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Essay Subject: Examines legal, social, economic & corporate aspects of day care, focusing on shortcomings of system & analyzing proposed policy for affordable care in New York City.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines legal, social, economic & corporate aspects of day care, focusing on shortcomings of system & analyzing proposed policy for affordable care in New York City. Paper Introduction: Part A The lack of affordable and high-quality day care has been acknowledged as a social problem ever since Congress placed day care on its agenda in the ‘80s (Jansson, 1999, p. 139). This result is the culmination of lobbying by Children’s Defense Fund, feminist groups, and corporations who have begun to hire increasing numbers of women (Jansson, 1999, p.139). According to Chambers (1986), the significance of a social problem is indicated by the number of people affected and also by the social status of the individuals or groups bringing interest to the issue (p. 119). The lack of day care has affected increasing numbers of families in which both parents have had to work to support their families. Concomitantly, corporations who hire working parents also suffer from the impact of the lack of proper day care when they lose valuable employees who Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Communitygroups focusing on children, such as the Citizens' Committee for Childrenof New York, Inc., who produced a report that highlighted the inadequacy ofthe provision of subsidized child care, are also advocating for theimprovement of the situation. P. However, not allcompanies are willing or have the resources to provide day care directly totheir employees. Corporations have begun toacknowledge the beneficial impact on their business by assisting in the daycare needs of their employees who are working parents. This policy has been initiated in thevoid of other alternatives to address the problem. (1988, April). In addition, the research should also comprise thehistorical context of the politicians' past stances, along with the historyof the child care issue in Congress. 2 ). Ehrlich, E. Child care: the private sector can't doit alone. The subsidiesgiven to the child-care providers also ensure that decent wages are offeredto child-care workers so that there is a lower turnover rate. Employers have also played a part in dealing with the problem of theprovision of day-care. To them, emphasis should be made that this policy can provideadditional funding for ACS to expand its role in providing more child careservices for its clients. For politicians, day care has become an important issue because itaffects many constituents. As this policy is heavily dependent on theeffort of the state and local agencies, it may not be implemented accordingto the plan by opposing bureaucrats. During the implementation stage, the key players in the group are thecorporations and the bureaucrats from ACS because they are directlyimpacted by this policy. The political strategy for presenting this policy follows Jansson's(1999) framework discussed in Chapter 12, titled "Developing PoliticalStrategy" (pp. The ABC bill provided $1.75billion to states for subsidizing child care for low-income families.Furthermore, an additional $3.25 billion in tax credits was set aside forfamilies with children under age 4. Funds can then be used to contract servicesfor the poor at private day-care centers or to give vouchers to familiesfor day-care (Ehrlich, 1986, p. Second, this policy is cost-effective because itmakes use of an existing network of child-care providers who are alsolicensed. E. 3 9-326): The objective of the policy is to increase the supply of qualifiedand affordable child care providers. Therefore, it is important for them to gainpopularity by formulating or backing legislation dealing with the childcare issue. The licensed child care providers operate independently within thecommunities. In the report, studies proved thatproviding child care benefits helps corporations lower costs because of thereduction in absenteeism and turnover, which in turn means a lessrecruitment and training of new employees. In addition, families, whose incomes did not fall within the range forACD subsidized assistance, were completely shut off from any assistance.For example, the poorest community districts such as Bedford Stuyvesant andEast New York in Brooklyn have more than 2,5 ACD-contracted child carespaces. A quota for low-income familiesfor each child care provider is set up, which is in proportion to the low-income families in the community district. To date, there is no information that indicates the problem is beingaddressed.Part B The objective of the proposed policy is to increase the supply ofqualified and affordable day care providers and child care centers in NewYork City. Low-income families already receiving subsidized care areafraid that any policy change may result in their benefits being reduced orremoved