>> c-span now features your unfiltered view of what's happening in washington live and on-demand. keep up with today's biggest events with floor proceedings and hearings from the u.s. congress, white house events, courts, campaigns and more from theworld of politics all at your fingertips . you can stay current with the latest episodes of washington journal and find scheduling information for c-span's tv networks and radio plus a variety of compelling podcasts. c-span now is available atthe apple store and google play . your front proceed to washington anytime, anywhere. >> we're back, washington journal now with lisa hamilton. she is the president and ceo of the annie e casey foundation. good morning lisa. >> good morning.

>> welcome to washington journal. let's start by talking about the annie e casey foundation. what is the mission, tell us a little bit more about your organization. >> the annie e casey foundation is based in baltimore, it's national philanthropy noted by jim ac who was the founder of ups and his mother was fanny and we are focused on helping all children have a brighter future so we focus on trying to make dssure kids grow up in strongfamilies , that their families have the economic stability to provide for them they can all live in strong, healthy communities. >> so you say the founder of ups helped establish this foundation. is that how youare funded privately or it are there other funding sources now ? >> we have an endowment created by jim casey. so we are self funded and

also solicit donations for our workers. >> your organization released the 2023 kids count data book . can you tell me about this document. what does it entail? >> 434 years the foundation h has created a data book to provide policymakers and the public kewith accurate information about children's well-being we identify 16 key indicators of child well-being and for domains. health, education, family and unity and economic well-being every year provides information at the national level and state level so that we all know how children are faring in this country using that data we can rank the states so states can see where they are doing well, take inspiration from other jurisdictions how they can improve the lives of the children in their communities

this is our 31st data book and we also take the opportunity to highlight a particular issue each year and this year we highlighted the issue of child care speaking of childcare, how would you describe the current state of childcare in the us ? >> guest: we have a book, broken child care system in this country which is probably because childcare is important for many reasons. it is important for children first and foremost there are 23 children under the age of five, 12 of four in our nations childcare system at some point during their childhood and we want all these children to get off on a great start so they are prepared for kindergarten when it starts. it's important for children

first and foremost storm childcare system is also important to parents because parents need that childcare in order to go to work and care for their families about more than 50 percent of working people are parents so some point during their child's life are going to need that childcare support to to go to work. finally childcare is important for our economy. we want to make sure we have workers will be the talent needs of this country. we estimate that $122 billion is lost in this country. that's the economic impact of not having a strong childcare system so we know there are challenges from excess affordability to the impact of low paying child care workers so we wanted to call attention to this issue, they are to the conversation so policymakers we got the child care infrastructure our

country. >> where talking with liesel hamilton who is the ceo ofthe annie casey foundation . we're going to get to some of your calls because they're a little different than normal. if you're in the east time zone you can call 242848 24,000. if you're in the pacific time zone call us at 74 8001 we have a special phone line or parents or caregivers of children. that number is 202 748 8002. and if you're a childcare worker, we want you to call us at 202 748 8003. use those own lives to start calling in now. if you have questions or want to share your thoughts or experiences in childcare or

obtaining obchildcare so go ahead, start calling in now. while we wait for calls to come in, lisa, you talked about childcare systems in c your words being broken. what are some of those big challenges that you say lead to this broken system? >> guest: it's certainly a capacity issue in this country. there aren't enough slots for the children who need care in this country though we've got a capacity issue. there are issues with affordability. the average cost of childcare in this country is about $10,600 for toddler care. it's more expensive for infant care. if you think about the rising cost of everything from rent to food tto housing, having this significant expense and a rising expense was a tremendous strain on any

household budget. it's the 10th of a married couples budget but single-parent approaches 30 percent of their budget . so affordability is a tremendous challenge. then accessibility. lots of childcare is not on public transportation where low income parents might need to access it and the issue is challenging for rural parents as well. often childcare is many miles away from their home. those are the issues for those trying to access childcare and there are also issues for those fighting the childcare. one out of every 100 workers in this country are in the childcare industry but they are among the lowest paid workers in our economy. that certainly puts a strain p on their household but it also has a ripple effects in their community. nearly all childcare workers are women and a large portion of them are women ofcolor . when you think about the

impact to their families and their community there are tremendous ripple effects from the low paid jobs in the childcare industry. that's why we described this as broken. it's unaffordable, it's inaccessible. we don't have the passage that we need and there are challenges for those who are providing care in this industry. >>. >> host: before we get to the phone lines i want to bring up this axios article. the average truck cost of childcare was $12,600 annually for a toddler in a center-based care but there's also this map that shows in some places including here in washington dc average cost was 24,000 $400, the lowest state was mississippi but still, $4400 a year for

