Ditmas Park and Kensington parents speak on child care concerns at pre-Mother’s Day event

Many parents told News 12 childcare has become increasingly expensive, and it has limited their plans on growing their families and how they're going to pay their bills.

Daniella Rodriguez

May 12, 2024, 12:04 AM

Updated 76 days ago

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The New Yorkers for Childcare hosted a pre-Mother's Day event at The Craft Salon on Saturday evening to talk about affordable child care.
Many parents told News 12 childcare has become increasingly expensive, and it has limited their plans on growing their families and how they're going to pay their bills.
“Sometimes I do 9 [a.m.] to 5 [p.m.], and then you have to figure out, 'How am I going to get them?' Or, 'Who will pick them up? Who am I going to leave them with?' And sometimes child care runs you anywhere between $40 to $50 a day. So think about that for five days a week, that’s an extra $800 a month on top of rent, bills, car insurance, and food.”
News 12 reached out to the Mayor Eric Adams' Office for comment. In a statement, the mayor's office says:
"From birth through five years old, New York City’s early childhood system is the most comprehensive in the country. Under the Adams administration, the system is serving more young New Yorkers than ever before, and with recent investments of more than $500 million for educational programs, we are making our city more livable for working-class families. When our administration took office, a family earning $55,000 a year was paying $55 for full-time, subsidized child care per week, but thanks to commonsense strategies to expand access to child care for working families, that same family is now paying under $5 per week — more than 10 times less. We are delivering breakthroughs like MyCity to help families sign up for child care online, investing billions of dollars in early child care and shifting thousands of seats across the city to immediately meet demand and expand access for families, and we are committed to ensuring that every child who needs a seat has one in our city. We look forward to building on this work and supporting this industry through the budget process.”
For now, parents told News 12 they will not advocate for affordable childcare until it comes to fruition.


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