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The Challenge of Child Care: More Help Needed for San Antonio's Families

Dinan, Kinsey Alden; Briggs, Jodie

San Antonio families are working harder than ever. In fact, more than 85 percent of the children living in low-income families in San Antonio have parents who are employed, and the majority of these children — about 150,000 — have parents who work full-time, year-round. But, despite their best efforts, these parents are struggling to afford the most basic necessities for their families. In San Antonio, as elsewhere in Texas and the United States, a full-time job at low wages is not enough to make ends meet. Work supports such as the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and public health insurance can help narrow the gap between low earnings and the cost of basic expenses. But a critical Texas work support — child care assistance — is woefully underfunded and therefore out of reach for many qualified families. This fact sheet finds that child care is one of the largest expenses working families face, and unless they receive help with the cost of care, low-wage working parents remain unable to afford basic family necessities.

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Academic Units
National Center for Children in Poverty
Publisher
National Center for Children in Poverty, Columbia University
Series
Making Work Supports Work Publications
Published Here
June 9, 2010