Summer is here, and for many of us, summer is a time when care is more visible in our lives. We may be arranging child care for children who are out of school, checking on family elders to make sure they are safe in the heat, and spending more time with neighbors and friends gathering in community. However, care is not only a personal virtue, but also a public and social necessity. So as we mark the halfway point to this year, ushering in the summer, I am reflecting on the meaning of care, and the Ubuntu philosophy, “I am because we are.” This philosophy is at the core of our collective responsibility to care for each other. More than that, it is our interconnected nature that defines who we are and the communities we live in.
This year has challenged families and communities, and threatened the care that connects us to each other. Indiscriminate immigration enforcement is separating families and subjecting children to inhumane conditions in immigration detention. Rising prices and unprecedented cuts to food assistance are making it harder for families to afford groceries. A lack of affordable housing is creating instability for families across the country, and bipartisan efforts to offer some relief are under threat. Cuts to Medicaid are compromising children’s access to health care and undermining support for family caregivers. Policymakers’ actions in recent months disregard our interconnectedness and our humanity. We need to take a different path forward, grounded in connection and care.
Care is at the center of CSSP’s vision for families. Every parent should be able to care for their children in safe and supportive communities. Every child should have access to child care that provides a supportive environment to learn, socialize, and grow. Every family should have access to high-quality, responsive health care so they can lead full lives. These are not impossible goals, nor should they be the privilege of the wealthy few. These are policy decisions that we can and should make, and define who we are as people and as a country.
At CSSP this year we have spent a lot of time talking about the care of young children, thinking with our partners, with policymakers, and with caregivers around the country about the essential elements of care. At the heart of care is the relationship between young children and their caregivers. What we heard time and again, is that for children to thrive, care needs to be responsive to children’s needs, experiences, and backgrounds, as well as the circumstances of their families. Right now, however, we are moving in the wrong direction, as the administration has withheld child care funding and is making it harder for Head Start and other early education programs to deliver the responsive care families need.
We need to take a different approach that supports all the care arrangements families use and need when their children are young. Effectively supporting care requires investing in and supporting the economic security and well-being of caregivers, as well as the infrastructure they need to provide nurturing care—the playgroups, classrooms, learning materials, playgrounds, libraries, support services, community centers and more.
To start:
- We need to support care provided by parents, by creating a national program of paid family and medical leave that gives parents the time and bandwidth to nurture their children during these critical early years without worrying how they will pay the bills.
- We need to support care provided by grandparents, aunts, uncles and other family and friends, by recognizing and compensating their care work, and providing additional support through home visiting and similar programming for those who want it.
- We need to support care provided by teachers and early educators, through investments in early care and education that ensure teachers’ compensation reflects the tremendous value of their work to society, and children have the consistency, personal attention, individualized instruction, and the hands-on experiences they need to grow and thrive.
In the coming months you will hear more from CSSP about care and caregiving—and what it means to effectively support care for children, for parents, and for the people who surround families and provide care. As we head into the second half of this year, let’s pause and consider how we are currently caring for children, for families, for our communities, because the way we care for each other is what defines us, it is who we are. Let’s move forward together in the way that we want to be defined.
