In Canada, the campaign for $10 a day childcare has been all over the news. Every province has joined the plan.
Matt Bruenig wrote about movement to provide publicly funded childcare in the US:
“It would be possible to give parents with young children a choice between heavily subsidized child care services or a cash benefit to compensate them for care at home. Finland and Norway already do it.
It would also be popular. Around half of children below the age of 3 are cared for by their parents, and a majority of parents say they want this option.”
Perhaps if the US and Canada manage to introduce affordable options for publicly provided childcare it will be a stepping stone for affordable eldercare and the option for family members to be compensated for the care work they provide at home.
Yes, there are some programs in both the US and Canada to compensate family caregivers. Both countries have a patchwork of programs, with complex eligibility and enrollment processes, low rates of pay, and tedious processes to maintain enrollment.
Of course, it’s a tall order to try to design a federal policy that adequately compensates people for care or provides subsided options that work for families. I found Caitlyn Collins’ Making Motherhood Work particularly insightful for the way she focused on the lived experiences of mothers navigating maternity leave policies in four different countries. There are pros and cons to every system. It’s no surprise that no single policy can meet the needs and wants of every family.
Right now, families around the world are making it through the day using ingenious systems they’ve devised to provide care work despite their financial constraints. It’s this flexibility, determination, and creativity that makes me so excited to see even limited caregiving support programs come to fruition. The pros and cons of nearly any system will be a step up from what most families in the US currently have: no system.
Families will make it work, no matter what, just like we always do. The more support we have, the more we can put that ingenuity to better use.
The fight for the Canada Disability Benefit, which has yet to materialize, continues. Disability Without Poverty has resources for how to contact your elected officials to show your support. The lack of progress on CDB compared to the expansion of MAiD sends a powerful and deeply alarming message.
Anna Sale talks with people about how cancer and paralysis have changed their notions of sex and how they’ve dealt with it in Hard, a three episode series on her podcast, Death Sex and Money.
Scarleteen has a short, clear guide on how to discuss disability, sex, and sexuality.
Elizabeth Zeman Kolkovich writes about how our emotions sometimes transcend time and place.