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10/03/1997 17:42
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First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
Remarks on Child Care
University of Maryland, College Park
October 3, 1997
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Thank you very much. (applause) Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you Neil, thank
you Professor Seefeldt, thank you Congressman Hoyer, thank you, President Kirwan As I was
sitting up here and Steny was introducing the President's family, when he introduced his wife,
President Kirwan turned to me and said you know, I met her in Junior High School. He said, she
sat behind me and she couldn't stand me and I thought, that's exactly the kind of memories I have
from Junior High School, you know, the boy you really liked at the end of the year was the one
you couldn't stand at the beginning of the year but this Junior High romance has certiunly stood
the test of time and I'm delighted to be here with your family and with the family of this great
University. I came here today for a number of reasons. Part of it as the President suggested, is
because I enjoyed my visit to be the Commencement Speaker so much and was very honored to
receive an Honorary Degree and also because I have followed with great interest the work that is
being done at this University in many areas but in particular, I have been impressed by the work
that has been done in the area of human development, social and public policy, and we of course,
as you know, we're blessed in the White House by having Professor Galston with us for a
number of years so I feel a real kinship with the work that is done here and the people who are
part of this great University community. So when the opportunity arose for me to come and
speak with you about an upcoming White House Conference on Child Care, I immediately seized
it. Because as the Congressman said, the President and I are hosting a White House Conference
on Child Care on October 23rd and I wanted to come and tell you why this is an issue that
deserves White House attention, deserves the attention of our Nation, one that we hope will raise
awareness of these issues around our country. Some of you may recall that last spring the
President and I hosted a Conference on Early Learning and Brain Research and we brought to the
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Nation's attention the very exciting work that has been done by researchers here at N:H and
elsewhere across the country that demonstrates clearly how important it is that we take the first
three years of life because of what is happening in a child's brain and we wanted to get that
information out because although many people intuitively knew that and experts like Professor
Seefeldt taught that, there wasn't the hard data that supported that information until recently with
the kind of work that has been going on in brain research and so for a lot of reasons, this is a time
when all of us have to focus on what we best can do in our own homes and families is well as in
our larger society to insure that each child has a chance to live up to his or her promise. I saw
that in action this morning here at the Center for Young Children, what a wonderful facility you
have here, a Child Care Center that is warm and inviting with workers that are creative and
energetic and focus, a range of books and toys and crafts materials. I answered questions from
the five year olds who wanted to know, among other things, what my favorite food was, what my
favorite color was, and then a real stumper, what my favorite roller coaster was. I had to confess
to this little boy that it has been so long since I've been on a roller coaster, I couldn't remember
the names of any of the roller coasters I like but I certainly had the feeling that this is a place
where children are treasured and valued and stimulated, a place that any of us would happily stay
for juice and nap time any day. But, that Center is far too rare. Even though more and more
families are seeking child care, in fact, over half of the infants under age one are in day care,
twelve million children under the age of six, and seventeen million more, age six through
thirteen, have both parents or their only parent in the work force. The plain fact is that there is
simply not enough quality care for the children who need it. Quality child care is financially out
of reach for the hard working American families whose children deserve the best attention they
can receive. So today I come with a very straightforward proposition that this situation must
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change for the sake of our children and our future. And there are ways I want to suggest that
each of us can participate in this change. Every working parent in this room and in this country
knows how urgent the matter is, any Mom or Dad who has ever left a child with a care giver for
even a minute has felt at the gut level the importance of quality care. The stress around child
care affects families ranging from the poorest all the way to the most affluent. It is a daily
pressure for parents with preschoolers and parents with children in school who for latever
reason cannot get home to supervise a child themselves. For more than twenty five ears, I have
worked on issues affecting children and families, but in the last four and a half years I've been
privileged to travel around our country on my own and with my husband, listening and talking
with parents about their economic concerns, the issues that affect them on the streets where they
live, whether its crime or the environment, and I've heard over and over again how in aportant
child care is. Yet, despite its importance in our everyday lives, it is not an issue that has been
dealt with effectively by our society. Now, there are many reasons for this oversight and some of
you who are students of human development and child care could recite many of thera, I'm sure.
