A powerful new study — which demonstrated long-term results by following children from birth until age 35 — found
that high-quality care during the earliest years can influence whether both mothers and children born into disadvantage lead more successful lives.
The Department of Health and Human Services says child care should cost 7 percent of a family’s income at most —
but 42 percent of families who buy care for young children spend considerably more than that, according to census data analyzed by Beth Mattingly at the University of New Hampshire.
Children who attended the high-quality programs had slightly more years of schooling
and an increased likelihood of living beyond 65 — and their children also got more education.
According to the Tax Policy Center, it would increase the after-tax income of families with children by an average of 0.2 percent, or $190.
Yet recent studies show that of any policy aimed to help struggling families, aid for high-quality care
has the biggest economic payoff for parents and their children — and even their grandchildren.
The study analyzed two well-known experimental programs in North Carolina, which offered free, full-time care
to low-income children age 8 weeks to 5 years, most of whom were black and lived with a single mother.
“Families are just not able to succeed the way that it’s set up,” said Ms. Cross, who is 35 and lives in Portland, Ore.
She found out about a Head Start school on the college’s campus, one of the few free early childhood programs for low-income families.