When I began as a volunteer CASA guardian ad Litem, there were 34 Minnesota families on a waiting list for subsidized daycare. Today there are thousands. Our prior Governor shifted those dollars into the general fund claiming that subsidized daycare had no value. Why even apply?
Today’s Star Tribune hits on two of the most common realities in communities without adequate childcare;
- Infants murdered by babysitting drunk boyfriends because working mom could not find affordable daycare (institutional daycare in MN is $14,000 a year). People earning minimum wages don’t take home that much annually. The number of children beaten, raped and murdered by drunk uncles hard to believe (read it here).
- The commonality of women forced to leave the workforce because they cannot afford decent daycare hurts poor families, the economy and is a terrific injustice to women everywhere.
All Adults Are The Protectors of All Children – Bring Kids At Risk Action’s Invisible Children Exhibit to a college near you (it’s free).