Every day, tens of thousands of working families rely on family child care providers to care for and to educate their young children in a safe, home-based environment. After eight years of campaigning for dignity and respect for their work, family child care providers now have a voice in Massachusetts's early childhood education.

Last week, family child care providers delivered over 1,900 union authorization cards to the Massachusetts Division of Labor Relations (DLR) for certification. On Wednesday, the DLR certified SEIU Local 509 as the official bargaining representative of 3,500 family child care providers in Massachusetts. The certification of these cards makes the 3500 providers one of the largest groups of workers to form a union in recent years.

"We are often the first educators that a child will ever have, it's important that we have a voice in early childhood education in Massachusetts," said Celina Reyes a family child care provider from Lawrence. "We're overjoyed that our union has been officially recognized, and we look forward to working with the Department of Early Education and Care to improve the quality of early childhood education in our state."

In July, Governor Patrick signed HB 3986, An Act Relative to improving quality in early education and care by family child care providers, that granted family child care providers the opportunity to collectively bargain with the state. Since the legislation's passage, providers from Hyannis to Pittsfield have been organizing and working together to build their union of family child care providers.

"Family child care providers are vital to helping working families re-enter or stay in the workforce," said Susan Tousignant, a rehabilitation counselor with the Mass Rehab Commission and president of SEIU Local 509. "We're very happy to welcome them into the SEIU family fighting for good jobs and better communities."

Eighty local child care providers, parents and children lined the sidewalks and chanted with picket signs to protest mismanagement at the Center for Community and Family Services (CCFS) in Carson, Calif. on Thursday, Jan.12. CCFS did not pay providers in December and is expected to miss January's pay date as well--leaving hundreds of child care providers, parents and children on the breaking point wondering about their futures.

CCFS is just the latest example of how the California child care system is in crisis. Lack of oversight and accountability allows some agencies responsible for managing family child care to get away with outrageous behavior: delayed payments, payments that fall thousands of dollars short and extreme communication failures. The morning of our rally, CCFS closed its doors and turned away everyone who attempted to come inside. Even providers who were arriving during normal business hours to turn in time sheets for completed work were told to go away.

Vanise Valentine, a parent from Lynwood, spoke passionately about how much she relies on her child care provider. Valentine spoke to several reporters present at the scene and also took the megaphone to tell providers how much she supported our fight for respect.

"We're on pins and needles," Valentine told ABC television. "Especially because there's no communication--CCFS hasn't communicated anything to anyone."

Providers held a similar action against CCFS last summer after some had not been paid for three months; several were missing payments that were five months overdue. Some providers at recent rallies have stated that without Child Care Providers United (CCPU), they would have been getting very little information from the agency.

"I finally was successful in getting a mortgage modification that will help me keep my doors open," explained LaShaun Merriman, a Los Angeles provider. "That is until I missed my most recent mortgage payment when my automatic deposit from CCFS didn't hit my bank. Now I'm afraid. Not just of losing my home, but of losing my business. Even if I can find someone kind enough to let me sleep on the couch for a while, no one is going to let me run my business out of their home. I'll be homeless and out of the job I love and the job I'm great at."

After a rally on the sidewalk, providers marched to the CCFS front door. Tonia McMillian, a Bellflower provider, challenged management to come outside and meet with them; no one responded. Providers then wrote notes to management and taped them onto the front door. The only sign of life from the agency was when a CCFS security guard came out and started ripping the notes off the door.

We learned Friday, Jan. 13 the CCFS doors remained closed. There was even a padlock on the door, indicating it was closed for good. The California Department of Education will be working with providers and families to assign them to more reliable local agencies. In the meantime, providers still have not been paid and have not been given a definitive answer as to when they will receive complete payment.

Nancy Rios and Ramon Salazar, who both work at a Panda Express restaurant, used to have a hard time coming up with the $250-300 a week that it costs to have a babysitter watch their three children in Oxnard, CA.

Then someone told Rios and Salazar that they could apply for the CalWorks child care program for low-income working families. Through CalWorks, caring for their children isn't only more affordable, but they both agreed that it made an immediate, positive difference in their children's lives, one they could see in only three months.

"They call it a school," Salazar said. "They have all the things a preschool would have."

"They've been speaking more clearly, too," Rios said, attributing the children's improved language skills to their interaction with the other kids.

Gloria Clemens had been a nurse for 12 years and liked her job in a pediatrician's office. She was also the mother of six, with a seventh child on the way.

Clemens liked her job but couldn't afford the child care that would have let her keep it. So 24 years ago, she started a family child care business in her own home that meets the needs of other working families.

Still going strong, she and her two aides work 10 hour days caring for 11 children.

Setting An Example

Clemens serves a range of families, and watches three children whose mother, Anna*, qualifies for state assistance with child care while she's going to school. She said the program, CalWorks, was good because it helped parents become self-reliant and set a good example for their children.

A family child care provider for 13 years, Susan Austin cares for 8 children whose attendance is supported by the Stage 3 child care threatened by Gov. Schwarzenegger's veto. A single mother who was on public assistance herself 40 years ago, all of Austin's clients are single mothers who are also working their way to independence.

