Caregiving Crisis: Not Great, Bob!
Everything is terrible and heading into year three, we're back where we started. Studies say the child tax credits helped, but politicians say they're likely gone.
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Hey everyone,
And how has YOUR start to 2022 been?
Pete Campbell speaks the truth. This has been a hell of a way to start the year.
We’re all pretty much right back where we started the pandemic, give or take a vaccine for adults and older kids, but none for younger ones. Parents are working from home and managing remote school/caring for youngsters whose daycares are closed…again. Add in paranoia about catching Omicron, throw in some Wordle, simmer, stir and tear your hair out.
My family all came down with Covid1 around January 1st — me with the worst symptoms (but still not terrible, bless the booster), my husband had mildish symptoms (🙏booster) and our child with no symptoms (bless SCIENCE). We had already canceled our holiday travel plans to Cov-hio, as my brother calls it, out of concern for catching the virus. School was going to be remote anyway when it resumed after the holiday, but because of quarantining (and my 6-year-old recognizing a symptom loophole and making VERY good friends with the school nurse2), we did two weeks of remote learning to kick off the year. While working. While sick. We’ve been in our house for nearly a month, with the holiday break. 😲
On the plus side, my kid will bust into my office to tell me, excitedly, that 3 + 27 = 30. And I’ve enjoyed listening to him sing what sound like sea shanties in music class.
On the down side, EVERYONE IS CONTINUING TO SUFFER/SUFFERING AGAIN AND IN MANY CASES WORSE THAN BEFORE.
When I started this newsletter a year ago, one of my main motivations, besides finding a constructive way to deal with my Gif obsession, was to advance knowledge and learnings. I so desperately want the ‘societal us’ to learn from this situation, improve our infrastructure and be ready the next time this happens… or even just improve our lot if this doesn’t happen again! (I can dream.)
Buuut, we’re heading into year three from this pandemic and judging by all the terrible headlines (see below), the only thing we’ve learned is that society really, really, really places little value on child-rearing and caregiving, and, frankly, takes advantage of free labor by women and caregivers. It’s a given that we’ll just do everything when the system fails us.
And of course we are stressed and exhausted. The angst and frustration aren’t just palpable. They’re unmistakable, omnipresent and ridiculous. There’s been some progress on policy, like child tax credits that helped millions of families each month. But those vanished and sustained progress seems far off. (More below.) Will we ever get national paid family leave?
Now, we may not be as tired as tiny Carter of Canada on a snow day. His sigh is perfection.
But we’re angry… and we’re letting everyone know it. We’re not suffering in silence. The conversations and voices are getting louder, and catching on faster. Three million people have watched the mother of an infant in the NICU blast the U.S.’ lack of paid leave on TikTok because she had to return to work. The more people that speak up, the more people feel empowered to speak…with each other, our communities and at work.
Let’s keep sharing our stories, using our voices and continuing our momentum — no matter how exhausted or frustrated we are. We’ll figure out a better way forward. I’m glad to be in the trenches with you.
Thanks, as always, for being here. Read more about why I started this newsletter. Subscribe below. Please message me to share your caregiving story in a future issue - or just scream with me. It’s fun! Our next monthly installment will drop Feb. 25th. Hang in there and see you soon.
What To Know About the Caregiving Crisis This Week
NEWS WATCH: ROUNDUP — Keeping tabs on legislation, regulation and conversation:
CHILD TAX CREDITS GONE, FAMILIES HURT, KIDS BACK IN POVERTY — With Biden's "Build Back Better" agenda still not passed, the expanded child tax credit is on pause or even worse. Temporary monthly payments of $250-$300 per kid that had gone to 36 million families — 61 million kids — have stopped in the new year. Media are already reporting that after just one month, families are hurting and millions of kids have been pushed back in poverty. (Sidebar: This is a sad commentary about the financial precariousness so many families live under.)
The rate of childhood poverty is expected to increase to 17% from 12% in January, NBC reports. That is the highest since December 2020, per research by the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University. Black and Latino children will be hit harder, with poverty rising to 1 in 4 kids. Researchers also now know the positive effect the credits had on child poverty — cutting it by 30% (NPR).
