The Washington Post has an article that says some parents are removing children from daycare because of the recession. They says daycare costs can approach $1,000 a month. The downside is that parents will take kids to work or let them stay at home or with friends where they may not be watched as closely and the environment may be less safe.
For families with young children, day-care costs can rival a rent or mortgage payment, with an average that can approach almost $1,000 a month for one infant at a child-care center. But as hard times hit home, advocates and parents worry about what children stand to lose in the scaling back, both in early education and, even more, in safety.
"Our fear is that these children are being put in places where there are literally no safety requirements and no background screens, and we just don't know what they are being exposed to," said Linda K. Smith, executive director of the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies.
Smith said she does not blame parents for what is "mostly a choice between bad and worse." But she says, "It is terrible in America that there are national policies and state policies that force families into these decisions."
The Washington Post is not the only paper to notice the daycare trend - see also here, here and here.
