Facing a “crisis-level” shortage of child care, Colorado’s Senate has released the “Infant and Family Child Care Action Plan: A strategic action plan to address infant and family child care home shortages in Colorado.”

Colorado’s leadership in addressing this problem sets an example for states like Massachusetts where child care spots are also declining.

The plan notes in part:

“To maintain the momentum of our booming economy we need to support our working families. When that support comes in the form of access to safe, licensed child care, it in turn supports the healthy growth and development of Colorado’s next generation of thinkers, innovators, and workers.”

However, “licensed infant care has been decreasing since 2010. Additionally, family child care homes, sometimes the only accessible care option for families, have been declining for years. The loss of family child care homes also means the loss of significant numbers of licensed infant care. Although the decrease in family child care homes is consistent with national trends, Colorado currently exceeds the national average in the rate of overall decline. The impact of these decreases in licensed capacity is reflected in the fact that 25% of centers and 42% of homes reported having a wait list for infants.”

“To create a Colorado child care landscape where families can afford and access the care they need and want, Colorado must add at least 7000 infant slots in centers and over 200 family child care home providers.”

Among the report’s recommendations:

“Provide financial, business, and professional support to… family child care home providers and centers serving infants.”

“Increase access to training and professional supports that enable infant care professionals and family child care providers to provide high-quality care.”

“Add resources to the child care licensing process to increase support and training to providers and decrease time to obtain a background check.”

“…resolve differences among state and local regulatory agencies to remove administrative
and financial burdens and assure safe environments for children in family child care homes,” and

“Examine how early education (and other) policies impact availability of licensed infant care and
family child care homes.”

And as Colorado Governor Jared Polis said yesterday in his State of the State address, he also has plans for early education and care:

“Studies show that preschool is every bit as critical for a child’s development. As with kindergarten, it’s not that parents don’t want preschool — It’s that they can’t afford it. Last year we were able to fund 5,100 additional slots for at-risk children in the Colorado Preschool Program. And in my budget this year, we’re proposing to help an additional 6,000 children attend preschool, which for the first time will bring coverage to half of all eligible kids in Colorado.

“We should feel good about reaching this milestone. But it has taken more than three decades to get only half the job done. We can and we must do better, which is why I’m committed to achieving universal access to quality preschool for 4-year-olds by the end of my first term.”