RAISING THE CASE FOR CHILD CARE AS A PUBLIC RIGHT

Since the pandemic, the cry for more affordable, accessible child care has grown ever louder.

- BY JENNY GOLD

ALLEN J. SCHABEN Los Angeles Times JENNIFER CORTEZ plays with children at a home day-care facility in Lakewood on June 20.

The annual cost to put a child in day care can be more than college tuition or even a mortgage payment for American families. Many advocates have called on the United States to fund a robust federal childcare system similar those in most other developed countries.

The problem is that advocates have been framing the issue all wrong, researcher Elliot Haspel argues in his new book, “Raising A Nation.” Haspel, a senior fellow at Capita, a family policy think tank, says the popular economic argument — that child care is needed for parents to go to work, feed their families and contribute to the economy — doesn’t carry the moral heft to convince enough voters of its importance.

Instead, Haspel said, child care needs to be reframed as an American value with many advantages — including family creation and even national security. The Los Angeles Times spoke with Haspel about “Raising A Nation,” and the key arguments he believes should appeal to all Americans. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How do you hope the book will be used to help advocates build a more effective child-care movement?

The pandemic shone a very bright light on just how important child care was, and we've seen more attention to it from both blue states and red states, and both Republicans and Democrats. But it doesn't feel like we're necessarily on track for a massive, transformative policy change.

My contention is that part of the reason is because of the way we frame the issue. If we continue as advocates to talk about it mostly as private good that helps parents work, we're not going to get where we need to go. The playbook is not working. I think we have to switch things up.

Why do you say the popular economic argument is valid but 'morally impoverished"?