Highlights the influence of care giving on infant and toddler development and focuses on ways to overcome barriers to child-care efforts. Recommendations aimed particularly at community institutions and policymakers include: (1) ensuring that investment in school readiness encompasses supports for the healthy, well-rounded development of infants and toddlers; (2) modifying welfare and employment policies to permit parents to remain home during the initial months after a child’s birth; (3) providing better training and more compensation to caregivers outside the family; (4) extending the protections of the Family and Medical Leave Act to workers in mid-sized and small businesses; (5) providing income to those who take family leave for newborn care through a funding pool that combines public funds and contributions from employers and employees; (6) providing a 1-year exemption from the work requirement for welfare recipients; (7) expanding and sustaining public funding for child care subsidies; and (8) devising strategies for overseeing and supporting different types of caregivers, including licensed family child care homes and child care centers. Government has the responsibility for ensuring fair access to supports for families, and can provide encouragement through regulations, subsidies, and tax incentives.
