Working Parents Need Help

Supporting childcare means supporting working families—and strengthening our entire community.

We need affordable, accessible childcare in Northwest Missouri. When my girls were little, I spent 18 months driving 20 miles away from Trenton and then another 20 miles to Bethany at the hospital where I worked every morning just to drop my youngest off at daycare so I could keep working.

That meant 18-hour days, three days a week—for a year and a half—because the daycare my oldest attended had no openings.

This isn’t just my story; it’s the reality for too many families in our communities. We have a serious shortage of childcare options, and it’s putting an unsustainable burden on working parents.

Those of us who have known these struggles understand what working-class Americans and Missourians need because we have lived it. We need policies that expand access, lower costs for families, and ensure that the people caring for our children are paid a fair, living wage.