When child care providers fail, parents often call in sick, quit, or go to work and worry…

Despite decades of debate, child care remains one of the biggest challenges for many employees. The shortage of quality care forces absences, tardiness and turnover like no other issue, experts say.

Though employees still face the brunt of the problem alone, employers are starting to recognize that the lack of quality care is an issue they need to be paying attention to…

Each week 63 percent of American children 5 and younger go off to day care. Annually, parents in Kansas and Missouri spend an average of $4,000 to $6,000 — in some cases more than state college tuition — on child care.

But often that tab doesn’t include any type of formal early learning component, which experts increasingly believe is important to how a child performs in kindergarten and beyond. While their parents work, more than three-quarters of children go to a grandparent or other relative or to an in-home day care, according to the National Association of Child Care Resources and Referral Agencies. Only 18 percent go to child care centers, while about 5 percent go to preschool…

Source: Kansas City Star
http://www.kansascity.com/business/story/135979.html