altogether. If the low-key and private presentations with thepoliticians do not yield a positive outcome, pressure on the external frontshould be increased, such as the mass mobilization of community groups andcitizens in the communities. Finally, the strategy has to be implemented with versatility andflexibility. In the analysis of the proposal to pinpoint the most important aspectof the policy, the increase in the supply of qualified and affordable childcare providers is considered the key objective. Furthermore, she can only paythem low wages resulting in a high turnover rate (Garland, 1989, p.64). The lack of proper day care is an extremely pressing social problemthat requires the collaboration of both public and private agencies toresolve. 66). For example, in New York City, there are longwaiting lists for child care contracted by the Administration forChildren's Services (Citizens' Committee for Children [CCC], 1999, p. A fund of $5 , is designated for implementing the pilotproject for two years before it is evaluated. The project begins with the topthree districts that have the financial backing of the greatest number ofcorporations. On the political front, politicians, such asSenator Dodd and Representative Miller, could be enlisted in backing apolicy to address this problem more effectively. Furthermore, it does not undermine the authority of governmentagencies, but instead, involves them actively in recruiting and trainingchild-care providers. 32 ). Can your career hurt your kids? 66). 2 ). NewYork: Citizen's Committee for Children printing office. The lack of decent and affordable day-care is highly evident in NewYork City. Third, training and standards are provided so that high-qualitychild care are given to the children. 66). News, titled"Who's Guilty?" by Joannie Schrof (1999), the culpability of the parents ofthese children is discussed. An alternative option will threaten the vestedpower of the top-ranking officials who feel more secure in keeping thestatus quo. These tragedies testify to the many problemsfaced by children whose upbringing has been left to child care providersduring their early years. 11). However, as Chambers (1986) describes in his article, with any socialproblems, there are gainers and losers (p. Garland, S.B. In addition, NewYork's Neighborhood Child Care Initiatives Project has also recruited andtrained 4 women to be family day care providers, with the financialassistance of American Express Foundation (Garland, 1989, p. In evaluating a social policy, it is important to assess itseffectiveness in resolving the problem for the clients (Chambers, 1986, p.127). 1 ). For example, funding for governmental agencies remains inadequatein easing the burden of low-income families in cities such as New YorkCity. As for the rest of the working parents, theirproductivity suffers because of absenteeism and stress from worrying aboutthe welfare of their children. Inorder to speak to all the key decision-makers, the leaders may split up andpresent the proposal to the senator or representative whom they alreadyknow. Since the mid-8 s, the child care issue has been hotly debated inCongress by both Democrats and Republicans. Single people working inthe private corporations and taxpayers will resent subsidizing for childcare as they do not benefit from it. 11). Other companies offer emergency dependent home care ("Employers canhelp, 199 , p. 52). 64). Modern Office Technology, 33(4), 66-68. Single taxpayers, who do not benefit from child careservices, are resentful that their money is being used for this purpose.Finally, politicians with constituents interested in other issues, such asMedicare, are competing for the limited funding available. Finally, the subsidized child care to low-income familiesprovided by government agencies is insufficient to cater to the demand foraffordable child care. 139). These social developments have also capturedthe attention of senators, such as Senator Christopher Dodd and OrrinHatch, who wanted to be considered as experts on day-care legislation(Jansson, 1999, p.1 3). (1999). 314-317). Industry Week, 234, 26-27. 38). The leaders from these organizations areresponsible for presenting the policy proposal to the decision-makers andnegotiating with them. In fact, according to the March 1986 HarvardBusiness Review, 4 % of the workforce consists of both parents working(Fernberg, 1988, p. In addition, low-income families may not know about the availability of this program; therefore, funding may need to be diverted for disseminating information about the existence of this service.3) Cost-effectiveness of the program: child care providers are interviewed to assess their satisfaction in running their facilities based on the current level of funding. Nonetheless, to date, in spite of the implementation of legislationand the attention, the provision of day care continues to be a socialproblem. On the other side of the equation, child care providers are faced withdifficulties of providing adequate child care without imposing higher costson parents. Finally, states were required to set upregulations for training, teacher-child ratios, group size, health, andsafety in centers and family day-care settings (Garland, 1989, p. The parties, which may oppose a new policy or a policy change, are thebureaucrats who run ACS. 53). 