Child care costs unaffordable for many.

• Position: YOUR LIFE

For the eighth year in a row, data from the Child Care Aware of America report shows child care costs--which can be as much as $14,508 annually for an infant and $12,280 for a four-year-old in a center, and does not always guarantee a quality environment--continue to be a heavy lift for working families in the U.S.

"Quality, affordable child care provides critical support to our nation's workforce and is one of the earliest learning settings our children will enter," says Lynette Fraga, executive director of Child Care Aware, Arlington, Va. "It's time to address the disparity between high child care costs and low provider wages, and find a solution to what has become a crisis."

Studies indicate that increased access to quality, affordable child care raises employee morale and company loyalty, and even can save businesses as much as $3,000,000,000 a year. Moreover, exposure to quality learning environments during the earliest and most fundamental years of brain development set children up for a lifetime of success. Of children who arrive at school without the skills needed to succeed, more than 85% still are behind in fourth grade.

Child care made national headlines in November with the passage of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014. The legislation, which provides child care subsidy dollars for low-income families, had not been reauthorized since 1996. "The passage of CCDBG is a terrific win for children and families that deserves a lot of celebration, but many families earning too much to receive child care subsidies still struggle to pay for quality care," notes Carol Scott, board president of Child Care Aware.

Melissa Hudson, a mother, military veteran, and family advocate, recently opened her own child care facility after she struggled with finding a quality program she could afford. Hudson admits that the stress of paying for child...