PRINTER'S NO. 920
No. 43 Session of 1989
INTRODUCED BY STUBAN, KUKOVICH, MARKOSEK, FAIRCHILD, McCALL,
TIGUE, COWELL, MELIO, BOYES, FOX, ROBINSON, BLAUM, BATTISTO,
BELARDI, TRELLO, RUDY, BELFANTI, HALUSKA, ANGSTADT, STABACK,
GEIST, GIGLIOTTI, ARGALL, MORRIS, WESTON, FREEMAN, DALEY,
HASAY, DIETTERICK, JOHNSON, PETRARCA, HERMAN, RITTER, BUNT,
KOSINSKI, ITKIN, BILLOW, HUGHES, RICHARDSON, RYBAK, LAUGHLIN,
HESS, MAINE, KASUNIC, PISTELLA, EVANS, VEON, LINTON,
KONDRICH, BURD AND BISHOP, MARCH 14, 1989
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON RULES, MARCH 14, 1989
A RESOLUTION
1 Memorializing Congress to take action on the issue of child care
2 in the United States and to enact legislation to provide
3 funding and guidelines to help ensure that all parents who
4 are working or in job-training programs have access to high
5 quality and affordable child care.
6 WHEREAS, Fifty percent of all mothers with preschool-age
7 children, 9.5 million women, and 71% of employed mothers with
8 children under 18 years of age are in the work force; and
9 WHEREAS, Nearly three-fourths of the parents of school-age
10 children work outside the home and often cannot find safe,
11 supportive and affordable child care for their school-age
12 children before and after school hours; and
13 WHEREAS, The number of mothers working for economic reasons
14 to help support their families continues to rise; and
15 WHEREAS, By 1995, more than three-fourths of all school-age
16 children, or 35 million children, and two-thirds of all
1 preschool-age children, or 15 million children, will have
2 mothers in the work force; and
3 WHEREAS, Numerous studies have shown that problems or
4 concerns with child-care arrangements adversely affect the
5 productivity of working parents, increase absenteeism and cause
6 employees to give up promotions and advancements; and
7 WHEREAS, There is a well-documented link between the
8 availability of affordable child care and the ability of low-
9 income parents to work; and
10 WHEREAS, Studies and pilot projects have shown that child-
11 care programs provided during job training, job search and
12 employment periods have been successful initiatives helping to
13 end dependence on welfare; and
14 WHEREAS, Early childhood development experts have identified
15 the years from birth to age six as critical in a child's
16 development and have emphasized that child care for this age
17 group must be consistent and of high quality for the child to
18 benefit from it; and
19 WHEREAS, Child development experts believe that child care
20 for all children should be considered an early investment in the
21 economic future of our Nation; and
22 WHEREAS, Comprehensive early childhood development programs
23 for low-income children, such as Head Start, have had a positive
24 impact on the lives of young children and their families; and
25 WHEREAS, Head Start now reaches only 16% of the more than 2.5
26 million disadvantaged children who need its services, and
27 hundreds of thousands of youngsters are on waiting lists for the
28 program; and
29 WHEREAS, In order to achieve high quality programs, funding
30 must be available for child-care programs to address such
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1 factors as program curriculum, staff qualifications, training
2 and education, parent involvement, staff-to-child ratios and
3 nutrition and safety; and
4 WHEREAS, Despite their higher levels of education, child-care
5 workers are among the lowest paid professionals and are paid
6 less per hour than zookeepers, bartenders, and parking lot and
7 amusement park attendants; and
8 WHEREAS, The low salaries in the child-care field make it
9 difficult to attract and retain staff and have resulted in an
10 annual turnover rate of about 45%, which negatively affects the
11 quality of child care; and
12 WHEREAS, Child day care for vulnerable groups, such as
13 handicapped children, children at risk of abuse or neglect and
14 children of teenage parents must be part of any plan to improve
15 the availability of child-care services; and
16 WHEREAS, All levels of government, community organizations,
17 private employers and parents must share in the responsibility
18 to provide high quality day care; and
19 WHEREAS, Numerous bills have been introduced in the 100th
20 Congress to address both child-care needs and an overall
21 national child-care policy, including the Act for Better Child
22 Care; therefore be it
23 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the
24 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania memorialize the Congress of the
25 United States to support and act on Congressional initiatives
26 that address the Nation's child-care needs; and be it further
27 RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
28 the presiding officers of each house of Congress, to each member
29 of Congress from Pennsylvania and to the President of the United
30 States.
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