While many families use free care when it is available, many working families end up paying for child care each year. Lack of child care is not a barrier to work. Parents cannot go to work each day unless they have a safe, reliable care for their children. Studies have repeatedly shown that child care problems can cause parents to miss work or lose their jobs and that the lack of child care is a primary barrier preventing welfare recipients from getting and keeping jobs. As such, child care assistance is key to any effort to move families from welfare to work and to help low-income parents stay employed.
Parents can always find enough child care.
Helping families with some of their child care expenses expands the options available to parents by helping them afford the care they want for their children. Working parents with infants face a particularly daunting challenge. Many programs are less willing to serve babies for this reason, and usually charge more for this age group. Consequently, infant care is more scarce, more costly, and of poorer quality than for older preschoolers. Some states are doing enough to address families' child care needs.