While the OBBBA technically increased the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, most low-income families cannot fully use it. Child care advocates rallied in Raleigh last summer in support of calls for better funding. (Photo: Clayton Henkel/NC Newsline)
As a child care provider, I witness firsthand the struggles families face and the power of community in addressing those struggles. Recently, a teacher in one of my programs notified me of a child who repeatedly removed her shoes in class. We discovered it was because the shoes were too small and hurt her feet, and her mother couldn’t afford to buy new ones. When I told neighbors about it, they bought the child not just new shoes, but socks and other clothing, too. To me, their actions exemplify real care: understanding a need and offering tangible help in the way that actually reaches people.
Despite recent stories to the contrary, Republican’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) isn’t about helping families, and it certainly won’t help those who need it most. Ultimately, the law’s significant cuts to health care and food assistance will harm the early childhood field I work in and love.
While the OBBBA technically increased the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit to allow families to claim up to $3,000, it remains non-refundable, meaning most low-income families cannot fully use it. Over 70% of the expanded benefit is projected to go to households earning over $100,000 annually. This excludes the vulnerable families I work with, who face housing instability, financial hardship, and sometimes can’t even afford basic necessities like shoes for their children.
While tax credits aren’t inherently bad, this bill’s provisions primarily benefit wealthy families, leaving the rest of us behind. Lawmakers shouldn’t be touting these credits as a child care win, because it isn’t.
Lowering costs for families is crucial, but laser-focusing on affordability without fixing the child care sector’s underlying problems is shortsighted – it’s like lowering gas prices when the roads desperately need paving. Even with employer tax credits, this approach won’t solve the child care crisis, as increasingly limited supply issues will further reduce families’ options.
Some parts of the new law also aim to expand access to employer-provided care, but this option isn’t widely used, and it places child care in the same bucket as employer-provided health insurance coverage—a benefit you lose if you lose your job. For a parent who’s just lost their job, losing access to child care makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to find work again. Child care is also outside most employers’ core business, allowing them to easily discontinue the benefit and leave working families optionless.
The OBBBA also expanded “Dependent Care Assistance Programs,” designed to allow working parents to set aside a portion of their pre-tax income in a savings account for child care. But low-income families working paycheck-to-paycheck, like many in my program, have no wiggle room to set anything aside—and parents using the flexible spending account can’t use the tax credit for the same costs. Also, having more money in the short term, even for higher earners, doesn’t mean much if you can’t find or access care—which is the bigger problem for the more than half of Americans who live in child care deserts.
Nearly half of early educators rely on public assistance like Medicaid. About 80% of the teachers in my program need it, because I can’t cover their health insurance. Without basic needs programs, more educators will leave the field for better-paying jobs with benefits, worsening the turnover and retention crisis. This only grows waitlists and reduces access to care for parents. Fewer educators also means more of a burden on providers like me—I’m seeing more burnout and feeling it myself, and it’ll only get worse as educators struggle to cover basic needs like health care and food.
If we really want to fix the child care crisis, tax credits won’t cut it. We need a three-pronged approach: educating families on the importance of early years and offering whole-family counseling; investing in early educators through professional development, health care, and higher wages; and expanding services for children, including special education and supportive early care. Direct funding for child care programs could achieve these goals.
Children are our future. We must provide them with the best possible start in life, including family mental health support, accessible and affordable early education, and basic necessities—like shoes that fit.
Cassandra Brooks is the owner and operator of Little Believer’s Academy, which runs two child care centers serving Garner and Clayton, North Carolina.
Hence then, the article about the one big bust for children and families relief promised harm delivered was published today ( ) and is available on NC news line ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( The One Big Bust for Children and Families: Relief Promised, Harm Delivered )
Also on site :
- UN renews Sudan ceasefire appeal over ‘unimaginable suffering’ of civilians
- The Supreme Court Cast Its Lot With Trumpism. It Should Be Very Worried.
- Central African Republic election: Who’s running and what’s at stake?