John Kerry: “today I am introducing the ``Working Families' Child Care Assistance Act'' to help the many working families who face…”

“today I am introducing the ``Working Families' Child Care Assistance Act'' to help the many working families who face great struggles to find affordable, good-quality child care. Mr. President, we no longer live in an era when one parent generally stays at home full time to take care of the children. Today, 60 percent of women with children younger than six are in the labor force. The result is that approximately seven million children of working parents are cared for each month by someone other than a parent. And most of these children spend 30 hours or more each week in child care, according to the National Research Council. New research also confirms that our current social reality has placed enormous strains on working families' budgets because many families must pay for child care. According to a new study of 100 child care centers entitled ``Cost, Quality, and Child Outcomes in Child Care Centers,'' families spend an average of $4,940 per year to provide services for each enrolled child.”