Though if the program closes entirely, Austin says, "I will have no business. I tried to work with my parents to try to keep a roof over my head, but they couldn't afford it." All she has now, she said, "is my home and my dignity."

But Austin doesn't think of her child care as a job, but a career and a lifestyle. She says her reward is "when kids graduate college. When I take a parent from living in a car with two little kids, to getting on public assistance, to working, to her son serving two terms in Iraq."

Then there's something else Austin has; plenty of stories about the families she works with, takes care of and clearly worries for. Families like Monica's*, a single mom who's had her three children in Austin's care for some time now.

A family child care provider for 6 years, Laurie Sanders of Los Angeles, CA, has "a passion for kids [and] wanted to see them in a safe environment."

Sanders, on providing good early care: "Have a daily schedule that's consistent. It helps children know what comes next and easily transition from one activity to the next."

Sanders is a former welfare recipient whose daughter got hurt while in the care of a relative. She decided to open her own child care business to keep her kids safe, and to provide that same level of care for other people's children, as well.

Right now, Sanders cares for 14 children, all long-term clients, from five months to nine years of age. Eight of those children are supported by Stage 3 funding, which could soon be lost. This would be a blow to both Sanders' business and the families who depend on it.

Sanders' advice for new parents: "Spend quality time with them, even for an hour or two. That Mommy and Me time. Kids really do need that. And I tell them to always praise their children."

"All of my parents are single mothers," Sanders said. "All of their problems so far that I've noticed are financial and transportation issues. Providing food is often an issue."

To make up for the food their mothers can't always afford, Sanders partners with the Korean American Food Service program. Depending on need and their parents' work schedules, she provides breakfast, two snacks, lunch, and occasionally dinner, for children who are with her between 8-13 hours per day.

Sanders attended the October 26th rally in Long Beach to ask Governor Schwarzenegger to extend Stage 3 child care funding. The cuts have been halted by a judge through this week.

Photo, from left to right: Laurie Sanders, Elysha Johnson and Destiny Jackson at the Long Beach rally.

Last Tuesday, Southern California family child care providers with CCPU rallied in front of the Women's Conference, held by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and California's first lady, Maria Shriver, to protest the governor's veto of Stage 3 child care funding for over 60,000 children. Stage 3 child care assistance is available to low-income families where the parents work and aren't receiving other public assistance. Attendees hoped their presence would encourage the governor to restore funding through the end of his term.

The next day, I spoke to rally attendees Tonia McMillian and Socorro Avitia at the SEIU offices in Los Angeles about the rally and their advocacy for child care providers and the families they serve. McMillian and Avitia then spent the evening calling fellow family child care providers to ask them to continue their political participation by volunteering in get out the vote efforts before Tuesday's elections. They hope the next governor will continue the program in years to come.

The rally was "awesome," McMillian said. "Every time I have an opportunity to get together with providers, I'm excited."

She continued her advocacy beyond the rally, McMillian said, because "there are so many more who have a voice on the phone. I want to find a way to bring them out of the shadows. I know some of them feel intimidated. I know they're worried that if they complain, some networks will drop them, and some have."

McMillian also underlined how important working to protect Stage 3 funding is to the families they serve. Cutting it, she said, "takes children out of safe, educational environments. It cuts at the families who are working, who get no cash assistance and who pay a family fee towards their child care. It just makes no sense."

Avitia expressed the same sense of urgency and concern over the outcome of the governor's race.

"If you want to buy a dress, you can wait a week, a month. For the election, we only have this weekend," Avitia said. "And if we don't get Jerry Brown in office, we might not even have a daycare anymore. The political moment won't wait for us. You have to act when the moment comes."

"People think if they vote for somebody's promises, they can go home, sit and wait and it'll happen. But I see now that we have to be there," Avitia said. "Sooner or later, we have to do this for ourselves. You can't wait for everything to be coming to you from someone else."

Avitia talked about how working with the union had prepared her to advocate for what she wanted in all stages of the political process, everything from attending a rally, to the phonebanking she did that night, to meeting with government officials in the state capital. She said she felt that she'd grown a lot as a person by working with the union, both politically and personally.

"If our organizer, and I see her like my daughter, didn't push me," Avitia said, "I wouldn't do anything. She tells me I have to go to Sacramento [to meet with state legislators.] I ask who's going to be with me. She says I'm going to be alone. And maybe I don't do the best job, but I learn. I feel like I've done something for others. I can count on them for support."

Avitia said she her political work with the union had also given her better tools to interact with her children and helped her set a good example. "When my daughters see me going to Sacramento," she said, "they're proud of me. They see me doing something with myself, not just sitting at home at 50, watching novelas."

California's Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed $256 million in child care money for low-income families, leaving tens of thousands of families transitioning off of public assistance without good child care options starting in November.

California's state Assembly Speaker, John A. Pérez, has offered $6 million from the Assembly's operating budget, is looking for additional funds and plans to get the funding restored first thing next year.

"I think the worst thing we could do would be to ask people living on the margin who need this child care to wait until January to figure out how to take care of their families,'' Pérez said.