1 ). 72). Donna Krause, owner of the Creative Learning & Child CareCenter, spells out the dilemma clearly: high-quality child care is verylabor-intensive and most parents cannot afford it (Garland, 1989, p. Inflation-adjusted income in two-parent families has dropped 3.1% between 1973 and1984 (Fernberg, 1988, p. Similar research needs to be undertaken on the top bureaucrats at theACS. Therefore, with the intervention of public agencies incombination with private corporations pooling their resources together,high-quality child care may be provided to families in need of day care.Children are the future generations of the society; thus, it is in theinterest of everyone that they are taken care of in the best environmentpossible. Jansson, B. Thetraining involves training in medical care, workshops on child developmentand play activities, and regulations such as enforcing a child-worker ratioof 1:3. 66). 32 ). Furthermore, the influence and power of major corporationsthat contribute to the politicians' campaign fund should also be used. 21). The lack of day care has affected increasing numbers of familiesbecause of changes in the economic and social system. 52). (1989, July 1 ). (1986). California makes business a partner inday care. Becoming an effective policy advocate: from policypractice to social justice. Furthermore, employees also showa greater commitment to companies that provide family benefits ("Employerscan help", 199 , p. On the other hand, a wealthy district, such as Throgs Neck in theBronx, has no spaces allocated to it (CCC, 1999, p. Business Week, 1 . Concomitantly,corporations who hire working parents also suffer from the impact of thelack of proper day care when they lose valuable employees who cannot findgood and affordable day care. In this criterion, one is also assessing the cost-effectiveness of using the sliding scale method. Fourth, the existence of a slidingscale and a designated quota give access to all families. As noted before, themajority of corporations that take interest in the child care issue oftheir employees represent only less than 1% of the U.S. The data should also be used to answer the question: are low-income families being served or being turned away? In this scenario, companies hiring parents from families who do nothave access to subsidized child care are calling for a change. While the key leaders present the proposal tolegislators, the rest of the members can reach out to the community forsupport and also use the media to generate attention. As mentioned before, entrenched bureaucrats in ACS will not like thereforms that will be necessary to implement this new policy, because theymay cause a shift of power. New York: Macmillan. Johnson(Republican) introduced a bill to provide child-care vouchers for poorfamilies on the condition that states relax standards for family day-carehomes (Ehrlich, 1986, p. 324).Interactional and political skills are needed when approaching politiciansand different groups to enlist support for the child care proposal.Analytic skills are used to clarify objectives and to iron out problemswithin the proposal when there is constructive input from various sources,such as comments from politicians. 53). 64).Therefore, with her current weekly charges of $65, she is only able toemploy 1 people for 8 preschool children. First,it eases the burden of government agencies by splitting the financialburden with corporations that also have a stake in resolving the day careissue. corporations. Therefore, they will not experience a decrease intheir power, but an increase. Increasingly, as women make up a significant part of the labor force,corporations have had to acknowledge the importance of the issue. The next generation; is itbusiness' baby? Instead, since the eighties, families have had to increase theirtotal family income to keep up with the rising costs of living. 26). The tragedy of Columbine High School can alsobe used as an example to the recalcitrant politicians and bureaucrats thata lack of positive action for the care of our children will perpetuatethese horrors-a reality that no constituents want. Nonetheless, in 1998, the Agency for Child Development (ACD),a unit within ACS, has failed to provide child care for 13,334 infants andtoddlers living in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens, who were placed onwaiting lists (CCC, 1999, p. However, these companies represent less than 1% of theU.S. (1987, June 8). In this program, private corporations and state and localagencies share the financial burden of assisting the ACS recruit and trainnew and current day-care providers in the home and day care centers. From the perspective