“I applied for child care three times and was denied. I didn’t know what I was going to do with my baby until I came to your network. I got help, I got approved, now my baby is in a safe place and I’m working.”
That’s what a parent told me when I asked what it means to have a Department of Education contracted network in her community. Her story is not unusual. It shows what happens when a system offers both access and accountability.
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio gave us 3K and 4K, or free child care for all three- and four-year-olds. Now candidates are promising care for all two-year-olds. That sounds good, but a seat without safety and families without support is like saying dinner is on the house but forgetting the food. Beautiful table. Empty plate.
Right now, the public debate is about dollars. Who pays. Who qualifies. What the subsidy covers. Those are fair questions. But they miss the one parents ask in the middle of the night: Will my child be safe?
I run one of the largest DOE networks in Brooklyn and Queens. It is called PSFamilyNYC. In our network, we work with family childcare providers who care for babies from birth to age three. Since I started this work, two babies have died in programs that were not in the DOE network. These deaths were preventable. The daycares were not getting regular visits. They were not being monitored. That gap is why two babies are gone.
When children are in family daycares that are part of a DOE network, there are safety checks. Staff train. Homes get visits. Families have someone to call when they see something wrong. When children are in programs outside these networks, no one is watching. That gap is dangerous.
Family daycares are where babies thrive. When de Blasio started this system, the question was simple: Where do infants do best? Not in big schools. Babies need small rooms and steady adults. They need naps without bells ringing. Schools are not built for babies. They don’t change diapers. Family daycares sit on the block. They are the aunties and grandmothers who have always been there.
But when care runs only on vouchers, the story changes. Parents are left to figure it out alone. The state sends money, but no one checks the door. It is like putting locks on the front door but leaving the windows wide open. You feel safe until you are not.
Yes, adding money and seats matters. But the money must also pay for visits, training and the people who show up. The seats must be safe seats, and families must have support. We do not need to reinvent the wheel. Over the past five years, we have built a system that works. What we need now is the road for it to run on.
That is what mayoral candidates need to answer: Not just how many seats, or how much funding, but how they will strengthen DOE networks and family daycares. How will they make sure babies are safe while parents work? Parents do not want slogans. They want to know one thing: who will keep my baby safe?
Emmy Gay is the executive director of PSFamily Child Care Network. You can find her at @theflourishingchildren and @psfamilynyc.