But, I think its fair to say that until the demographics of our citizenry changed until economic
forces and women's choices led so many mothers into the work force, this was not an issue that
many people thought was serious. It was, like many issues, affecting children in the bast, viewed
as a soft issue that was a disproportionate concern to women. Yet now we know it is one of the
hardest issues we face and it is an issue that had economic and social implications that go far
beyond the individual concern that each of us brings to it. Fortunately, times are changing.
Partly because of the work that many of you are doing, partly because more and more parents are
speaking out, partly because America's employers have come to understand that the rength of
their bottom lines depends on workers who are not absent, who will have their mind on their
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work when they're there, whose child care needs are being met and partly because We have
people in leadership like the President of this University, like this member of Congress before
you who represents you, and because of my husband and members of Congress and State
Legislators of both parties and many Governors who have made this a priority. All of this brings
us together in the name of a shared belief, that the children of our country deserve child care as
fine as that provided right here at this University. In fact, American children deserve the best
care in the world. Now, there are many reasons to put our childrens needs first but let me just
mention a few of them. One reason, as I've already stated is because we know that how we care
for our children is critical to their intellectual and emotional development. You know, it wasn't
so long ago and I can actually recall when 1 was younger and thinking about children a lot and
even pregnant with my own, that it used to be kind of a joke among a lot of fathers I knew that
they would say, well, you know let's wait until he can throw a ball or she can talk to me and then
I'll pay attention and, you know, it was the kind of attitude that had been prevalent for most of
history that you know, very young children should be cared for by their mothers, other women,
that there wasn't much for fathers to do because there wasn't much happening until a child started
to in some way assert a personality, act on his or own. Well, now we know clearly that that was
mistaken. As we talked about at the White House Conference on Early Childhood Development
in April, what happens to a child in those earliest years can make all the difference for a lifetime.
Just 15 years ago, even scientists thought that baby's brain structure was virtually complete at
birth. Now, neuroscience tells us that it is a work in progress and that everything we:do with a
child has some kind of potential, physical influence on that rapidly forming brain. A.: one
participant at the White House Conference put it, "nature and nurture don't compete, they
cooperate."
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Children's earliest experiences, the sights and sounds and smells and feelings they encounter, the
challenges they meet, they determine how their brains are wired. For those of you who know a
lot more about computers than I know, we're talking about how the brain shapes itself through
repeated experiences. The more something is repeated, the stronger the neurocircuity becomes.
And those connections in turn can be permanent. In this way, even the seemingly unimportant,
totally forgettable events of our first years are anything but trivial. It is during this time that
children learn to soothe themselves when they're upset, to empathize, to get along with others, to
become and we hope they will, human beings of the finest order.
Experiences in those first three years of life can also determine how well a child learns. When
someone speaks, reads or plays with an infant or toddler, he or she, whether it is a parent, a
grandparent, an older sibling or a care giver, is activating the connections in that child's brain that
will one day enable her to think and read and speak and solve problems herself. Now, what that
means is that subpar care, whether in the home or in a child care setting, means that a young
brain is being deprived of what it needs to live up to its natural potential. Now that is a very
serious conclusion for us to reach and now we have no more excuses. If we know that ignoring a
child, being impatient, pushing off a 8 month old, or a 16 month old, failing to invest the time
that is necessary in that two and a half year old, then we have to acknowledge, its not just a
momentary action, but it adds to the past and the present and the feelings that that child is
internalizing and it also literally affects the brain. Another reason we need to act is that we now
have evidence that child care is too often inadequate, research presents a troubling picture. A
recent national study of child care centers found that 70 percent of children are in care that is
barely adequate. Ten percent are in care that is dangerous to their health and safety. Infants and
toddlers are at the greatest risk with 40 percent in care that poses a threat to their health and well-
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being. That means that they spend hours of their days with care givers who do not follow basic
sanitary practices, who rarely cuddle, talk to or play with these infants and toddlers, n rooms that
lack toys and other materials to encourage development and in places where the ratio of children
to adults is too high for individual attention. Only twenty percent of our children are in what we
could call "high quality care," such as what I saw this morning.
