Across our state, working moms are forced to choose between their jobs and their families. In Alabama, women’s workforce participation rate is 52% compared to men’s at 63%. As CEO of Momentum, an organization created to advance women in the workplace, I see mothers faced with this choice all too often, and there has to be a better way.
Especially today, households are struggling due to inflation and rising costs of living, and the added expense of child care is often just too much for many families to handle. Some women may even elect not to have children in the first place due to financial constraints or feel they have no choice but to leave the workforce entirely to start a family. Some don’t have much of a choice at all, since more than 60% of Alabamians live in child care deserts. Child care is primarily shouldered by mothers, but this isn’t just a women’s issue—it’s an economic and workforce crisis. Our nation’s current laws and policies do not adequately support working families in today’s economy, and change is long overdue. With the introduction of a new legislative package, Senator Katie Britt (R-AL) and Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) are working across the aisle to make this change.
The two bills in this plan, the Child Care Availability and Affordability Act and the Child Care Workforce Act, would support Alabama families and fuel economic growth at the same time by incentivizing child care workers to stay in the field and making child care more affordable and accessible for working parents. By updating the tax code to give working parents a much-needed break, Sens. Britt and Kaine’s legislation would give families the freedom to choose the best child care option for them with fewer financial constraints.
As Senator Britt explains, these solutions include expanding the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC), expanding access to child care options, and incentivizing businesses to provide child care to their workers. Specifically, the Child Care Availability and Affordability Act would make the CDCTC accessible for more low- and middle-class families by making the credit refundable and increasing the maximum amount parents can receive. It would also expand the Dependent Care Assistance Program and support businesses as they seek to provide child care for their employees through an improved Employer-Provided Child Care Tax Credit.
While these changes would benefit American families across the nation, these changes are especially crucial for the people of Alabama. A 2021 study found that one in five parents across Alabama missed work due to child care challenges, the highest rate of any state in the nation. That same report concluded that 64 percent of Alabama’s parents with a young child worked fewer hours due to child care constraints. Clearly, our families need the support this proposal would provide.
In addition to the benefits individual families would see as a result of this package, the plan also aims to address workforce shortages and retention issues in the child care industry. As Michelle Kang, CEO of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, emphasized when praising the legislation, the Child Care Workforce Act is an important, bipartisan solution to make substantial direct investments in early childhood education and educators. By addressing the most pressing issue disincentivizing qualified individuals from joining the field, Sens. Britt and Kaine’s plan would increase the supply and improve the quality of our children’s caregivers.
With better access to affordable child care, working parents would have the choice whether or not to return to work while raising a family. In fact, increasing the supply of child care could bring nearly 70,000 people, many of them women, back into the workforce in Alabama alone. Every industry in America right now faces a workforce shortage—from manufacturing and small businesses to nursing and education. Senator Britt’s legislation would help reduce dependence on public entitlement programs by empowering and equipping families to determine their child’s and their family’s best path.
This combination of pro-family and pro-growth policy should be a no-brainer for legislators on both sides of the aisle. By boosting workforce participation while ensuring every family has a choice in child care, this legislation could be life-changing for millions of Americans.
Our current system for providing support to working families is clearly not working. Sens. Britt and Kaine’s proposed improvements would help ensure children have ample access to greater opportunities, provide families a solution without creating an entitlement program, and boost workforce participation and economic growth. Our nation’s lawmakers should be quick to support these bills.
April Benetollo is the CEO of Momentum, Alabama’s premier leadership organization dedicated to empowering women through transformative programs, mentorship, and community-building, helping women thrive personally and professionally.