Oregon's Child Care Crisis

Every Oregon family deserves access to high quality, affordable, and culturally relevant child care, and every child care provider should be paid a wage that reflects the essential work they do. And it shouldn’t fall on parents or providers to foot the bill for an adequate system.

Universally available and high-quality child care are key to creating the future we want. They’re also essential to the economy of today: without accessible child care, none of us would be able to go to work. The reality, unfortunately, is far from this:

• Infant daycare in Oregon costs more than in-state college tuition.
• Child care for 2 children — an infant and a 4-year-old — costs more than rent in all 7 metropolitan and rural areas in Oregon.
• A minimum-wage worker in Oregon would need to work full time for 31 weeks, or from January to August, just to pay for child care for one infant.
• Single parents in Oregon pay 5x more than what the U.S. government considers affordable.

Oregon is in a child care crisis, and that has serious consequences for parents, kids, and the childcare workforce.

A deeper look into the complex web of child care programs reveals that Oregon families need care that is:

• Accessible: close to work or home, or available for parents who work evenings or weekends
• Affordable: no more than 7% of a family’s income, and publicly funded when possible
• High quality: it promotes a child’s social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development
• Appropriate for their family: in their language, culturally competent, or provided by a family member
• Values providers: pays good wages, provides benefits, offers trainings and other supports

At its core, child care is a gender, race, and economic justice issue that hurts women of color the most.

Care has always been seen as “women’s work.” Almost all child care providers are women, whether it’s moms or grandmas who care for children at home (and without pay), or those who are a part of the child care workforce. Because women are more likely than men to take on the caregiving role in most families, they often end up leaving the workforce — and even leaving for a short time means fewer opportunities for well-paying jobs, raises, or promotions, ultimately leading women to retire into poverty. Over time, the low-wage child care workforce has become disproportionately made up of women of color. Even though for centuries they have been the workers who support all other workers, the true value of child care work isn’t reflected in providers’ low pay and overwhelming workloads.

Thoughtful investment in Oregon’s child care system will:

• Allow more Oregon moms to be economically secure, so they can support their families and stay out of poverty
• Help Oregon’s child care workforce (who do the valuable work that makes all other work possible) maintain financial stability for themselves and their own families
• Make sure all children receive care that’s affordable, quality, and appropriate for their family, strengthening their long-term educational, health, and economic outcomes

Solutions

In 2021 and 2022, Family Forward and the Child Care for Oregon coalition worked to pass HB 3073, HB 4005, and a historic $100 million investment in child care. These landmark victory, and a critical first step in building the type of system we really want to see: one that prioritizes the needs of BIPOC providers, families, and kids and ensures that every Oregon family has access to high quality, affordable, and culturally relevant child care, and that every child care provider is paid a wage that reflects the essential work they do.

Hundreds of mothers, caregivers, and child care providers have came together to pass this bill and demand change. Together, we’re building the universal, publicly-funded child care system in Oregon that we want to see: one that is equitable, affordable, culturally-relevant, inclusive, developmentally-appropriate, safe, community-led, and which values caregivers and child care providers and pays them for the essential work they do. 

Learn more and get involved: childcarefororegon.org