A study of child care in family-based settings found equally disturbing patterns. Only 56 percent
of these programs provided adequate care, 35 percent were deemed inadequate, which means as
we now know, that the hours spent there could actually undercut a child's development and only
9 percent offered high-quality care which was defined as enhancing the growth and development
of children and even where quality care is available, it is often financially out of reach for
parents, particularly low income parents. According to the 1995 census, families earning under
$1200.00 a month pay an average of 24 to 25 percent of their income for child care. That takes a
big chunk out of a household budget but it was still not enough to ensure quality care I asked
about the cost of the child care centers here on this Campus and there is a sliding scale which is
very important, but it still costs between $340.00 and $600.00 a month. Middle class families
are hit hard as well. Families earning up to $36,000. pay out 12 percent of their income for child
care without any guarantee that that twelve percent is buying quality. It is difficult to think of a
consumer situation in America where so many people are paying so much and too often getting
so little.
Another reason we need to act is that we now know from another study that was just completed
by the National Institute for Child Health and Development that good child care can be beneficial
to young children. Whether it is care given at home or in a day care center. Now, there's no
doubt that the most important lasting influence on any child is that child's family. But we do
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know that good, quality child care can improve a child's chances, if that child is in a difficult
family situation or enhance a child's learning and maturity if that child is in a good family
situation. And for children who come out of family situations that are not always conducive to
their well-being, bad child care can make a difficult situation even worse. Now a final reason we
need to act is because of the changing nature of the work force. We know that the Ainerican
work force has changed dramatically in the past forty years and that has meant dramatic changes
in family life. Half of all mothers with children under the age of one are working outside the
home and not only are more parents working, they are working longer hours. So this issue must
become a policy challenge for all of us because it clearly affects the well-being of children,
American workers, and the dynamism of our economy itself. I would imagine that many of you
who are parents and those of you who are students, not yet parents, can equally shut your eyes
and imagine or think back to one of those work family conflicts that has occurred in all of our
lives. Even though my daughter is a Freshman in College, I still remember vividly the days
when my child care arrangements fell through and I was not able to do anything about them.
Now, luckily for me those were very few because I have the kind of job where if my Haughter
were sick or if she had a special occasion that 1 wanted to take advantage of in her preschool or
her school years, I could arrange my schedule. That is not the case for the vast majority of
working Moms and Dads. I also have the advantage, except for two years of her life, to live in a
Governor's Mansion where there were lots of people around, that is not a common experience for
most working mothers. And so I'm very aware that my situation was unique but even with it, I
recall vividly those few times when despite my best efforts and a very supportive husband, and
all of the balancing we all do, it just all fell through and I had to scramble like crazy t) make up
for it. One time in particular when I couldn't cancel something or just not go into work or go in
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late, I had to be in court at nine o'clock and Chelsea was up all night sick and my babysitter was
sick, probably with the same thing Chelsea was sick with and my husband was out of town and
my family wasn't around and I called one of my best friends and she wasn't available, and it was
just a real terrible feeling that you get when you know that you want to be with your child and
because if work demands you can't and I was lucky enough to find a neighbor who could come in
an sit with her and I called home every chance I had a break and rushed home when 1 finished to
find her you know, very well taken care of But, that is not what is available to most parents and
I know it is infinitely tougher for most women who everyday are trying to do the best they can.
And I honestly don't know how single parents do it. And I think we ought to be very
sympathetic and very supportive of all parents but particularly of single parents. Too many
children end up because of their parents challenges, caring for themselves or being supervised by
older siblings. And we know what happens when children are left unsupervised According to
the FBI, it is during the late afternoon that our youngest children, those who are in their pre-teens
or early teens, are most likely to experiment with drugs, to become involved with criminal gangs,
to get pregnant, to commit violence or to get into trouble in other ways.
So, when that 3 o'clock bell rings, kids are relieved but a lot of working parents panic and we
have to find a way to help parents with school age children as well. So, we know we need to act
but where do we start. Well, we can learn from models of excellent child care around our
country. They can provide the energy and expertise and inspiration for what we need to do now.
One very bright spot is the military's child care system. Our Defense Department runs the largest
child care system in the world. Taking care of the children of the parents who are in the front
lines of America. I was privileged just two days at Quantico Marine Base to be able to see first
hand what is being provided for the children of our Armed Forces and I have to say I saw what
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every parent would want for her child. A beautiful facility, well-trained workers, high standards,
unannounced inspections both in the Center and in the family day care settings, a tol free
number for parents to call with their concerns, mandatory training for everyone that comes into
contact with and works with a child. And, most importantly, good wages and solid benefits and
respect for staff. Now, that has resulted in lower turnover and more experienced care givers.