childcare when you mention the cost being prohibitive, what does that mean? you talked about who is eamost affected by the lack of childcare access . >> b. >> guest: thank you for bringing up that data. it is an extraordinary cost on any household budget and has a tremendous impact on certain demographics. certainly low income parents are extremely challenged to access care. families of color, immigrants families. all these communities, women accessing childcare it's expensive and often prohibitive for them toaccess care . one of the data points we provide in the data book by state is how many parents aren't working or have declined jobs because they simply can't find the care in

order to go to work. when we talk about why this is an important fissue it's important even if you don't have children for our economy because without a strong childcare system our working parents amply aren't able to enter the workforce or have the stability that they need to be as productive as possible. >> also note infant care, child care in places in 34 states is more than in-state college tuition a. so it really does put in perspective the fact that for our youngest children we have really made childcare inaccessible for lots of families. >> host: where going to open up the phone lines eastern or central time zones call us at 202-748-8000. mountain or pacific , 202748 8001. if you are a parent or a

caregiver the number is 202-748-8000 two. if you are a childcare worker we want you to call us at 202 748-8000 three. our first caller is doug calling from las vegas. go ahead. >> caller: i get very confused on how this country gets so screwed up that when all our politicians and everybody are talking about we have to find daycare and make a way for somebody else to be paid to raise your children, i don't get why people think it's all right forsomebody else to raise their child . people got to get back to you get married and you stay married, you raise your child. you give up your life ldto raise your child no matter what it takes. but the government they always want to find a way to pay somebody else to do what you should do yourself. find a way to pay people to stay home and take care of

their child instead of paying somebodyelse to raise their child , that's just silly. >> host: lisa, can you respond to that ... that's a different way than a lot of families areset up right now . >> childcare is an important way for parents who need to work to care for their families, both to have their children cared for and for them to be able to work. while many families make lots of different choices about how to manage childcare there are some families that choose to have a parent stay at home with children bearing the rising cost of everything it is very often that both parents need towork to provide financially for their children which is extremely important . so to be able to go to work we have an early child care system that enables those parents to togo to work and to get their children off on a good start.

as i mentioned 23 million children in the country, half of them are in the childcare system so we've got families making all wide variety of choices but for us to have a strong economy it's important to have a strong childcare system so that's why we need a public private partnership to have a strong childcare system. >> host: our next caller is married in columbus ohio, both a parent and a caregiver . what's your comment or question? >> caller: i would like to t shout out to grandparents, childcare is not just on the young people. there are plenty of grandparents who have had to take in grandchildren and they are still working, we're not in our 50s and 60s and for one reason or another parents, our children are unable to care for these kids and they have to move in with us and we have to anstill work,

half daycare, supply everything. obviously there are services but they do not cover even a fractionof what grandparents have to pay . so i guess i wanted to all the older people who are out there listening, thinking this is about young kids, it's not. there are plenty of older people caring for their rants kids who have to accept the same burden. that's just my comment. >> host: lisa, your response. >> guest: thank you for that comment about what we often call family friend and neighbor care that children are in a wide variety of settings and there are many grandparents who helped care for children. that's particularly important for shift workers . many workers today are working nontraditional hours where centers are not open to provide that childcare so we certainly know there are many family members or neighbors

who are helping to provide care so those parents can go to work often in shift jobs that don't have consistent hours or 9 to 5 hours so thank you for that comment. >> host: let's go to and in washington dc, a parent . >> caller: i have an eight-month-old. and when i was searching for childcare, the lowest was 365 a week. and the highest was 92 a month.ex i'm at the middle of about 450 week so i'm paying $1800a month for daycare . and when our parent was coming to the center they require infant care on up to $520 a week.

i only got the 450 because i got a 10 percent discount because of my job. this is more than what i'm paying for in rent . so it's very much unaffordable. i have to work weekend jobs and of course childcare is not open, i depend on my family. it is really unsustainable for individuals who don't have like, a skill set or unskilled labor who are depending on an hourly wage job. who have to sometimes go on assistance to get it and if you make a certain amount of money you can not get that assistance. so it is hard out here for parents. >> host: thank you caller.

