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The purpose of the Campaign for Inclusive Family Policies is to establish
this basic principle in public policymaking: Family policy should be
inclusive--the ways in which families meet their income-earning and caregiving
responsibilities should not determine their eligibility for support and services.
There is a serious disconnect between U.S. families and family policy.
For decades, policymakers have been pushed to focus on "working families"
with the result that many family policies help some families while
discriminating against millions of others. The often ill-defined term
"working families" is used most commonly to describe families with employed
parents who utilize child care services while they are at work. But millions
of families do not fit that model--instead they use diverse and dynamic
strategies to meet their income-earning and caregiving responsibilities.
It is time for policymakers to support and respect parents' decisions.
They should begin by adopting the principle of inclusion: the ways in which
families meet their income-earning and caregiving responsibilities should not
determine their eligibility for support and services.
This is not a campaign against "working families"--it is a campaign
for helping the greatest possible number of families, regardless of
how parents manage their income earning and caregiving responsibilities.
In short, it is a call for inclusion.
Parents make complex decisions about employment and caring for their
children. They weigh their children's needs, their own values and desires,
as well as economic and career considerations. Families are diverse, their
work/life solutions are diverse, and their choices are dynamic. Many families
modify their employment and caregiving practices over the years as the needs
of their family members change. Today's "working family" might in two years
be a family with an at-home mother or father, and ten years from now it might
fit the "working family" category once more.
Policies made with a narrow focus on "working families" discriminate
against a significant percentage of families, including--contrary to popular
belief--many lower income families. Commenting on the findings of his recent
research on low-income families (earning less than $38,000 for a family of
four), Gregory Acs of The Urban Institute says: "The need for child care is
very important for families that have no other options. But what you most
often see is the dad going out to work and the mom staying at home." Families
who do not fit the "working families" label cross the spectrum of economic
status, cultural and political outlooks, religious beliefs, race and
ethnicity and include:
Families with one full-time earner and one at-home
parent;
Families in which two earners work different
shifts so that one or the other is available for caregiving, including those
who have full-time jobs and "tag-team" by working different shifts, those with
one full-time earner and one part-time earner, and those with two part-time
earners;
Families who share caregiving among members of
their extended family or trade caregiving with friends in a cooperative
arrangement (strategies used by some single parent families as well as by two
parent families);
Families in which children are being raised by
retired grandparents.
These families are not simply "lucky" nor are they statistical rarities.
They are no less deserving of support than are families whose income-earning/caregiving
choices fit the "working family" model.
Child care policy is a prime example of biased policy. Currently, families
who use child care services are eligible for several types of government
assistance. Many families who pay for child care are eligible for the Child
and Dependent Care Tax Credit or a Dependent Care Assistance Plan, enabling
them to set aside pre-tax earnings for child care expenses. Many moderate and
lower-income families qualify to receive federal and/or state child care
subsidies. But families who do not use child care services--even those with
very low incomes--are not eligible for any assistance.
A few states have tried to help lower income families who want to have a
parent at home by establishing At-Home Infant Care programs, providing a
monthly stipend in lieu of a subsidy for child care. However, states are
unable to use federal funds to support these programs, public awareness of
such programs is low, and very few families receive assistance.
All quality care for children must be supported--including care provided
by parents who cut back or forgo paid employment. The ways in which parents
meet their income-earning and caregiving responsibilities should not determine
their eligibility for support and services.
Special interest lobbyists are a serious obstacle to inclusive family
policies. Funding for advocacy on behalf of "working families" comes from a
variety of sources including labor unions, for-profit child care businesses,
and corporations--all of which have economic interests in keeping parents on
the job. Fifty-five major corporations, for instance, are partners of
Corporate Voices for Working Families, a "national business membership
organization representing the private sector voice in the dialogue on public
policy issues involving working families." This has made for a very lopsided
debate. Although there are a few grassroots organizations advocating for the
families left out when "working families" are the focus of policy making,
they operate with severe financial limitations. They are no match to the
financial resources of major corporations on staffing, lobbying and public
relations expenditures.
There is no doubt that family policies need attention. In April 2007,
tax expert C. Eugene Steuerle, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Urban
Institute, warned that children's share of the federal budget has fallen
significantly in the past 50 years and is projected to decline dramatically
in the next ten years. Additionally, Steuerle and his colleagues at the
Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center point out that families "face a bewildering
and often conflicting array of tax programs and eligibility rules." By
establishing the principle of inclusion legislators would take a major step
toward crafting straightforward, fair and flexible policies.
Federal, state and local policymakers should adopt the principle of inclusion,
recognize and disregard the lobbying efforts of special interest groups, and
focus on serious policy proposals put forth by our nation's highly-respected
nonpartisan think tanks. While U.S. parents are taking diverse and dynamic
action to nurture their children, policymakers must respond with respect and
support by enacting inclusive family policies.
Catherine H. Myers, Executive Director
The Board of Directors, Family and Home Network
Please note: Although many family policy debates--and this article--focus
on families with children, those who care for sick, elderly and/or disabled
people also need policies that adhere to the principle of inclusion.
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