Now, that wasn't always the case and I learned in a very open discussion that the military's child
care was not always what we would hold up as an example. In fact, even the Center that I visited
Quantico is brand new because the previous one had to be shut down because it didn't make the
grade a few years ago. But, the leadership of our military knows that readiness depends upon
mothers and fathers being able to do their work without worrying about whose caring for their
children. So the military made a commitment to turning its child care system around and
Quantico is now a shining example of what can be done. I want to tell two stories that I heard.
The first, from one of the Commanders there was what happens before good child care in the
military. I heard about a mother and a father who were both called to duty on an emergency
basis at the same time. I believe they were both pilots. They had to be in the air at the same
time. When that happened, they had to bring their two infants in basinettes' to the office of their
Commander, leave those basinettes' in their Commander's office with instructions for care and
feeding. Now, that beats any story about child care challenges that I've ever heard. The second
story is about, "what happens now?" That there is quality care available no matter what the
occasion. I met a Staff Sergeant, a single Dad, raising two little girls. He said that when he took
his daughters to day care the first day they cried when he dropped them off, but the second day
they cried when he came to pick them up. I was especially impressed by this very tough Marine
whose obviously put in his time at the weight training facility, talking with great pride about how
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he mastered pigtails and ponytails for his daughters but I think part of the reason his confidence
is so high about embarking on the rather daunting task of being a single Dad of two little girls is
because he's gotten a lot of support from the child care facility and the care giver's wao have
been there, helping him along, encouraging him, giving them advice, helping to create that
village. On a serious note also, we were privileged to have Lt. Colonel who I see n the
audience here speak about the perspective of the child care system from the perspective of a
commander. He said that his soldiers are more productive when they don't have to worry about
their children.
Now, I probably should say his Marines are more productive when they don't have to worry
about their children and the result of that is a much higher level of preparedness 24 hours a day.
Now, there are certainly differences between the military and civilian sector, but I believe that
the military's experience can serve as a for the American work place in general. When parents
don't have to come to work feeling concerned about how their children are doing, they can make
a much more positive contribution which benefits all of us. Just before I visited Quantico I was
in Miami at Baptist Hospital there that also has made a commitment to child care. I saw another
first class facility, I learned about how they have adjusted the hours because just like the military
they have 24 hour work days in a hospital and I heard a lot of detail from the Chief Executive
Officer about why it is good economic sense to provide this service. I met at the hospital with
the Board of Directors of something called, Florida's Child Care Executive Partnership, a group
of business executives appointed by Governor Lawton Chiles to address child care issues. In
creating this partnership, Florida put aside two million dollars the first year to match dollar for
dollar Corporate contributions for child care. And the Board was charged with engaging the
private sector in this effort.
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Once asked, the Florida business community responded quickly and generously and this year the
legislature and the business community are doubling their commitment so that we're taking both
public dollars and pulling them to create more affordable quality child care and because of this
effort, thousands of more working families in Florida now have access to the kind of care I saw
at Quantico, I saw at Baptist Hospital, and I saw here at the University.
Because we know that providing good child care requires community involvement. The grant
money in Florida only goes to communities where businesses have come together with child care
organizations to forge a plan of action.
And, when I ask these business leaders why they thought the partnership was successful, they
didn't hesitate to answer in very business like terms. They said it was good for the bottom line.
They said they didn't have to spend as much time recruiting new workers who left be cause of
child care problems. They didn't have to spend as much money recruiting new workers who had
to be trained. They didn't have to worry about absenteeism which had been dramaticilly. Now,
that was also the experience of many other businesses with whom I have met and I just find it
being repeated over and over again.
So, because I find the partnership concept so impressive, I'm very pleased to announce today that
the Department of Health and Human Services is awarding a half million dollar grant to the
families and work institute, the National Governors' Association, and the Finance Project, to
assist states in developing these partnerships with the private sector. And, the Present has earlier
this year, the military, the Department of Defense, to work with the private sector, to take the
experience they've gained, their guidelines which have been carefully written and bring those to
the table to discuss with more child care centers and family day care providers what can be done
to use money like that available in Florida to make models that can be replicated. Because all
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sectors of society have to be involved, businesses, schools, police departments, religious
organizations, libraries, citizens' associations, the Federal, the State, and the local governments.