>> guest: that's a personal story of why we wanted to lift it up and there are so many parents struggling to make reends meet because of the high cost. this caller said infant care is the most expensive care because of the caregiver child ratio required in regulation and in terms of trying to get supports to meet these rising costs, we listed in the report the childcare development grant block grant is the primary funding source for childcare support for low income families but only about one out of six families that are eligible for this need are able to access it. so it's really important that our policymakers ensure there is adequate funding and appropriation so that more parents can access those supports that are thavailable but we know there are many families like that color who

are having a hard time making ends meet and being able to afford particularly infant care. >> host: let's go to massachusetts now. carl is on the line, go ahead . >> thank you so much for coming out. i really appreciate it. what i wanted to say is i don't think that people my age understand that most of these parents would love to stay home and raise their kids, but unfortunately our whole system is upside down and they can't do that. they have to work. when i was raising our kids my wife could stay home and i could pay the bills but right now all the young people they both have to work. some people work two or three jobs. if anything i want our society to do is to take care of each other. there's money for everything.

it would be nice to see some of these millionaires or billionaires pay some taxes. maybe these corporations stop giving money back and i think it would be nice to do some beautiful things for each other . i did want to sayit's a shame . ups, it would be nice if they could care for their workers and put air-conditioning in h but good luck to both of you . >> host: any thoughts lisa? >> i appreciate that color's understanding of how childcare is for the economy. parents are working and that's why we need this childcare. they need to provide for their family financially . childcare is a mechanism to enable them to do that and we invest about $500 in early childcare compared to other wealthy nations that impact $14,000 per child so we are far behind what other countries are doing to

support families, to prepare children for the future. we can't afford not to invest in ensuring our r children and that parents get the support they need. >> host: our next caller is a parent calling from boston massachusetts. >> caller: i wanted to say thank you for the casey foundation . a lot of other callers have highlighted childcare is completely broken in our country. my husband and i were both workers and when we had our first child, we made the decision that we would continue to work but in essence, i had to work in order just to pay for our child to be able to be in daycare cause of infant care costing so high i think maybe

that is what a lot of families face is in order for one parent not to lose complete traction in the workforce and to be able to stay in the workforce, one whole salarymust know to childcare . i don't think that is completely an anomaly throughout the country. we say that we need parents to be in the workforce and yet in order for them not to lose traction we have to take five years of my salary or husbands salary to be able so in essence we are to working households yet we only had to live on one income and it's a complete struggle in metropolitan areas or even in a rural area. i hope our lawmakers really understand parents want to learn but we simply can't afford this. >> lisa.

>> that is exactly right. as you heard childcare on averages $10,600 per child and attend other married couples income on average, certainly more in some jurisdictions but really approaches 30 percent of a single parent household income and these numbers as the caller noted are often unsustainable and contribute to fully one salary of a family egoing towards childcare. it is i think an extensive proposition for many families . >> host: let's go to detroit. leanne is a teacherin detroit, what are your thoughts ? >> when i pull up it's about six, 6:30. i can't even imagine being a mother having to make a choice to my child standing outside by themselves and having to go to work. but then where on the cost of

being a title i school and we have to give up programs for childcare so my question to lisa is how do you getparents to fill out the paperwork ? we really could be an all free lunch school but to get them to even fill outthe paperwork , to get them to say we have this program where they can stay after school but they won't even xt like, so say you can't afford after school childcare but we have free afterschool programs whether it's ports, whether it's academics but they won't come in and fill out the paperwork. they won't enroll so what can i do to educate them that it only takes five t,minutes but if this is what you need and we're offering it, why is it so hard for the parents to fill out the paperwork or come in and sign them up because that way they don't

even have to pay for the afterschool we have at our school . >> guest: as an educator for all you're doing to try to make services and support accessible, that's what we need u. i certainly can't answer why specific parents aren't completing the paperwork that one thing we know is parents who are low income in w particular are trying to meet a variety of different eligibility requirements for all kinds of programs whether it's food or afterschool or housing and often those rules force them to cycle on and off of programs so they are often a challenge to figure out what program am i trying to figure out eligibility for at this moment, how am i not eligible for something this moment when i could have been eligible, just a couple of months before given just small fluctuations in income so while i don't know the reason for this pacific

parents i can say overall many low income parents in particular are trying to care for their families, to work while also trying to figure out what paperwork and rules they need to comply with to access the various support they need which are not all the same and have different income eligibility requirements and that can be intimidating to keep track of . >> host: sophie is in virginia, she is a caregiver. >> caller: my baby is sleeping right now but we take care of him between two grandmothers and i realized that's passc but icall on her aunts to fill in especially when parents can't . can't afford any of these childcare places to go. and they are actually safer with our family . years ago in 1985 i used two take care of a teacher's children in a local school

