Workforces across public, private, and nonprofit systems of early care, learning, and child protection are not sufficiently resourced to comprehensively support families. Our systems do not adequately support organizations or frontline staff to work in ways that prioritize prevention and center whole families’ holistic well-being.

A recent report from the Center for American Progress (CAP) finds that child care workers remain close to the bottom of all US occupations when ranked by annual pay. A CAP survey found slightly more than one-quarter of early childhood educators had searched for a new or additional job in the last three months, with half indicating that they were looking for a job with better pay. An additional 13.1 percent were looking for a second job, and 7.5 percent were looking for improved work conditions. Only about 5 percent of those who had recently searched for a job were looking for career advancement within the field of child care, signaling that many are looking to leave the early childhood education field entirely. The same is true in the child protection field.

The body of research on the leadership of early care and learning identifies several factors that influence individuals’ capacity to effectively lead organizations:

a.) leadership preparation and credentials;
b.) recruitment;
c.) leadership development and quality improvement;
d.) workplace supports; and
e.) political, economic, cultural, and social contexts.

To strengthen both the child welfare system and the broader system of care that young families experience, we must invest in the field and in opportunities for leaders in the field to build core competencies in areas including:

• Organizational development, adaptive, and other leadership skills;
• Hard skills in storytelling, fundraising, and advocacy;
• Understanding of historical context and structures;
• Opportunities to learn from other social movements;
• Support for experiential and action-focused learning that reflects best practices;
• Mental health and trauma-informed care; and
• Workforce wellness and self-care.

The child welfare and broader system of care must also adopt what Ann Kalass, former chief executive officer, Starfish Family Services, and Ascend Fellow, calls a “culture of trauma care.”

“Whether providing or receiving services, most people show up affected by [some form of chronic stress]. This creates a commonality among families regardless of which door they are coming through,” Ann explained. “Adopting a culture of trauma care facilitates common knowledge and common approaches, which has been instrumental to the work at Starfish.”

Pay staff a living wage.

Establishing a living wage, an approximate income at which a family is able to meet its basic needs in the community in which it lives, will allow working families to realize financial independence while maintaining housing and food security. Anything beyond that will free up resources for saving, investment, or capital assets that build wealth. An MIT analysis found that the living wage in the United States was $16.54 per hour, or $68,808 per year before taxes, for a family of four (two working adults and two children) in 2019. MIT’s analysis also found that the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour does not provide a living wage for most families. A family of four would need to work nearly four, full-time, minimum-wage jobs to earn a living wage. Single-parent families would need to work 138 hours per week, nearly 24 hours per day for six days, to earn a living wage. It’s important to note that localities may have higher living wages given their own cost-of-living factors.

Ensure the child welfare and related early care and learning workforces reflect the communities they serve.

This requires looking beyond the traditional cadre of leaders and focusing on the right blend of existing and potential leaders, including an intentional focus on racial equity. As major national foundations and private philanthropists make public commitments to center and support racial equity, there is an opportunity to accelerate child and family prosperity. One important way to do this is through leadership — specifically, investing in emerging and established leaders of color across sectors and disciplines, but especially those who have historically lacked strong pathways to leadership. Fellowship programs, pilots that explore and adapt increased pay and compensation models, cultural competency training, and innovative recruitment strategies in graduate programs are all opportunities to tap and create a vast talent pipeline for systems that serve children and families.

Promote and standardize family-supportive workplace policies.

When private sector companies develop and implement employee benefits policies, it is important to take the varying needs of families into account. Paid family leave, on-site child care, flexible work hours, and accessible, reliable transportation are just a few of the ways to ensure workplace policies work for families.

Starfish Family Services

Inkster, MI

Starfish Family Services is a leader in successfully incorporating mental health supports in early childhood care and education. The organization fully supports local children by understanding degrees of trauma, knowing how to identify signs of stress, and responding with respect, care, and kindness. It also recognizes the need to train counselors and social workers on how to provide self-care, so their mental health needs are addressed as they deal with children and families in distress. Starfish offers safe-space support sessions for staff to process feelings and relieve secondary trauma.

Four Employer Principles for Family Prosperity

Nationwide

The global pandemic exacerbated social and economic hardships for families, and it has highlighted for employers the long-standing workplace policies and practices that prevent parents and caregivers from fully participating in the workforce. Comprehensive, integrated, and fair policies for workers are critical not only for parents, caregivers, and their children, but also for businesses and communities to thrive. Fortunately, a growing number of organizations recognize that policies that guarantee adequate pay, leave benefits, and the right to organize are foundational to a vibrant workforce. These principles, developed by Ascend at the Aspen Institute’s Family Prosperity Innovation Community, provide a roadmap for employers (particularly nonprofits) to design family-supportive policies and programs that better support their staff and their loved ones.

 

1.     Equal Opportunity: Workplace benefits are universally and equally available to all employees within an organization, regardless of position, status, or tenure. All employees deserve clear and timely information about their workplace benefits.

2.     Equitable, Inclusive, and Fair Policies: Workplaces are inclusive, equitable, and fair in their policies, practices, benefits, and hiring procedures.

3.     Health Supports: Integrating and connecting approaches to physical, emotional, and mental health supports into job benefits are critical to thriving employees.

4.     Employee Partnerships: Employees are invaluable partners in designing effective, sustainable policies that enable employees to thrive in their work and family life.