NPR reports that "families are scrambling to adjust to not having this consistent financial support" at a time when the pandemic continues and inflation is rising. It tells the story of Jen Cousens of Orlando, who has four children and one income, her husband's. She said the extra money has meant timely repairs to their only vehicle. But without this month's $1,000, she can't fix the breaks or take her kids to get the glasses they need. Now she's spacing out eye doctor visitors and her husband’s dental procedure, and worrying about car repairs: "If I was getting the payment, I could get my van fixed in two or three weeks. Now I'm trying to limit how far I drive."
You can still get last year’s money this year…and more of a tax write-off for expenses. The tax credits/payments started in July last year, so parents can get the other half of the credit in this year’s refund. CNET has more. And eligible expenses are now capped at $8,000 for one kid (up from $3,000) or $16,000 (vs. $6,000) for two or more. Here’s NBC with that. To my accountant, I ♥ you.
WHITHER CHILD TAX CREDIT? BIDEN ‘NOT SURE’ — Biden now says he's “not sure” the five-year expansion of the credit will stay in the Build Back Better bill, CNBC reports. Free community college tuition for two years is also on the chopping block. Biden says he's going to try to pass the legislation in parts rather than an all-or-nothing approach. “I think we can break the package up, get as much as we can now and come back and fight for the rest of it,” he said.
Biden met this week with executives to tout the bill, and insiders say to expect a "BBB 2.0" (ew) between Feb. 18 and Biden's State of the Union on March 1. Insiders are factoring in universal pre-K for families and health insurance subsidies, but no other family policies are expected to make the cut. (MarketWatch)
BABIES’ BRAINS BENEFIT FROM CASH TO PARENTS — This one got tremendous coverage this week and rightly so: Researchers have found that the direct cash payments made to families could "protect infants from the deleterious effects poverty has on brain development." (NBC) Preliminary results from a clinical trial show that infants whose families received an extra $333 a month (about $4,000 a year) were more likely to show brain activity patterns associated with the development of thinking and learning than families who got $20 a month. Families used the money however they wanted. The four-year trial just completed its first year and researchers have concluded that babies in families that got the higher amount had more "fast brain waves" typically associated with activity in brains of older kids. “Economic resources are a way parents invest in their children. You can’t just think of it as the adults who are or are not getting the money, we have to take a child-focused lens to how we think about supporting families,” said Katherine Magnuson, study co-author and director of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. These programs show the benefit of guaranteed income like cash payments on entire families, and we're starting to see more of them:
Washington, D.C. is piloting a one-year $1.5 million program to give new and pregnant moms in some of the area's poorest neighborhoods $900 monthly in cash assistance. (Washington Post)
The 19th reports on a new guaranteed income program in the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr., who popularized these efforts "as a vehicle out of poverty." The program in Atlanta's Old Fourth Ward will send monthly payments of $850 to 650 Black women over two years. Half will get $4,300 up front and then reduced monthly payments, so both groups will get over $20,000 in all and researchers can see what helps families faster. Community members helped determine how much money and how long the program would take "to establish stable financial footing." An expansion is planned in two years.
Bottom line: Families need these payments. So many other countries do it. Why can’t we think about the greater good? Bea Arthur, show ‘em how we feel.3
THERE ARE SO MANY HEADLINES I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO — As someone who watches news as a hobby like others watch birds, I am truly impressed and terrified by the amount and angst of the headlines flying around these days. I recognize that about half of these articles are in women-centric publications or sections like parenting. Editors recognize the story is worth telling — although surely they’re also seeing the clickability of these links, too. Who doesn’t love to rage-read a validation of their own experience? I narrowed it down to the 10 I think capture the narrative right now — you can read the headlines and see the story emerge. Headlines are linkable to stories, so you can get your rage-read on, too.
Bottom line: Tiny Carter of Canada conveys my sentiments perfectly (especially about children being in school.)
NEW YEAR CONTENT RECOS AND THINGS I WANT TO CATCH UP ON — We can dream, right?
LISTENING:
Fresh Air’s interview with Bloomberg Businessweek's Claire Suddath on why childcare is so unaffordable in the U.S.
Podcast ‘The Double Shift’ - I’ve been meaning to dig into recent episodes that look at how families have been affected by the child tax credit, explanations for giving kids the COVID vaccine (please, it's safe)… and more. And this week creator Katherine Goldstein announced a shift to the written word, with more news next month. So, stay tuned!
