(NewsNation) — Parents across the country are scrambling to figure out child care as the “American Rescue Plan Act,” which offered emergency funding for child care during the pandemic, is set to expire in two weeks.
The federal funding expires on Sept. 30, threatening 70,000 programs across the nation and leaving 3.2 million children without proper care.
But it’s working moms and dads that will take the biggest hit since they will have to make the tough decision between working and taking care of their kids.
More than 70% of mothers with children under 18 years old go to work, according to the Department of Labor.
The average salary for working moms is about $44,000 per year, and the most common jobs held are in healthcare, education and social services.
And of the 23.5 million working moms, about 66% of them work full-time, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“When moms are in the workforce and their children are safe in high-quality child care programs, then mom can focus on her job and the child can be actively getting ready for their next level of education, be it pre-preschool or kindergarten,” said Kelly Dawn Jones, the owner of Family Child Care and Staffing.
However, the average cost of child care is about $11,000 a year per child, which puts families in tough positions. And in states like North Carolina, child care costs for infants have skyrocketed to about $24,000 a year, which has many moms choosing to leave the workforce.
“I think what we already know is that when families don’t have reliable child care, they sometimes have to make hard choices. And so some of the choices that we see, there are some folks who may be leaving the workforce,” Susan Gail Perry, the CEO of Child Care Aware of America, said.
The “American Rescue Plan” allowed more than 200,000 child care programs to remain open throughout the pandemic.
The end of the plan will mean these programs — 90% of which are women-owned — will be forced to either charge families more or cut child care teacher’s salaries.
“I’m actually considering closure myself,” Jones said. “We can’t keep up with the staffing because staff need at least $16 or $17 an hour. We simply can’t afford to pay that much for our staff.”
That would leave Jones by herself, and even she can’t work an 80-hour week all by herself.