Affordable and accessible family care is already a major challenge for many families, despite the central role that it plays in allowing people to participate in the economy and to fulfill our basic drive to form families. Emerging circumstances promise to complicate the picture further. As a result of technology, globalization and shifting social values, the economy continues to transition away from predictable schedules and long-term relationships between employers and employees, making parents’ needs for child care even more diverse. In addition, the population is aging rapidly, with the number of families who support both older and younger relatives expected to increase.
» One-fifth of parents with children under the age of 14 have atypical schedules, a percentage that is expected to increase since jobs with nonstandard work hours are among the fastest-growing occupations.⁴²
» According to a 2018 survey, the top reason parents gave for having fewer children than they wanted was that “child care is too expensive.”⁴³
» Jobs focused on caring for the aging population, which have a lower-than-average median hourly wage, are expected to grow quickly in the coming decade.⁴⁴
» In the United States, 12 percent of parents who have a child at home are also providing unpaid care for an adult.⁴⁵ 70 million Americans are expected to become multigenerational caregivers by 2030.⁴⁶
ARTIFACT FROM THE FUTURE
Care Co-Op: Learning and Working Together
Families in the mixed-income and racially diverse Oak Terrance neighborhood have created an affordable and flexible caregiving solution. The co-op is governed by member families and prioritizes meeting parents where they are with cost, schedule and caregiving needs, even if that means that not every family is paying the same amount or dedicating the same amount of time. Adults are allowed to co-work in the care center building, and some have the flexibility to care for their and others’ children at points during the workday. Others who work at times when child care centers are typically closed rely on the community of co-op members to help care for their children at their homes. An ongoing crowdfunding campaign to help replicate the model in other locations has thrived, but not every community has experienced the same success. A local community foundation is supporting the creation of new governance structures that can retain the co-op’s values of broad and inclusive decision-making while streamlining what has become slow and cumbersome administration.
ARTIFACT FROM THE FUTURE
Measure T: Tech Tax for Care
Voters have approved a new funding mechanism requiring companies that have largely automated their workforces to contribute to a new fund to cover displaced workers’ basic needs. The fund will cover food and housing costs, expenses related to the care of children zero to five years old and costs associated with caring for an aging relative. Advocates are hailing the election outcome while also scrambling to adjust regulations and offerings to make the most of the influx of funding. To avoid handing off these resources to what they describe as “inefficient government agencies,” some big-tech CEOs are proposing their own programs to assist displaced workers, a move that some dismiss as seeking a corporate tax shelter. Apart from that debate, many organizations are warning that they will have to pass the cost of the tax onto customers through increased prices. Other businesses wanting to ensure that they avoid the penalty are only automating about half of their workforces because their operations would otherwise be too complex and costly.
ARTIFACT FROM THE FUTURE
Day without a Caregiver: Mass Demonstration and Lawsuit
The country’s unsustainable, individualistic and patchwork approach to caregiving has reached a tipping point, with the majority of Americans now having trouble affording or accessing high-quality care. Caregiving has become a focal issue for activists, children’s and senior advocates and civil rights organizations. The philanthropic community is following the lead of the grassroots community efforts led by low-income parents, parents of color and parents of children with special needs, all of whom are disproportionately affected by the care crisis. Parents and children have brought lawsuits against the government, demanding that it support children’s health and well-being and parents’ economic participation by adopting a comprehensive approach to caregiving across the country. The federal government is concerned that this movement might bring widespread social, economic and political unrest. There are rumors that a fringe pro-caregiver group plans to take over an important state capitol until their requests are met.
Issues to Watch
Identify and communicate the value of caregiving in society. As the economy and employment structures change, overhauling traditional child and elder care systems will be essential. However, the value of affordable and high-quality care goes far beyond its economic benefits. Caring for one another is a deep instinct for people. Society’s ability to do it well has major positive social and emotional implications for both the caregiver and the care receiver. As the population ages and as child care becomes increasingly complex and unaffordable, the dialogue around an intensifying crisis of care could increase, creating an opportunity to re-evaluate narratives about caregiving and to revisit caregiver compensation along with recognition of, and public awareness about, society’s caregiving needs. Stakeholders should take that opportunity to broaden the cultural narrative about caregiving to reflect its deep human and societal value in addition to its economic ones.
How might stakeholders reexamine the role of caregiving in society, setting up systems, structures and narratives that reflect the true value of caregiving?
Recognize cultural shifts around governance and decision making. New political and cultural realities are changing people’s expectations around who should be setting the agenda and making decisions on a wide range of social issues. Frustration with the exclusive, opaque and unresponsive governance of many agencies, nonprofits and corporations is leading people to question those entities’ legitimacy and to seek opportunities to expand the pool of leaders and decision makers. This shift, along with growing pressures caused by an unsustainable approach to caregiving in society, could lead to extreme social tension. Stakeholders should examine critically their own governance and decision-making processes, ensuring that they involve the people most affected by their decisions and are flexible enough to respond to a changing landscape.
How might stakeholders involve a wide range of people, particularly those who have historically been marginalized, in tackling major caregiving challenges?
Leverage intergenerational relationships and joint solutions. The need for new types of child care, combined with the need for more and better elder care, are inextricably linked and can be approached in an inter-connected way. Though creating new systems and structures for caring for one another is daunting, the demographic and economic shifts on the horizon represent opportunities to address more than one challenge at a time and to promote intergenerational relationships, which have proven benefits for every age group. For instance, the aging of the population could be an enabling force for the creation of joint care structures for elder adults and children or for the creation of a comprehensive caregiving sector. Stakeholders should rethink approaches to care across generations and create new opportunities for people of all ages to foster healthy social bonds.
How might stakeholders embrace intergenerational relationships and consider a range of care needs when developing future caregiving solutions?