Non-news things: I'm listening to two podcasts that make quite the yin and yang pairing. Dolly Parton's America - uplifting, so inspiring and interesting (especially for those like me who didn't know much about her). And Sweet Bobby, a terrifying, true story of a decade-long catfish. D E C A D E!!!!
SHORT READS:
Daily emails from your kids’ school saying there’s a COVID case.
Confusing, often conflicting, policy updates to school quarantine guidelines.
Messages from the nurse saying it’s time to quarantine the kids.
Voicemails transcribed from the school nurse because you don’t want to talk to them anymore.
Lines on home COVID-19 tests. 🤦♀️
BOOKS AND LONG READS:
“Unicorn Space” by Eve Rodsky, of “Fair Play” fame and driver of the CareForce. A guide for “setting new personal goals, rediscovering your interests, cultivating creativity, and reclaiming your Unicorn Space.” 🦄📗☑
Real talk: This newsletter is my unicorn space. It gives me purpose and joy (and is a nice funnel for my news obsession), sparks my creativity, allows me to connect with people, and gives me a space all my own. I hope everyone can find something they love as much I love this. 🙏
More Ann Patchett. I JUST finished my Bridgerton kick (even prequels !!) But I gotta get back to AP. I’ll probably re-read the short story “These Precious Days” (it has Tom Hanks, and one of the most memorable, real, characters I’ve ever read — you will think about this after you read it, I promise), and then the essay book of the same name.
Also - in case others hadn’t known this, like me: I’m a huge New Yorker nerd and *just* discovered you can listen to audio versions of some of the articles on the app itself. Game-changer. Scoop cat poop, ceremonial unloading and loading of dishwasher, AND listen to the Jeremy Strong profile? Don’t mind if I do.
WATCHING:
(I actually have several days to myself coming up and am devising my content consumption plan. Because I cannot squander this gift.)
TV - Yellow Jackets. Everyone is talking about it! Also, season 3 of Pen15, Maid, Mare of Easton and Inventing Anna, the new one coming from Shondaland about a real woman who is either a tremendous entrepreneur or a con artist. Or both.
Movies - The French Dispatch. I’m such a Wes Anderson nerd. The French setting in the 60s, the faux New Yorker, I can’t wait. My kid refuses to see Encanto (“scary”) - should I just watch it? Who is this Bruno dude?!
When the fam comes back - Anything you can put on that your children will watch and then you leave the room. (My son has been really into documentaries about Egyptian excavations lately? Is this our segue into watching the Mannequin movies from our youth?)4
And lastly…
NOTHING! We also recommend nothing. We hear doing nothing is great and we’d like to try it some time.
Signing off
Thanks, as always, for reading. Please send feedback, must-consume content recs, and remixes of tiny Carter from Canada. If you found value in Caregiving Crisis, please share with a friend. See you soon.
Caregiving Crisis is a newsletter written by Emily Fredrix Goodman. We aim to publish monthly but other things may get in the way.
Nearly certain we got it seeing the new Spider-Man movie. TBH the 🍿 kinda made it worth it. And this SNL sketch makes me feel seen and basic at the same time. Oof.
When he tested positive, our NJ district had a 10-day quarantine rule. But on the 4th day they adopted the CDC’s 5 day guidance. !!!!! So he could go back. !!!! But for two days in a row, he went back and complained of Covid symptoms and got sent home. (Stomach ache day 1 - not accurate based on the amount of maple syrup he consumed later that afternoon and FATIGUE AT 8:15 AM on day 2 WHO IS NOT FATIGUED AT THAT TIME OF DAY?!) — and so they sent him home because if you exhibit any Covid symptoms, that’s what happens. Even if all symptoms are Covid symptoms. Even the nurse was like ‘I AM SORRY.’ On the third day, we just kept him home to do remote learning because why even bother. (He will make a very good lawyer some day.)
Golden Girls follow-up. So sad about Betty White! What spirit. We featured her and the other GGs in our November issue, which contained only GG gifs. Sniff. Here’s a lovely remembrance in the New Yorker by Susan Orlean, who posits how Betty was in on the joke. Always.
Do you have Jefferson Starship in your head too? Nothing’s going to stop us now.