Screenshot: City of Boston website

The city of Boston is launching another child care survey, asking for feedback from Boston parents.

The survey’s purpose is “to better understand how families access and experience care for their children, ages five and under,” the survey website explains. 

“We want to better understand your challenges with childcare. Your answers will help inform a City policy that works for all.”

It’s an easy, quick, important way for parents to help shape public policy.

The survey asks parents and guardians about their preferences, and it asks about child care accessibility, affordability, and quality. 

These issues are even more pressing as Boston and the world manage the COVID-19 pandemic. To keep up with pandemic-related child care and workforce changes, Boston needs to know how parents are doing.

Parents can fill the survey out online. In the survey’s upper righthand corner, there is a down arrow that links to translations of the survey in seven languages: Cape Verdean Creole, Chinese, Haitian Creole, English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

This survey follows one that was conducted in 2019. The results of the earlier survey are posted here.

The current survey also builds on a city report, “Too Much and Not Enough: Family Stresses and Child Care Preferences in Boston During COVID-19,” which, in part, points to the struggles of women who take on “a disproportionate amount of child care and education and household labor.”

Please share the survey with all the Boston-based parents and guardians you know.

Even before the pandemic, Boston struggled with child care. Now it’s time to build a better child care system, one that responds to the challenges, needs, and insights of parents.