White House Focuses Spotlight on Child Care Concerns

President and Mrs. Clinton hosted the first ever White House Conference on Child Care on October 23, 1997, bringing together a select group of early childhood practitioners, researchers, parents, advocates, business leaders, and policymakers to address issues of availability, affordability, safety, and quality in child care.

Panel sessions highlighted the complex trade-offs between improving quality, and improving affordability and accessibility for all children. Speakers included early childhood advocates, as well as Cabinet secretaries, business and labor leaders, and military officials -- all emphasizing the critical importance of high-quality child care to America’s future.

Warm and responsive relationships between child care providers and children were critical factors repeatedly stressed by the panel members, along with the need to ensure that those working with young children receive training, fair compensation, and support in order to provide consistent, stable care for children and families.

President Clinton proposed the following actions at the Conference:

National Child Care Provider Scholarship Fund

In efforts to raise training levels and salaries, the President proposed a scholarship fund to give more than $300 million over a period of five years to 50,000 child care providers annually. If approved by Congress, individual scholarships of up to $1,500 will be available to current and future child care providers working towards a state or national credential, certificate or undergraduate degree, and who agree to remain in the field for at least one year after receiving assistance. While not limited to those eligible for Pell grants, the scholarship will build on Pell eligibility by covering costs not covered by the grant, including tuition and fees, books, supplies, transportation and child care. Outreach efforts have been made jointly by the Secretaries of Education and Health and Human Services to make child care providers aware of the financial assistance currently available.

National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact

Although the majority of child care workers are law-abiding citizens, background checks are one way to ensure that those caring for children are fit for the responsibility. President Clinton has transmitted a compact to Congress to facilitate effective background checks on child care providers by eliminating state law barriers to the sharing of criminal history information for purposes other than ongoing criminal investigations. Currently, child care agencies are unable to access information from all states’ records, but must request criminal histories from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). FBI records are not as complete as individual state records because state reporting of criminal dispositions to the Bureau is done on a voluntary basis.

Working Group on Child Care

Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin will oversee a working group on child care, composed primarily of business leaders. The group will work with labor and community representatives to find ways more businesses can provide child care or help their employees afford high-quality child care.

Service as a Strategy in After-School Programs

To assist communities in enriching their after-school programs, the President proposed a public-private partnership entitled "To Learn and Grow Initiative." Administered by the Corporation for National Service, the partnership is dedicated to expanding access to and enhancing the quality of after-school programs through volunteer service. The initiative will release a "How-To" manual and will provide training and technical assistance to programs wishing to use national service and volunteers to help meet their needs.

For additional information on the White House Conference on Child Care view NAEYC's report on the conference.