Making Child Care a Priority: Why I Launched My Child Care Advocacy Tour

By Assemblywoman Shanique Speight

For so many parents, child care is the difference between being able to go to work or not. It shapes a child’s earliest years, supports their development, and gives families the stability they need to keep moving forward. But too often, it feels like the people carrying that responsibility - parents and providers - are being asked to do it alone.

That is why I launched my Child Care Advocacy Tour.

I wanted to understand the child care landscape from the people living this life every day. Parents trying to make impossible choices. Providers working tirelessly to keep their doors open. Early childhood educators giving everything they have to care for our children.

And the conversations have been honest.

We’ve talked about how expensive child care has become, how hard it is to keep and fairly pay workers, and how policies that are supposed to help can sometimes make things even harder. Everyone agrees on one thing: the system is stretched too thin.

Families need relief. Providers need support. And child care needs to be treated like the essential infrastructure it is.

I’ve introduced several bills aimed at strengthening child care access and stability in New Jersey, including legislation to support fair pay for early childhood educators, expand health care benefits for child care workers, create an emergency closure prevention fund, and ensure stronger partnerships between school districts and community-based providers.

Because if we want strong communities, we need strong child care.

This tour is about listening first. It is about making sure the people doing this work every day have a seat at the table when policies are being made.

Child care is an economic issue. A workforce issue. A family issue.

And it is time we start treating it that way.