and they only charged seven dollars a week for each child h . that's passc but the government needs to step in and help with free childcare. thank you. >> thank you again, much appreciation for the family members, to kill a grandparents are caring for children when their parents can't. you are right that they provide so much love and care and support and fill an important gap for families and appreciate your encouragement for our policymakers to do more to support families. >> that caller mentioned the role of government in stepping in to lower the cost of childcare. the annie casey foundation as part of this kids count report did have some recommendations and i'll bring them up on my screen. one them is federal state and local governments should

invest more money in chilare . the other one is public and private leaders could work together to improve infrastructure from home these childcare and three to help young parents congress should expand the federal legislation that serves students parents . can you talk more about that second recommendation which caller also referenced home these childcare so smaller facilities. why do you think it's important toimprove infrastructure for home based childcare ? >> that's a great question. as i mentioned many women serving in center-based care for lots of reasons. there are many children who serve at home through home based childcare.i asked the lady went to home based childcare center. my mother was a teacher and the lady's name of mckinley was the person who cared for me as an infant when my mother went to learn

home-based care is important for lots of families. but entrepreneurs, those home based caregivers don't always have the resources they need to expand their capacity or those who might be interested in opening home based childcare services, don't have the resources they need to do that. one of our recommendations is we make sure there is adequate capital to start and expand those home based centers. the other thing we mentioned is there is important for many families who work outside of the traditional work hours and there are many parents are working night shifts or multiple jobs in order to make ends meet. those home based care centers which are often more flexible in their hours and often closer to families so that they don't have to make long drives or ride public transportation to drop their children off there in their neighborhoods. they know these families and

their apart of our overall all childcare ecosystem in this country. >> let's hear from sharon in georgia. >> the gentleman from nevada had excellent points. childcare should be basically a concern of the father and the mother. the father and mother should be married and provide their own children. this government assistance is unreal. basically in certain respects, maybe a lot of respects it's socialistic . children are the responsibility of the father and if the grandparents want to involve themselves that would be good too but the government should not be expected to provide all of

that care and a lot of other programs as well. food assistance and so on.a few. >>. >> host: do you find a disparity between, there are some government assistance programs that are very popular particularly for the elderly. social security, medicare. but then when it comes to children, the government hasn't provided that same level of assistance for younger americans. why is there that disparity? >> there is certainly as we found in other reports a declining share of the federal programs that support children and family issues while we have an increasing portion of our enteral budget that supports seniors. we certainly don't think there needs to be a trade-off between generations, but it's extremely important that we

invest in children in this country. they are our future workers and leaders and it's extremely important that we support young families as they are starting out. we know how important it is for parents who work and provide financially for their children a. no one disputes it's important for parents to provide for their children and the only way they can do that is by going to work. we invest in many other public goods in this country whether it's support for the elderly or public transportation, childcare is no less important infrastructure issue in this country so people can work and care for their families. we wanted to call out the fact this is not unusual in developed countries and our country invests far less than any other wealthy countries in and children, $500 a child in this country compared to 14,000 in other countries.

there's more we can do to support children and families . >> host: let's go to wisconsin, mary is on the line. >> why would you put your child in care of people you don't know how they were raised ? there's been so much physical and sexual abuse occurring in these areas. lots of times they've been giving them dummies with thc so they can sexually abuse them. how many people want to take care of children? 80 they have hidden agenda a and people don't think the children can't tell you somebody touched me or somebody shook me unless they are told this is something that should not happen to you . i know of a woman that lives in the neighborhood, a babies femur was broken it does happen h. i agree. i raise my kids and to this day my kids will sit on the

floor and the husband is a physician but we didn't get started till later in life and we realized we wanted to put money aside for the kids education and you can live without and when cayou got children you can't be selfish anymore. you need to stay home so that your husband can go to work and you can livewithout . the other thing that's really important is the government needs to have cameras in every single room in the house, especially in the house and a daycare center and how many people will sign up and they say there's cameras everywhere you go after mark you're not going to get many people employed in that institution. i'm concerned about the well-being of children and indoctrinating them . they're already doing it to third-graders. they're going to start it at three years old. >> host: we got your point

mary. any response lisa? >> quality childcare is important. this report doesn't delve into many of the quality issues that advocates are focused on but that covers everything from safety in child care settings to the training of the professionals that provide care. families make lots of different choices about how to care for their children and know one choice is that are then another. we all know that parents love their children and want to make sure they are safe and well taken care of and that they want to provide financially for their children so childcare is simply a support to ensure those parents who have to work out the support they need in order to do so and make sure sure their children are safe and are getting off on a great educational start so they'reready to start school andkindergarten . >> host: faith in woodlawn

