The unresolved child care dilemma: care for the acutely ill child

Abstract

The frequency of childhood illness, the exclusion practices of most licensed child care programs, and the limited sick leave policies of many employers all combine to create a particularly difficult dilemma for the working parent. A comprehensive solution to the problem of caring for the sick child must be tackled on three primary fronts: provision of expanded sick leave benefits and/or greater flexibility in the performance of job duties to enable working parents to care for children's illnesses without jeopardy to employment; development of clear regulatory guidelines and supplemental resources to enable care givers to accommodate a mildly ill child in the child's usual child care setting; replication of successful model programs, partially underwritten by public and/or private support, to assist parents with the costs of backup arrangements for the care of sick children when needed.