Fil-Ams join rally to demand child care support for working moms

Child care providers, working parents – including health care workers who require child care – child care advocates and representatives from the Child Care Resource Center join the rally. CONTRIBUTED

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. – Working moms struggling to find quality, affordable child care held a rally in Northridge Monday to call attention to the challenges they face raising families.

Part of a nationwide campaign called A Day Without Child Care, the rally was held at Dignity Health – Northridge Hospital Medical Center the day after Mother’s Day, when all moms were celebrated.

Working moms were the focus of efforts to call attention to the burdens they bear from lack of child care and demand “thriving wages for childcare providers, affordable care for families, a childcare system built on racial and gender justice, and an expanded, inclusive tax credit,” according to organizers.

Among those who joined the rally were Filipino American child care providers and advocates, including Lourdes Duarte, a provider from Mar Vista, California.

“Child care providers ensure that parents can go to work knowing their child is in a safe, nurturing and educational environment. Our work is important to the economy of our city, our state and our country, Duarte said.

“Yet, most providers earn low wages and struggle to keep their doors open. That is why we are coming together to urge (California) Governor Gavin Newsom to respect our profession and make sure that we earn a livable wage that reflects the true cost of the care we provide.”

Child care workers and advocates march to Dignity Health – Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where they converge to mark “A Day Without Child Care.” CONTRIBUTED

Also attending the rally were Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman, other child care providers, working parents – including health care workers who require child care – child care advocates and representatives from the Child Care Resource Center.

Mothers miss more work or work fewer hours than fathers to care for children, according to reports from the US Department of Labor.

The rally participants asked Gov. Newsom to address the challenges working moms face, including lack of child care, long waiting lists for child care facilities, low wages for providers and the high cost of care.

The governor’s revised budget proposal contains cuts to child care services and programs provided by the state. One proposal is a cut to Cal WORKs which provides eligible families child care subsidies.

“We are one of the only rich countries in the entire world that expects families to carry this burden all on their own … and to me that is shameful,” Raman said at the morning event, organized by Service Employees International Union Local 99.

Rally organizers said in Los Angeles, there are only enough licensed child care spots to serve 4 percent of the city’s infant and toddler population and more than 60 percent of families in Los Angeles live in child care “deserts,” communities without proper child care.