We hope that the White House Conference will be a catalyst to bringing many of these sectors
together. I also hope that at the White House Conference we will discuss ways that could assist
parents who wish to make the choice to stay at home with their children more econoinically
feasible because its not just creating good child care centers and family day care centers outside
the home, how do we create real choices that are available to working families so that they in the
privacy of their family can make a decision that it is economically feasible for one parent to be
there for their children.
It is important to remember that this Conference is a starting point. I hope that it marks the
beginning of National discussion and action. And I hope that its focus on the three keys areas
will spark individual ideas around the country. Now, the three key areas are the lack of
affordable child care, quality concerns, and the need for school age care. We have already
discussed affordability and we've made some progress. The President took some steps to address
this need. For starters, the expanded Federal funding for child care. In fact, since 1993, child
care funding has risen by approximately 68 percent and it now reaches more than one million
children through subsidies which is critical if they're going to have financial access to quality
care. And I'm encouraged too that in the last four years more states are committing their own
resources to help working people pay for quality child care.
In the balanced budget agreement, the $500 child tax credit
will go to 27 million families with 45 million children under the age of 17. Now foi the typical
American family with 2 kids, this child tax credit will mean 1,000 more dollars in take home pay
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per year. That is especially important for low-income families who are also going to benefit from
this child tax credit. Thirteen million children from families with incomes below $30,000 will
receive the credit. That's a lot of young teachers, police officers, farmers, nurses and others who will
have some extra income to put into whatever their family decides, but certainly one of the great
expenses is improving child care. Also through the expanded Earned Income Tax Credit, more
working families have had a cut in their taxes which has on average meant an increase in their
income of over a thousand dollars. So, there have been real steps forward so that there's more child
care available, it's subsidized, and there's more of an opportunity for families with children to take
advantage of these programs. The President has also made child care an essential component of
welfare reform. He insisted that welfare reform include spending for child care because we're
putting a lot more women, single women with children, into the work force. So it will be increased
by nearly $4 billion over the next 6 years. But that is still not enough and we have a long way to go
to explore how better to enable parents to meet their child care costs. Quality is the second key
issue. We have to do more to support child care providers. We have not done a good job of lifting
up the profession that is so important in taking care of our children and matching that with increased
income and job opportunities and benefits. I've been to a lot of child care centers and I've met many,
many terrific people running and working in them but their salaries are woefully low and many leave
the profession because it's not one that enables them to support themselves and their own families.
I remember one provider who told me with tears in her eyes that with the birth of her second child,
she had to leave taking care of children which is what she loved to do more than anything and go to
work in an office because she needed to make more income. So we have to do all we can to
encourage and support child care workers to get training, to build their skills and increase their
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knowledge which will demand higher salaries and benefits. We have to find the ver best people
to take the jobs of caring for our children because parents should not have to worry whether their
child is safe at day care and the vase majority of teachers are absolutely superb in caring for their
children, but there a few who we need to make sure do not go into the classrooms of our day care
centers. And we also have to help parents do a better job of searching out good child care. In survey
after survey when parents are asked, they really don't know what they're looking for They don't
know what kind of equipment should be there; they don't know what kind of training they would be
demanding for the child care workers. Too often parents are better informed about what kind of car
to buy than what kind of child care to choose. So we have to help parents become more informed
consumers to create that demand that will absolutely say to the market place, we must have higher
quality for the money we're paying. One of the interesting results of a lot of the research that has
been done recently is that good quality child care is generally but now always more expensive than
inadequate child care. And in the middle, there's a lot of child care that could be vastly improved
with some good training and better guidance there would make a big difference for the money that
is being paid. Now I hope that we will continue to focus on safeguarding the health and safety of
children in our system around the country. Certainly the President earmarked money going to the
states for child care for quality improvements. And this summer he proposed a new rule requiring
that child care programs that receive Federal dollars make sure that all children are immunized. And
in 1995 the administration launched the Healthy Child Care America Campaign which promotes
partnerships between child care centers and health agencies. That initiative now in 46 states teaches
child care centers how to create safe healthy environments. A lot of times when we do the ese surveys
and we get the results and people go in and say, this isn't sanitary; this is not appropriate, the child
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care workers don't know that. Nobody's told them. They're not sure about what thev're supposed
to be doing. So through the Healthy Child Care America Campaign, we intend to do a better job of
educating child care workers.
