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We all need time to care – care for ourselves, a loved one, a growing family. During National Family Caregivers Month, we are spotlighting and honoring the working people who lift up our communities and our nation by providing dignified, professional, and invaluable care to the people we cherish the most.
The cost of care in the US is high, and the pay for care workers is low. A majority of Americans struggle to find affordable, high-quality care for themselves and their loved ones. At the same time, despite having some of the most demanding jobs, care workers remain among the lowest-paid in the country. More than half of long-term care employees and nearly 20 percent of child care workers leave their jobs every year. As a result, many Americans are forced to leave their jobs to care for their loved ones.
Today only 3.4% of all North Carolina families—single-parent and two-parent—have a stay-at-home parent who cares for children full time. Forty-seven percent of all middle-aged Americans are sandwiched between care for an elderly parent, and a young child or adult child. Yet family workplace policies have not kept pace with the reality of today’s families.
Investing in Today’s Workforce is Investing in our Future Workforce
For children and families, the benefits of family-friendly workplaces are numerous and long-lasting. They include positive impacts on health, development and well-being, financial stability, and future career success. Children whose parents have access to family-friendly benefits, receive needed support and time with their parents during their most critical years of development. This leads to positive health outcomes, higher education attainment, and future career success. Specifically, children whose parents have paid parental leave, paid sick leave and other family-friendly benefits are more likely to have regular school attendance, better test scores in school, and fewer behavioral problems.
Family friendly workplaces give employers a strategic advantage – they can improve workplace productivity, recruitment, and retention. In North Carolina and across the country, not all workers have access to policies and practices that allow for a more well-balanced work/family life dynamic.
Expanding access to paid sick time and paid family and medical leave is an important step forward in creating more equitable people-centered workplaces. The Pathways Action Map highlights some initiatives and organizations across the state that are leading the way.
From Pathways to Policy
The Pathways to Grade-Level Reading Action Map lists state and community level initiatives that align with policies and strategies that can help move the needle forward on grade-level reading, particularly for children of color. One recommendation is to “create family-friendly employment policies and ensure that low-wage, part-time, and seasonal or occasional workers have access to these policies.”
The Action Map currently highlights two initiatives – the Think Babies NC Alliance and Family Forward NC which engage employers and advocate for family-friendly workplaces.
Spotlight Initiative: NC Families Care Coalition
Among our next Action Map initiatives is the NC Families Care Coalition. The Coalition advocates for policies that better support anyone who finds themselves in a family caregiving situation. Whether it’s needing time to care for their own health, a new child, or a family member going through a health crisis, pretty much everyone may need time to care at some point.
The Coalition began in 2008 and is made up of about two dozen organizations, including the NC AARP, the NC Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the NC Council of Churches, and Friends of Residents in Long Term Care. “The wide range of member organizations speaks to the broad reach of this issue and the urgent need for robust family and medical leave policies that support working people,” said Ana Pardo, Co-director, Workers’ Rights Project at the NC Justice Center and coordinator of the NC Families Care Coalition.
The Coalition works statewide in North Carolina to win paid sick days, paid family and medical leave at the state level, but also advocates at the federal level and works with local governments to increase wages and leave policies. Equity and inclusion is fundamental to the Coalition’s policy agenda as many workers do not have access to paid sick time and paid family and medical leave. People of color and women of color are overrepresented in jobs that lack access to paid leave, and overrepresented among low-wage workers who can least afford to take time off to care for themselves or others. The Coalition also advocates for a highly inclusive family definition because there are many people who may not be connected to their blood families, particularly in the LGBTQ community, immigrant, and rural families, who are more likely to be caregiving for chosen family members.
This year was the 30th anniversary of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) which requires employers to give employees unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons. To highlight why paid workplace supports are important to North Carolinians, the Coalition told stories through art. The FMLA 30 Exhibit gives everyone access to see and hear from North Carolinians about a new baby in a family or a son caring for his dying mother. Listen to their stories.
Read more about the Coalition and how your organization can join the network and follow them on Facebook.
Pathways Data Dashboard and Action Map
The Action Map’s companion tool, the Pathways Data Dashboard, provides statewide data illustrating indicators that align with policies and strategies that can help move the needle forward on grade-level reading, particularly for children of color. The data is disaggregated by race and ethnicity. Take a look at the Dashboard to explore data around supports for families across North Carolina and see how paid leave connects to measures of success in the Pathways Data Dashboard.
Visit the info page to learn more about the Pathways Action Map and consider adding your work! Share it with others in your network and community, whose work you think should be spotlighted. We want to utilize the Map as a resource to build awareness of innovation, make connections, and identify gaps and opportunities that can help guide policy making, advocacy, funding, and capacity building.
If you have any questions, or would like a guided tour of the Map, reach out at ncecf@buildthefoundation.org. We’d love to hear your ideas on how to continue to utilize this tool to support the success of all North Carolina children.
Keep in Touch with NCECF and Support Our Work
Subscribe to our biweekly newsletter and consider making a donation today to continue a strong 2023 by helping us transform the lives of North Carolina families, from their earliest days, while also supporting a small growing, family-friendly team.
The NC Early Childhood Foundation is driven by a bold – and achievable – vision: Each North Carolina child has a strong foundation for life-long health, education, and well-being supported by a comprehensive, equitable birth-to-eight ecosystem. We build understanding, lead collaboration, and advance policies to ensure each North Carolina child is on track for lifelong success by the end of third grade.