What does Biden's new executive order on child care mean for families?

Caregivers and activists around the nation have been asking for better access to child care and long-term care for years. This week, President Joe Biden signed an executive order that will offer a bit of relief for caregivers, making some progress on his previous campaign promises.

The executive order includes over 50 directives to cabinet-level agencies to increase access to care and offer support for caregivers, but does not involve any additional spending, so the impact may not go as far as some would hope. It’s a small victory for families and care advocates who have long been fighting for everything from free and affordable child care, to long-term care for the elderly and those with disabilities, to raising wages for care workers across the board.

According to the White House, the cost of care has risen 26% in the last decade for children, and 40% for those who require long-term care — outpacing inflation and making it harder for middle- and lower-income families to get by. The announcement also comes after experts have warned of major turmoil within the child care industry that may force more child care centers to close and leave even more families in a lurch.

But how does the executive order address those issues, and will parents benefit? Read on.

What does the executive order mean for families?

The broad directives listed in the executive order range from finding ways to reduce costs for families who benefit from the Child Care & Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program, to taking steps to increase wages for Head Start teachers and staff, to directing the Department of Defense to improve child care affordability on military installations, and more.

“His executive order will lower the cost of care for families and drive better wages for the historically underpaid and much-needed care workforce,” says Tim Allen, CEO of Care.com, one of the largest online marketplaces for caregivers.

Allen says he’s especially excited to see how the executive order builds upon the child care model in the CHIPS Act guidelines announced last month.

“Requiring cabinet agencies to identify grant programs that can support child care and long-term care for individuals working on federal projects and requiring applicants seeking federal job-creating funds to expand access to care for their workers could be a game-changer,” he says, adding that he expects this to effect tens of thousands of people.

What prompted the executive order?

“While there’s absolutely consensus in Washington that we need to improve child care in America — make it more affordable and accessible for families, and make it a viable career for caregivers — how we best do that is still being debated,” says Allen.

Biden has long promised to address issues like paid family leave, universal preschool and other caregiving matters but has faced opposition, and continues to do so, with a Republican-led House; last year's Inflation Reduction Act, for instance, cut family-friendly provisions. Some of these issues are included in his proposed 2024 budget, but much of it is considered unlikely to pass. An executive order was a step toward improving access to care while also, as reports have noted, potentially improving his approval ratings ahead of his announcement to run in the 2024 presidential election.

“In the meantime, families are struggling, with the majority spending more than 20% of their household income on child care, the caregiver workforce is shrinking while demand grows, and we face an estimated loss of $300 billion annually in GDP as soon as 2030 if we don’t fix our care infrastructure,” says Allen. “President Biden’s executive order ensures that we can start tackling some of this massive problem while Congress continues to discuss additional and perhaps even more expansive solutions.

What's next?

Unfortunately, not all families will benefit from the executive order, and more needs to be done to assist struggling families who, despite not qualifying for government assistance, can still barely afford the cost of child care and long-term care for seniors and disabled loved ones.

“We believe that by optimizing dependent care tax policy — often the only assistance available to many families — these challenges can be addressed,” says Allen.

He calls for restoring the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit back to their pandemic levels so as to assist more families. Allen also sees a need to reimagine the employer-provided child care credit to offer employers more flexibility to support the care needs of their employers.

“For too long, care has been treated as a personal matter for each family to solve alone. But the reality is that care drives our economy, making it a very public matter,” says Allen. “This executive order is a huge step forward in addressing a national crisis and we’re eager to see where it leads us.”

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