And, finally, school age care. A critical issue for millions of working American families.
I have visited some excellent school age child care programs. The other day in Quantico, I visited
one of their schools and saw what was available for the children there, but most children and their
parents do not yet have access to good school age child care. Places where the children can do
homework or play sports or learn to play a musical instrument Home Alone might have been a
hit movie but it is not a good script for real childrens' lives and we need to move to make sure more
children can safely and productively spend those after school hours in a place like i: school or a
library or some other setting that is good for them.
I'd like to close with one thought and then invite your questions. We are privileged to live
in a time of tremendous bounty in our country. We are at peace. Our economy is booming. Social
problems that for years held us back are receding. The crime rate is down, the teenage pregnancy
rate is down. On so many fronts we're making progress together. At a time such as this presents
a special opportunity free from crisis we can do work that might not be possible in stormier
moments. So we should use this good fortune to make a difference, to lay the ground work so that
the generations of children to come will be able themselves to build a country that has so many
opportunities and take advantage of the blessings that we all have. So turning to chil care is not
just something that is a nice issue to talk about. It is as the President calls it, the next Great Frontier
of Public Policy, to build up and strengthen our families, to give them more support so they can do
their jobs both at home and in the work place will help up chart that Frontier not only SO that we are
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led to a better world for the children I saw today, but for generations of American children to come.
And I invite all of you to be part in taking action to make sure that happens.
Thank you all very much. (applause) I'm glad there were babies here. That's a wonderful
reminder of why this is so important. Well, as I understand what we're going to do now. We have
two people with microphones in the isles. If anybody has any questions, they should line up behind
the gentleman here and the young woman there and take a turn, but if not, that's all right; too. I don't
mind at all.
Hi.
Hi. (Mrs. Clinton)
I have a question. I'm am employee on campus. I've been a secretary here for fifteen years.
I have a four year-old son. I'm a single mother. I wanted to get my son to go to school here at the
nice center. It would cost me over $500 a month and my salary is $25,000 a year. So how can that
help employees here on campus? And I'm not the only single mother that has had a problem with
this.
Mrs. Clinton - And that is one of the reasons why I mentioned that we have to do more to
provide more slots in child care for working parents like yourself and we have to help subsidize
quality child care because you are a perfect example of the problem that I'm trying to illustrate. You
make $25,000 a year
With no child support.
Mrs. Clinton - with no child support. So that's your total income.
Correct!
Mrs. Clinton - And that's before taxes
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Correct! And I live at home with my parents.
Mrs. Clinton - And you're doing all you can to keep expenses down living at home and good
quality child care such as we see here at the university would cost $500 a month, which is $6,000
a year, which is a 25 percent of your before tax income. I mean that is exactly the problem that I'm
talking about. So what have you done for child care?
Well, I went to a Catholic school in the area and they gave me a scholarship for 1st this year.
So I pay $200 a month to have him in full-time pre-K. But if I did not have that and ( didn't have
my parents, I would probably have to quit my job and go on welfare because who would watch my
child during the day and how could I afford that and live in an apartment.
Mrs. Clinton - Well, that is the problem. I could not more vividly describe ii. And, so, I
hope that some the proposals that will be discussed at the White House Conference, yo if child will
be in school before we probably get much of the changes that I would like to see happen, but then
you'll need, you know, after school care which is another part of this debate. But I hope that some
of these proposals will focus exactly on what you're talking about. We need more subsidies for
working families, particularly single parents. If we are going to have a policy in our country of
ending welfare and expecting everyone to work, we have to do more to support those parents with
children who are trying to do the best they can by working. And I want to thank you for what you're
doing. (applause)
Hi, I'm the Director at Galludette University Child Development Center and have worked
with children with disabilities for the last 20 some years in child care and I'm curious what you all
are suggesting the focus and direction more and more children with special needs are now in child
care centers because of Special Ed laws and I'm curious where you all stand on that.
