At the recent CAKES Childcare Movement Summit, leaders across business, policy and early learning and care came together to brainstorm solutions to build an effective, high-quality child care system.
At Start Early, we center the child, because the earliest years — prenatal to age 5 — shape everything that follows. This is a period of extraordinary growth and development, when children need stable relationships, enriching environments and access to quality early learning opportunities that support their unique needs. These early experiences are foundational to a child’s development and have profound impacts on a family’s overall well-being and stability.
Yet today, too many families still face limited access to consistent, quality care for their children, especially before kindergarten.
This reality came up at the summit, not as an abstract challenge, but as a daily constraint shaping how parents live and work. One of the most powerful through lines was just how unsustainable the current system has become for everyone involved.
“I’ve sat across from parents forced to turn down a promotion — one that came with just a $0.25 raise — because they were afraid of losing access to child care,” shared Celena Sarillo, Start Early’s President elect.
Sarillo put it plainly, “Child care shouldn’t cost you your career.”
In her reflections after the summit, she added, “Many families are making impossibly difficult choices because the child care system isn’t working the way it should.” Those choices between work and care or between advancement and stability have an impact far beyond individual households. These consequences extend into the workforce and across the economy.
Child care is also essential to broader economic stability. We often see that women’s workforce participation depends on reliable care for their children. These challenges impact employee retention, overall productivity and the well-being of employees. Businesses do better when working parents can fully participate in the workforce; it’s a win-win.
This moment is particularly urgent because pressure exists across the entire system. Families are navigating rising costs for child care along with limited quality options. Providers are operating within tight financial constraints which may lead them to cut crucial programs. The early learning and care workforce—despite its significant role in child development—remains undervalued and underpaid, leading to high workforce turnover.
This is why our focus needs to be both immediate and long-term, strengthening access to high-quality programs while also advancing the policies that make those programs sustainable. Business leaders are modeling what’s possible; like CAKES body’s child care policy to cover their employee’s child care costs which is an innovative approach to moving the conversation forward
. These employer policies are much needed, yet there are limits to what can be achieved without broader structural change. Summit participants agreed that no single sector can solve this alone.
“What was clear in our discussion is that we need both near-term action and long-term solutions,” Diana Rauner, Start Early President shared. Employers can provide immediate support and demonstrate what is possible. Philanthropy can prototype and strengthen models rooted in quality. Policy must scale solutions that ensure children receive the care and early learning experiences they deserve.