In total, the governor's vetoes took $1 billion away from California's most vulnerable citizens. If replacement funding isn't found, many of these cuts are expected to throw many families into poverty and increase applications for public assistance.

(California's late state budget has been hurting child care providers, holding up reimbursement checks for time they'd already worked. Yesterday, some of the affected educators and caregivers held a press conference where family child care provider, and SEIU member, Tonia McMillian told her story.)

Hello, my name is Tonia McMillian, and I'm a licensed home-based child care provider in Bellflower. I care for 11 children, many of whom receive state subsidies to help their parents afford child care. The current budget delay has presented a mix of emotions for me and the families that I care for. For the first time in my 15 years of child care service, I have been forced to face the reality that I might have to shut my doors.

Child care has been my passion and desire for many, many years. After completing my child care education at Long Beach City College, I decided that I would make a difference in the lives of children and, as far as I know, I did just what I set out to accomplish.

However, maintaining my business and my home with no money has proven to be a monumental challenge.

Because of the current budget stalemate, I have not been paid to care for some of these children for the last 3 months and others for the last 2 months. I can no longer plan or budget for my week. I have to take each day as it comes. I've extended and, in some cases over-extended, arrangements to meet my needs, i.e. utility bills, food, rent, and many other bills.

My parents need the help that the subsidies provide and are extremely grateful that I have not shut my doors...yet. Without child care, my single father who is raising his son as a single parent, will be forced to quit his job. Did I mention that he is considered one of California's working poor? Yet, through his job, he contributes back to our economy and he can walk tall with his head held high knowing that he is working to make his life and the life of his son better.

But the loss of this income has made it extremely hard to continue to run my business. I have taken on a part-time job in addition to my child care business to pay the bills for myself and my own two children, and I have talked with all of my parents about the real possibility that in the coming weeks I may have to shut my doors in order to find other work to support my own family. This is a decision that is truly devastating for me, for I have been an excellent child care provider for 15 years and love this work, and I know that these children and parents are going to really struggle in my absence.

Almost every other child care provider in my area is in the same situation as I am. We've all had to cut costs dramatically since our paychecks were halted, including laying off staff who help us pay more attention to each child in our care and who also badly need these jobs.

Worse yet, the money we normally receive from the Federal Food Program is being withheld simply because the state of California can't contribute its meager 5% share. Think about that--tens of thousands of providers in California aren't getting their monthly food program checks--which can be anywhere from 100 to 1000 dollars a month--because the state can't contribute their tiny 5% share and won't release the much greater federal portion.

That's millions of dollars being left on the table - dollars that are usually recycled back into the community through the grocery stores where we shop. Hundreds of thousands of children in the state depend on these funds to help them get nutritious meals that they might not otherwise get.

I know providers who are now feeding their own families peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and ramen noodles every day - just so they can afford to feed their daycare children.

I came to speak here today to put a face on this budget crisis. This is about the future of quality child care in our state, not partisan politics or politicians squabbling in Sacramento. Children are suffering. Providers and their families are suffering. And if a solution isn't found soon we are going to be doing irreversible harm to our state's youngest and most vulnerable citizens.

Thank You.

[Editor's Note: Recently, this blog discussed how California's late state budget was hurting child care providers, holding up reimbursement checks for time they'd worked. Today, some of the affected educators and caregivers held a press conference. SEIU member Silvia Hernandez prepared and delivered these remarks.]

Hello, my name is Silvia Hernandez and I'm a licensed child care provider in the San Fernando Valley. I'm here today to let people know the terrible effects the lack of budget has had on the California child care system.

Before this recent budget stalemate, California was already in the middle of a child care crisis. Providers like me who care for subsidized children have not had a rate increase in over 5 years- while our costs of living during that same time have risen dramatically.

The effect of this inequality has been to have thousands of quality providers leave the profession to find other work in order to support their families. And what happens when thousands of providers leave? Quality goes down. Because the state failed to act for so many years under the current administration, many of our children- the future of our society- have not received the kind of the care that they deserve and is need to prepare them for school.

Throughout this budget impasse, we as providers have tried as hard as we can to make sure that we maintained the same activities, food, and staff in our day cares as always.

Since most of us providers have not gotten paid since June our services have, unfortunately, begun to suffer.

With every day that passes we are faced with the realization that we will have to lay off our employees, reduce the hours we work, and for many of us it will mean that we will be forced to close the doors of our businesses that we once worked so hard to open. This is an unfortunate effect of the situation we are living in.

I am a single mother with 2 kids and a mortgage. If I don't get paid this upcoming month I will be on the verge of losing my house and have to lay off both of my employees, who are also single mothers.

Without employees and without a house I can't run a business and without a business I can't feed my family. We cannot hold out any longer, good providers like myself are leaving the profession every day to find other work leaving needy kids without quality care!

You thought child care quality had been going down BEFORE? Without an immediate solution it's going to plummet to levels that pain me to think about. Its going to lead to parents losing their jobs because they can't find any care whatsoever, or even worse parents leaving small children home alone all day to fend for themselves while they work.

We need to pass a budget NOW, not just for providers but for the children! Every day without one sends us deeper into a hole which will do irreparable harm to our society and our future.