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Mrs. Clinton - Well, we stand with you as an educator of children with specials needs and
with parents of children with special needs because it is more expensive to care for a child with
special needs. And, again, parents face the same difficulties, only more so because of the additional
costs. And it's not just financial costs. It's also emotional and psychological costs that is much
higher when you have a child, whether it's your only child, or one of a number of your children with
special needs that you need help caring for and also for many children, you want to integrate them
as early as possible into as typical a life as you can possibly arrange for them and that requires, often
times, you know special transportation, special equipment, whether it's wheel chairs 01 other kinds
of medical equipment, it often requires, in your case, with deaf children, specially trained caregivers.
So this is an issue that is a part of our overall issue of quality and affordability. I am old enough to --
I keep saying that -- I think that's because I'm going to turn fifty this month. I'm old enough, I'm
nearly a half century old. Think about it for all you young people. It's hard to believe it happens.
(laughter) So I can remember (applause) many, many years ago when I worked for the Childrens
Defense Fund and when I was involved in other activities concerning children, going into places
where children with disabilities were literally just left on the floor all day. I cannot tell you some
of the places I have seen. Now that was twenty-five years ago. I haven't seen places like that
recently, but I'm not invited to those places in my current position and I know that there are lots of
excellent facilities for special needs children and I know that there are some that are really very
inadequate. So this is a big part of what we're going to be talking about. Yes.
Thanks for coming. I'm a student here and I would like to know how does the European
child care or World child care compare to the United States and are you planning to have any World
input on planning for American child care.
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Mrs. Clinton - That's an excellent question. I want to thank you for asking that because often
times we don't learn about what works in other places and there are some very good models in
Europe of National Commitment to Child Care. In fact when I was at the child care center here at
the university, I learned this morning that the facility is modelled on facilities in northein Italy. The
university architects went and visited because of the great room with the classrooms off the side and
it's really something beautiful to behold. But there are some very good programs in a number of
European countries that I think bear some attention. I have personally visited child care centers in
France and in a few other countries, particularly in France and Denmark which were very impressive
to me because there was a national commitment to the provision of quality affordable child care that
went beyond political ideology. I remember when I visited France, I went to various cities and
looked at their child care facilities and whether I was in a city that was run by a very conservative
mayor and city council or one run by the socialists party, I didn't see any difference. And I asked
a very conservative mayor in a French city how he could explain this national consensus about
spending both national and local dollars to build excellent facilities, make them affordable, and he
said but they're all our children. You know we are creating future French citizens and he said it as
only a Frenchman could say it with a lot of flourish. It was like I asking such a ridiculo IS question.
How could politics have anything to do with taking care of one's children. They fight about other
things and even in the recent efforts to reign in the budgets in a lot of the European countries to make
them more economically competitive, their caring for children has not been an issue of debate
between the political factions in the countries that I'm aware of. They are going to remair committed
to universal health care for all of their people and for adequate education and child care for preschool
and I think it's a very important National commitment and I think we should look to she if we can
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learn anything from that. I write a little bit about the French system in my book because I was
impressed by it. Yes.
Being college students, most of us don't recognize there's a problem in child care but also
being very involved in community service, what can we do as college students?
Mrs. Clinton - That's also a very good question and I think community service is a critical
key to being able to provide enough voluntary manpower to help out in a lot of the centers that are
particularly serving lower income families. And I know that a number of young people both through
university community services and through Americore have signed up to work on things like
America Reads and mentoring and tutoring children and I think looking for opportunities to work
with even younger children to give them the attention that they need would be a very good way of
working with at least one family, one child. Maybe showing a mom or a dad how to read to a child
with just by you doing it, modelling it for them, playing, teaching some of those silly games and
songs that you were taught -- all of which help build the brain. I mean all those little things that we
used to do all make a difference. And you know there's a lot of evidence now that you know young
women, young mothers when they speak to children in those little high voices we all adopt when we
see little kids. Like oh, oh Michael, you're so cute. You know our voices just go up like, you know,
full register. That has an impact The child really can hear it. And young men and fathers who are
more physical with babies and, you know, play games with them, that also stimulates the brain
development. So there's a lot that both young men and women could do in giving of their time to
work with some of these kids, especially as I say in lower income family areas where there may be
too many adults taking care, too few adults taking care of too many children.
Good afternoon. My name is Cecilia Johnson and I'm a family child care provider and I have
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been for twenty years. My question is of the eight parents that I have who are single mothers, one
who just recently came off of welfare, the biggest problem that they undertake is getting benefits
from the jobs in which they work to help take care of their children, especially medical benefits.
