Voices for Utah Children Articles
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At Voices for Utah Children, we always start with this guiding question: "Is it good for all kids?" That remains our north star at the outset of the 2024 legislative session, and is reflected in our top legislative priorities. So, what’s good for all...
- Type: Article
- Author: Jenna Williams
- Category: Updates & Blog
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How to Strengthen Utah's Child Tax Credit
In 2023, Utah introduced its own child tax credit (CTC) marking a positive step forward. However, the credit's limited scope falls short of providing real assistance to families raising young children. As we approach the 2024 legislative session, there...
- Type: Article
- Author: Jenna Williams
- Category: Updates & Blog
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Mapping Care for Kids: A County-Level Look at Utah’s Crisis in Licensed Child Care
Utah’s family demographics have changed. 53% of Utah families have all available parents in the workforce, making child care a necessity. These days, most Utah families need two incomes to maintain financial stability. But Utah’s licensed child care...
- Type: Article
- Author: Jenna Williams
- Category: Updates & Blog
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It’s Official: Access to Licensed Child Care Statewide is Really Bad (and Getting Worse)
We know that Utah’s child care crisis is bad, and is going to get worse. New data helps illustrate exactly how bad the situation is, in each county across the state. Next week Voices for Utah Children will release a report titled, “Mapping Care for...
- Type: Article
- Author: Jenna Williams
- Category: Updates & Blog
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Higher Child Care Costs and More Stress for Families Coming This Fall
When the pandemic hit, child care was one of the first sectors in crisis. But action in the form of federal aid and swift state program implementation prevented widespread program closures. The nearly $600 million Utah received in federal child care...
- Type: Article
- Author: Jenna Williams
- Category: Updates & Blog
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Annie E. Casey Foundation Releases 34th edition of KIDS COUNT® Data Book
Utah Shines in Child Well-Being Rankings, Yet the Strain of Inaccessible, Unaffordable Child Care Pushes Parents to the Breaking Point Utah made significant strides in overall child well-being, moving up to second place in the country from fourth last...
- Type: Article
- Author: Laneta Fitisemanu
- Category: Updates & Blog
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What Happened with Child Care During the 2023 Legislative Session?
Child care certainly received its fair share of discussion this legislative session, but did anything really happen? The short answer is kinda. Here’s what happened. Funding Requests During the session, Voices for Utah Children teamed up with parents,...
- Type: Article
- Author: Jenna Williams
- Category: Updates & Blog
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Utah's Proposed Child Tax Credit
To date, the state legislature’s minimal efforts to address Utah’s complex child care crisis are completely out of proportion to the scope of the problem. None of those efforts have offered much relief for Utah families with young children who are...
- Type: Article
- Author: Jenna Williams
- Category: Updates & Blog
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How Much Will Each Utah County Soon Lose in Child Care Funding?
During the pandemic, the child care sector was decimated. Nationally, 16,000 childcare programs permanently closed and 100,000 workers left the industry entirely. But even before the pandemic began, Utah only had enough licensed child care to meet...
- Type: Article
- Author: Jenna Williams
- Category: Updates & Blog
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Utah's Child Care Crisis is About to Hit a Whole New Level
Since the start of the pandemic, Utah has received nearly $600 million in emergency federal funding to ensure that our child care sector can continue to serve families despite nearly overwhelming COVID-era challenges. In one year, at the end of...
- Type: Article
- Author: Anna Thomas
- Category: Updates & Blog
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Let's Just Say It: Child Care is School, and School is Child Care.
For years, advocates (like me) have avoided mentioning the fact – at least, in the presence of legislators – that Utah families rely on school not just for education, but also for reliable and high quality child care. Similarly, until very recently,...
- Type: Article
- Author: Anna Thomas
- Category: Updates & Blog
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Investing in Early Care and Education Professionals Will Strengthen Utah Child Care
Utah leaders should be investing in child care professionals through paid training and educational opportunities, refundable tax credits for people who provide care and learning opportunities directly to young children, and other direct incentives that...
- Type: Article
- Author: Anna Thomas
- Category: Updates & Blog
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It’s Time for the Child-Centered Child Care System that Utah Families Deserve
For too many years, child are policy – in Utah and nationally – has been shaped primarily by economic and political forces. These forces have shaped our perceptions of early care and education: “People need childcare because they should be working....
- Type: Article
- Author: Anna Thomas
- Category: Updates & Blog
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There’s No “Re-Opening” Utah Without More Child Care
Child care is arguably one of the biggest areas of economic weakness exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic crisis. For Utah, a new and better approach is necessary and within reach. Even before the pandemic forced statewide shutdowns in...
- Type: Article
- Author: Anna Thomas
- Category: Updates & Blog
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National Orgs Call for Emergency Child Care Sector Relief
Child care in Utah has always been critical to our state's economic health - and to the health, safety and well-being of the children of working families. In the current emergency situation, the preservation and support of this sector is even more...
- Type: Article
- Author: Anna Thomas
- Category: Updates & Blog
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Kinship Care Families Need Our Support
Utah children live in all kinds of households and family arrangments. We want to support all of them in getting a healthy, happy start in life! And that means supporting the people who are taking care of them, temporarily or permanently, in Kinship...
- Type: Article
- Author: Anna Thomas
- Category: Updates & Blog