of parents, finding decent and affordableday care for their children involves navigating through a network ofinadequate and fragmented units that ultimately leads them to placing theirchildren in a poor quality child care situation, because it is the bestthey can afford (Ehrlich, 1986, p.52). However, they are also subsidized based on their clientelebecause fees are charged based on a sliding scale. According to a 1989 report on EmployerSponsored Child Care by The Wyatt Company, employees with young childrenunder the age of 12 have higher absenteeism rates, lower productivity andhigher turnover than other employees. Furthermore, financial data can be gathered from the officials of the state and local agencies to assess if the funding has been sufficient for the implementation of this program. Dr. KathrynPerry, an expert in early childhood education, cited in Fernberg's article(1988), states that decent childcare costs $3, to $4, per year (p.66). Someexpenditure may have to be diverted to introduce this concept to attractthe corporations. Dodd (Democrat) andOrrin Hatch (Republican)(Garland, 1989, p. 11).Furthermore, only low-income families are eligible for the subsidized childcare, thus neglecting families who fall just outside the limits ofeligibility (CCC, 1999. Politicians who cannot afford to lose the votes of their constituentsby backing a child care policy are likely to vehemently oppose this policy(Jansson, 1999, p. The issue of day care involves many different groups in thecommunity. The '7 s image of thewhite-picket fence family, where only the father works and the mother staysat home to take care of the children, has become obsolete (Ehrlich, 1986,p. Amongst these groups,some have powerful connections to the decision-makers; some have interactedwith the legislators; while others will be experienced in pressuringpoliticians to support policies (Jansson, 1999, p. Kidding aside: parent assistance isbetter business. (1987, July 13). California: Brooks/Cole Publishing Co. 52). Fortune,123(1 ), 38-44. 317). Other organizations, such as NOW, play a subsidiary role inmobilizing the attention of the mass media and harnessing their politicalinfluence with politicians they know. However, child care advocates did not endorse such an approachbecause of their concern for the well-being of the children (Ehrlich, 1986,p. Another less important,though significant component is the inclusion of the sliding scale paymentmethod because it allows child care providers to cater to low-incomefamilies. Criteria used for assessing the policy should be linked to itsobjectives:1) Effectiveness in increasing the number of qualified licensed child care providers: the data will be compiled by interviewing officials at the local and state agencies implementing the program and the child care providers to ensure that they are still working.2) Effectiveness in serving families in need of qualified and affordable child care: the families being served by the child care providers are interviewed to determine the composition of the families being served. Part A The lack of affordable and high-quality day care has been acknowledgedas a social problem ever since Congress placed day care on its agenda inthe '8 s (Jansson, 1999, p. Inaddition, businesses have an interest in ensuring the next generations-thefuture labor pool-are not poorly treated (Nelson-Horchler, 1987, p. Some of these politicians can be persuaded that the issue of childcare affects a significant proportion of their constituents-- families andcorporations. 53). America's child-care crisis: the firsttiny steps toward solutions. The next step is the formulation of several strategies to beimplemented (Jansson, 1999, p. corporations ("Employers can help", 199 , p. The lackof day care has affected increasing numbers of families in which bothparents have had to work to support their families. Labich, K. (1999). Representative Nancy L. Ever since President RichardNixon vetoed a bill providing for a national day-care system in 1971,parents have had to depend on their own resources and the limitedassistance of public institutions who have been ill-equipped to handle themounting demand for child care (Ehrlich, 1986, p. Business Week, 64-66. Certainly, the public outcry and the focus by themass media have captured the attention of politicians, including PresidentClinton. Employers can help solve the child-care crisis. On June 23, 1989, the Senate approved the Act for Better Child CareServices (ABC) that was co-sponsored by Christopher J. Politicians, whose constituents areconcerned with other issues, will compete for the funding, thus posing abarrier to the funding available to New York City. According to Leslie Lafayette, whofounded Child Free Networks in 1992, child care should be paid by its users(Seligman, 1999, p. Citizens' Committee for Children. The timing forraising this issue is propitious because of the recent school shootings.Therefore, both approaches can create dramatic attention for the