And with the rising costs of child care and the costs of taking care of your child, I would like to
know how do we plan to help our single mothers who can't get benefits from their jobs to help take
care of their children.
Mrs. Clinton - Thank you for asking that and thank you for being a family day Care provider.
Until we have some program that takes care of all of our childrens' health care needs, we will not
solve this problem completely, but in the Balanced Budget Agreement, we made a big step forward
as a Nation. Because through the commitment of $24 billion that was raised by raising the tax on
tobacco, we will be able to provide health care for half the children who are currently uninsured,
many of whom fall into the category you're talking about. Now a lot of mothers getting off of
welfare should be very sure they're not still eligible for Medicaid because they often are. We have
3 million children in America who are eligible for Medicaid but their mothers and fathers don't know
they are so they are left to the whims of the emergency room or not being taking care of. So making
sure your eight moms check to see whether they're available and eligible is the first thing. Secondly,
this new money -- this $24 billion will expand coverage in every state. So making sure they know
where to go to find out how to sign up their child for health care I think is the best advice you could
give them and to help them, you know, know where to contact somebody and to try to find out. But
we still have too many Americans who do not get health insurance through their work, are not
eligible for any kind of government assistance, and they just fall into this large pool of 40 million
uninsured Americans, about 11 million of whom are children. And so we just have to keep making
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sure everybody who's covered with Medicaid and the new Child Health Program are covered, then
we need to see what else we're going to do to cover the remaining children and adults. So please
give them that information.
Mrs. Clinton, I hate to do this but your staff has suggested that you maybe should take only
one more question.
Mrs. Clinton - All right.
Well, actually instead of a question I wanted to issue an invitation to you to (ome visit me
at the Childrens Developmental Clinic on this campus. Come back one more time this Saturday and
see a new program or different program from what we've been talking about today, which is
undergraduate and faculty members volunteering their time on Saturdays to play with the children,
provide role models for the children, and to deal with those hours of concern that yo. 1 mention for
late afternoon hours, excuse me, the week days when they are unsupervised. And the special thing
about our program is that it's for children with physical disabilities, who have self-esteem issues and
who get isolated at schools and also children from disadvantaged neighborhoods, from
disadvantaged backgrounds. I work with children from the Cools Spring Elementary School who
are Hispanic mostly and who have parents who are very disengaged from education and if you ever
have the time to come visit us on Saturday, I'd love to show you what can happen when people
volunteer for free.
expenses
Mrs. Clinton - Well, the young man who asked the question what he might do, you need to
sign him up. (laughter & applause) Well, unfortunately I can't be there this Saturday laughter) but
I'm very glad you stood up to invite me and did such a good job describing what you do because I
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think that's the kind of a model that more people need to hear about That there is some hing literally
for everybody to do. Whether it's in our own homes spending more time with our own children,
maybe the children next door or down the block or if somebody else in your family who doesn't have
the time and is working too hard and needs a helping hand, or whether it's being involved
professionally as so many of you are as child care providers at a center or in a home! We all have
something we can do and volunteering to help support parents and child care providers is a very
important way of not only providing a service but for each of us to know firsthand what you know
about what a difference it can make in a child's life. And so I hope that you'll be engaged in this
issue and thinking about it and sharing ideas and here on this campus try to reach out o everybody,
you know, whether it's the young people who are at this center or the young women who stood up
who is working here as a secretary already who needs some support, needs a helping hand. I bet if
everybody on this campus just looked around at the people you already know, you'd find that there's
something you can do to help relieve some of the burdens of taking care of children, especially for
single parents. I really want to stress that. It is so important that we support them and give them the
kind of attention and volunteer activities that will enable them to know they're being good moms and
dads because that's what everybody wants to feel. And if we could get that idea across, I think a lot
of our other problems in this country would take care of themselves.
Thank you very much. (applause)
President Kirwan --Mrs. Clinton I hope that you can sense the very strong and special feelings of
support there are on this campus for you and the work that you're doing and also sense how honored
we are to have you at College Park. We know that during school breaks, there will I kely be some
colors of another school prominent in the White House (laughter) and we think you need to be able
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to retaliate with the colors of one of your schools. So we have a little gift we want to give to your
that we hope you'll wear when Chelsea is home.
Mrs. Clinton - Absolutely! (applause)
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