(NewsNation) — A lack of affordable child care is pushing many U.S. military families to the brink, creating hardships that threaten troops’ ability to remain in service, according to a nonprofit military family advocacy group.
In a survey by Blue Star Families, active-duty military parents cited child care availability as one of their top quality-of-life concerns. With an estimated 9,000 children on waitlists for military-run child care centers, many military spouses are unable to pursue careers due to child care challenges.
“Military families, they need two incomes,” Blue Star Families CEO Kathy Roth-Douquet said Sunday on “NewsNation Prime.” “The military salary is a fair salary, but it’s a working-class or middle-class salary depending on your rank.”
The problem is compounded by the mobile military lifestyle, with frequent relocations forcing families to restart child care searches. About 75% of military families live off base, far from installation child care centers.
“For these structural reasons, and others, military families are even more disadvantaged than average Americans,” Roth-Douquet said. “And yet Americans actually need their military. We need people to stay in and do this service.”
Some military branches offer incentives to attract more child care workers. Language addressing the issue is included in the proposed fiscal year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act.
But Roth-Douquet said more needs to be done, and she is calling on communities and the country to innovate child care solutions and recognize it as vital for military readiness.
“Just like we need to innovate on weapon systems, we need to innovate here and how we get child care to military families and honestly to the whole country,” she said.