After 25 years working in the field of early childhood education, I never imagined I would be poised to launch a new national virtual membership organization for young children with an amazing team of dedicated, passionate, and expert advocates at the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies. We’re thrilled to lead the development of an organization that will reach parents, grandparents, and other advocates for children through 21st century online organizing strategies. We’re also excited about being at the forefront of finding new ways to mesh this virtual network with the strong and proud history of grassroots organizing that that our country’s child care resource and referral agencies bring to the cause of educating and mobilizing parents.

So, what prompted Linda K. Smith, the Executive Director, and the Board of Directors of NACCRRA, to set out to build an online Parent Network? First, working parents of young children are under-represented in the halls of Congress. The needs of working parents are not clear to our policy makers and are getting lost amidst a sea of highly organized special interest groups. Our research on parents and grandparents suggests that there are clear mandates that are not being heard, and parents’ needs are not being met. Most of all, there are 12 million children who are regularly in the care of someone other than their parents and only 9% of regulated child care settings across the country can be considered  “high quality.”  Because there are few federal child care standards, and state standards are so low and so poorly implemented throughout the nation, children are being hurt, killed, and neglected in settings that are less than high quality. Finally, child care has always been hard to afford for many working parents, but with our recent economic downturn, the challenges are becoming insurmountable. Even parents who make minimum wage often cannot qualify for assistance. Parents are being forced to take their children out of child care. What will become of these families?

NACCRRA believes it is time to represent parents and ensure that their stories are told and heard by the public and by policy makers. Child Care Aware Parent Network is our initiative to gather, organize, and mobilize parents by arming them with great information and tools to help them voice their concerns. This blog space will be devoted to the parents in our Parent Network. Their stories will be brought to you by the insightful staff at NACCRRA and our member agencies throughout the country. I hope you will join us on our journey through this blog as we search for the answers to the complex problems facing working parents throughout the country.

Fran Simon
Chief of Parent Engagement
NACCRRA