tennessee is calling as a parent . >> caller: i think about the only thing i agree with this whole conversation is it is a really big problem.th it's not a problem that can be solved. and it's solved by the idea of people taking responsibility for themselves . a man and a woman taking responsibility for that child that was broughtinto this world . we can make all the excuses that we want to of why it's so difficult to raise a kid. however, if we don't really come back down to the basics that a child is the responsibility of these two people who brought them in this world. joe biden and a lot of

democrats want to say that child is not yours. it's ours it's the states . >> host: lisa if you want to make a comment you can but i want to move on to another comment we received on twitter. >> this conversation is about parents who want to be responsible. they want to provide financially for their children and to do that the need to work so it makes sense we make sure we have the infrastructure that parents need to be able to do that. they are providing for their children and this is just one support they need to be able to do that. >> host: jodi on twitter rights by state, arkansas has a minimum wage at $7.25 for our. how can working people make

enough to pay for child care when both parents have to work? i quit work because we couldn't afford a nursing home. we paid with our time to take care of her . >> it's a terrible catch 22 that families are in that they are working as hard as they can to afford this care and it still is oftenout of reach . that's what we wanted people to appreciate is how hard families are working and yet with the rising cost of everything from rent and food and clothes, it's still very challenging for them to make ends meet. >> host: jerry is in california, both a grandparent and a caregiver. >> i have a question that seems to be the best-kept secret is where can we find where the guidelines are for income for eligibility for

some of these services? >> that's a great question. the federal government and administration for children and families has lots of information about eligibility for various programs and even childcare providers themselves, particularly centura care providers have lots of information for families about various programs they might have access to so whether you want to go i think it's acf.gov it's a way to find out at the federal level what those resources are part of the way we make sure families know what they qualify for is by making sure that providers themselves are helping families access these programs. >> along those same lines do you have resources or do you know how can parents find quality childcare? we had questions about making

sure it's a safe environment, it's an environment where the employees are properly trained. are there resources to thhelp parents in that way? >> there are. every parent has a quality rating system that enables parents to find out what the highest rated childcare programs are in their state. there are a variety of different websites and i can't direct you to a specific website but it's in your state you search for the rating system for service in your state you will find all kinds of information about care and the quality of all those providers. that's an important resource for parents. >> host: parent on the line, go ahead ronald. >> thank you lisa for your

service as well as fannie, casey. really appreciate the work you do. to the conversation we had a couple of comments and a question. a number of callers have called in and said parents are completely responsible for theirchildren . if parents don't want to take care of their children or r are in a position to do that effectively and affordably. and you've spoken just to those issues. but i want to ask you, whose lobbying on behalf of the children as there are lobbyists for elderly in this country. there are lobbyists for ... >> host: robert, we're starting to go out. go ahead, lobbying for kids.

>> there are advocates, many of the parents trying to lift their voices and make sure their legislators know the real issues that they are th facing in their household and to lift up the importance of childcare not just for children but for parents and for the economyoverall . we know that many of our kid partners across the country are working on this issue. there are child advocacy organizations, every state across the country in puerto rico, the virgin islands but also parents, advocacy groups themselves are lifting their voices to make sure legislators know just how real and important these issues are. >> host: lisa hamilton, president and ceo of theannie cay foundation . >>. >> guest: thanyou forhaving me . >> the rst anniversary of

the supreme court decision overturning roe versus wade. mike pencjoins others for the celebrate life day rally at the lincoln memorial. watch live coverage saturday at 10:30 on c-span, c-span now are free mobile video at or online at c-span.org. >> american history tv saturdays exploring the people and events that tell the american story. at 6 pm eastern historians discuss conspiracy theories and modern history such as the deep state, new world order and qanon. they reveal how they can reveal fears of the time period. in his book united america author peter shingle talks about how president right when yellow rose not form alliances with key leaders in the lead up to world war ii to unify the country's borders exploring the american story watch american

history tv on c-span2 and find a full schedule in your program anytime c-span.org. sunday onto day cassandra good talks about the lives of complicated legacies of george washington. though they never had children together george and martha washington raise martha's children and later grandchildren of their own . together they made up america's first first family. >> at first i wasn't sure who we are writing about and it became clear while there were plenty of nieces and nephews, people at mount vernon those people didn't go around selling themselves as george washington's ayers . it was those who were blood related to martha but not george who basically made

careers out of being george washington's family. >> cassandra good with her book first family day at the eastern on q&a. listen to all of our podcasts are free at. >> simon montefiore is a british historian with his novelist wife sandra and their two children. he's written 12 bucks, nine nonfiction . his latest effort is called the world: the family history of humanity including an index in 1304 pages. in his preface the historian writes i have always wanted to write anintimate human history the world . in some ways it's a new approach and some ways a traditional one which is the