The 1989 Military Child Care Act mandated quality, affordable child care, an oxymoron without public subsidies. And the military got the money to do it right. The staff was to be paid as much as comparable staff on military installations, with opportunities for advancement linked to training. And critically, parents' fees were to be kept low, so that the lower ranks could afford quality care. Families pay on a sliding scale based on income.
Most American parents have to pay two to four times as much for inferior care.
One center I visited had 10 infants, sitting on the floor, rocking, with runny noses. . . . My neighbor is pregnant right now and I can see the panic on her face. She doesn't know what she is going to do. I had to tell her you had to be in the military to have Elaine. It can be argued that military personnel, who are transferred on average every three years, often live far from relatives, and are subject to sudden deployments, have a special need for quality child care.