The Biden administration is proposing a family plan that would require paid maternity leave, include compulsory pre-kindergarten, and assist low-income households with childcare expenses.
In Christianity Today's "Quick to Listen" podcast, they delved further into Biden's initiative, discussing everything from what it is attempting to fix to Who it is attempting to support? What reforms do Christians regard as victories for their own family and neighbors, and where do they object or criticize.
If passed in its current form, Biden's "American Families Plan" will include universal childcare for both three and four-year-olds, provide young people for two years of free community college, cover the price of childcare for low-income households, establish a $15 minimum wage for early childhood educators, mandate 12 weeks of paid maternal, family, and personal sickness leave, and provide a permanent summer food program for low-income children.
Rachel Anderson, a resident at the Center for Public Justice who leads the Families Valued project, spoke with global media manager Morgan Lee and executive editor Ted Olsen on why paid family leave hasn't caught on in the United States, why many churches are interested with early childhood education, and why family policy advocates sometimes hold opposing views about whether or not parents can work.
Interview Highlights:
Biden's plan calls for a national policy of paid family, medical and sick leave. It makes several promises about childcare, including finding a way to cap the cost of care at 7% of a household income and finding a way to provide universal pre-K.
Biden plan offers options to help parents who want to work but can't afford to leave the job to care for a child. The "Family Medical Leave Act" gives job protection for a new parent or caregiver for 12 weeks after a child is born.
"The benefits can be seen in birth weights, infant mortality rates and health care visits," Anderson says, "among other benefits."
Anderson commented that "the package is all of the above because there are a lot of needs and things going on in a parent's and a family's life."
In the previously announced "American Jobs Plan," Biden also called for expanding long-term care and access to home and community-based services for those who are aging and disabled. Biden plan offers options to help parents who want to work but can't afford to leave the job to care for a child.
"There was an attempt to offer something universal or near-universal," she said.
When asked about "what does a healthy Christian view on public policy look like," CPJ's Rachel Anderson said that "religion is often part of the motivation and ethic of care that providers offer."
On other countries similar program, Anderson said that the U.S. only initiated its family policies many decades ago, while other countries started in the 1950s and 60s and expanded them.
"The U.S. is one of the few industrialized nations that don't have paid family leave, which has material benefits for children and parents, "she adds.
As for the enactment of a uniform Pre-K program, Anderson said that it will "squeeze out the diversity of programs that already exist for young kids and that are more locally based."
Anderson said, however, that she has some "disappointment" with the Biden administration's plan "at the moment" because "I don't think they've contemplated enough the way that childcare can happen in partnership with local faith-based organizations."
She noted how many parents send their children to schools associated with their traditional religious beliefs, and that many childcares are "in a family-based setting." Religion, or a set of religious beliefs, "is often part of the motivation and ethic of care that providers offer," Anderson said.
The Biden administration, however, doesn't seem to have given enough thought to consider working with local faith-based organizations to provide children with the kind of education parents would want for their kids.
On the sudden interest of the government to invest in the family unit, Anderson said: "From a public standpoint, the family is nurturing the next generation of citizens: workers, teachers, neighbors. We have an important public interest in supporting family life and family caregiving."