policy. For corporations who hire working parents, day care has become amajor problem on their agenda. (1986, October 6). In the contemporary times, with rising costs of living, bothparents have to work in order to maintain a decent standard of living fortheir families. Some large corporations, such as the Apple ComputerCompany, provide on-site child care, either on a gratuitous or subsidizedbasis. Keeping track of New YorkCity's children: a citizens' committee for children status report 1999. The financial burden of providing high-quality child care exceedsthe capacities of both parents and individual child care providers. For women heading their households whose median income is $12, , thechildcare costs are virtually impossible for them to pay (Fernberg, 1988,p. 119). Nelson-Horchler, J. This result is the culmination oflobbying by Children's Defense Fund, feminist groups, and corporations whohave begun to hire increasing numbers of women (Jansson, 1999, p.139).According to Chambers (1986), the significance of a social problem isindicated by the number of people affected and also by the social status ofthe individuals or groups bringing interest to the issue (p. Interactional, political and analytic skills should all beused to produce the necessary results (Jansson, 1999, p. Ultimately, the general strategychosen will be the formation of a coalition, consisting of communitygroups, such as CCC, the National Organization for Women (NOW), interestedcorporations and supportive bureaucrats from ACS. Non low-income families can help offset the costs of the projectby subsidizing the low-income families. References Chambers, D. Hamilton, J.O. 124). 66). Furthermore, the high frequency of divorce has also led to thecreation of single-parent families (Labich, 1991, p. A flexible combination of both low-conflict and high-conflictapproaches should be used. 11). In 1986, Representative GeorgeMiller (Democrat), chairman of the House Select Committee on Children,Youth & Families, stressed the importance of government intervention insupplying more resources into the system by increasing block grants to thestates (Ehrlich, 1986, p. 324). (1991, May 2 ). Pilot projects, similar in nature and on a smaller scale, haveproduced positive results. Corporations also need to be attracted to the policy. Most of thecorporations offer day-care assistance by collaborating with local servicesto give referrals to employees (Garland, 1989, p. In California, BankAmerica Foundation, PacificTelesis Group and 22 other corporations collaborated with governmentalagencies to fund the project for training more child-care providers(Hamilton, 1987, p. The mass media, such as programs like "2 /2 ," canbe used to highlight the desperate child-care situation in the country. Currently, somecorporations move employees so much that they do not consider investing inchild care in the community to be a wise option. This policy offers many benefits to various groups involved. The next step involves researching on powerful politicians who havethe power and tendency to oppose child-care issues (Jansson, 1999, pp. Furthermore, it is important that thestrategies be revised in accordance with the changing circumstances(Jansson, 1999, p. Other members may hand out flyers within the community and create acampaign for petitions. Currently, the recent spate of high school shootings, such as theColumbine High School has cast a spotlight on America's problem children.In fact, in recent articles such as the article in the U.S. In anenvironment that severely underpays child care providers, the rate ofturnover is extremely high, thus resulting in an unstable environment andincompetent staff for caring for the children. Currently, subsidized child care is provided only to low incomefamilies earning less than $21,7 for a family of two and $27,3 for afamily of three, by the Administration for Children's Services (ACS) (CCC,1999, p. Some of the regulations may berelaxed; the child-worker ratio of 1:3 can be changed to 1:6. Another 26,7 8 infants and toddlers werewaiting for ACD vouchers. Thus far, a patchwork of child care solutions has been attempted byvarious groups in resolving the situation. For a one-week service,families pay a minimum from $4 to $1 . Conservatives supported this position as theybelieved that licensing and regulation have cut off the supply of childcare. Fernberg, P.M. Business Week, 52-53. (199 , March).Redbook, 174(5), 2 -22. The leaders in this group also have theresponsibility of decision-making, delegating responsibilities,implementing the strategy, and mediating conflicts between individuals andgroups. Within 2 years, they have created 1,1 newspaces and licensed more than 2 child care providers. Furthermore, day care is a significant issue for single-parent families that have emerged because of rising divorce rates and unwedmothers. Social policy and social programs: a methodfor the practical public policy analyst. 64). If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.