Working families deserve action on child care

As a mother and a grandmother I know how important child care is to working families. I've gone through the process of trying to find quality and affordable child care multiple times now — first for my own kids and then for their children.

Back when I moved to Iowa, it was so hard to find safe facilities you could trust that were still affordable. In fact, when I was a young parent, one of my paychecks each month went straight to the daycare and the other had to cover the rest of our needs. It puts a horrific burden on so many families and especially on single parents.

We've made a lot of progress, but there still is work to do. That's why I've been so glad to see the Statehouse take action to improve child care this year. They're working on bringing down high costs for families, attracting more qualified child care providers to the state and encouraging more companies and developers to build centers. I hope to see these bills make it through the Senate and get to the governor's desk before the end of the session. Our families deserve all the help they can get.

Maureen Bickford

Cedar Rapids