This one-hour PBS documentary talks to dozens of families, child care providers, researchers, and experts in the field to unpack the U.S. childcare crisis. The video covers many of the compounding factors that make childcare so inaccessible: cost, long waitlists, the additional strain of the pandemic, and more. It also looks at the history of childcare in the U.S., as well as the options and policies available in other countries. PBS notes that nearly every developed nation spends more public dollars on childcare than the U.S., where parents spend two to four times as much on childcare as parents in France.
Watch the video to learn more about a variety of perspectives, including:
How the extremely low wages childcare workers receive for their skilled labor is rooted in slavery.
How inaccessible high-quality care—which is critical for children’s healthy brain development—is across the country.
How only 1 in 7 American children who are eligible for child care subsidies actually receive them.
Watch:Raising the Future: The Child Care Crisis (PBS)