Comment: Without child care support, work stops; it’s simple

Published 1:30 am Saturday, February 7, 2026

By Lorie Stewart / For The Herald

As a mother of three children, a grandmother to two and living in the world that we are all muddling through right now, it seems more important than ever to explain how our state Legislature needs to stand firm for its families, children and child care workers.

We can succeed if we stand together to protect the Fair Start for Kids Act and the Working Connections Child Care subsidy (WCCC), safety nets that support the survival of child care and early learning in Washington. Families, children and our state’s economy depend on families being able to access high-quality child care through Washington’s subsidy, which is under threat of being reduced as part of state budget cuts. Without it we all fail, we all fall.

I am a child care provider for private families, mainly because I cannot afford to work in a licensed child care center. I love what I do because it is more of a calling then a career to me. I get to help future generations learn and develop and I know I could have an even bigger impact working with a whole group of children at a licensed child care center. But the pay is too low at centers, it would not cover my living expenses, health care costs or the cost of helping my own family thrive.

If licensed child care centers were able to pay providers a living wage to provide the high-quality care the children deserve, they would see less turnover and burnout. They would be more able to retain highly qualified, dedicated staff, like me. But a livable wage makes the cost of care go up, which can price working families out of quality, safe, child care. If working families cannot afford care for their children, they cannot work, therein lies the problem and thus the need for subsidies that were strengthened by the Fair Start for Kids Act.

Children depend on stable and caring relationships with their early learning providers and the situation we find ourselves in today does not nurture that. When parents, especially women, don’t have access to affordable child care, they can’t go to work. Nearly 40 percent of Washington parents report having to quit or been fired since having children, according to The Seattle Times. When providers can’t make ends meet, they drop out of the child care workforce. All of this leads to instability for children as well, so call on your legislators for a solution.

Do you have children who are in child care or school and struggle with the costs? Are you a child care worker and struggle to pay the bills or to have adequate health care because it is not provided for you at your facility?

This is what you can do; call, write or visit your state representatives and senator and tell them to protect access to Washington’s child care and early learning safety net, the promise of the Fair Start for Kids Act and the Working Connections Child Care subsidy. Ask them to protect eligibility for families, rates for providers and the mixed delivery system.

To lawmakers: We appreciate that this is a tough budget environment, but families and the early learning community need to see a Legislature that solves the budget crisis while not harming the people we are trying to serve. Additional cuts and delays will put affordability further out of reach for working families.

Lorie Stewart is a child care provider with a private family in Seattle and a member of Washington’s Early Educator Design Team.