia's|

secretary of health and human resources.

by CNB