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1 1 (June 29, 2000)

handle is hein.crs/crsahke0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS20615 June 29, 2000 Child Care: The Federal Role During World War II Emilie Stoltzfus Consultant Domestic Social Policy Division Summary During World War II, the federal government supported a nationwide program of child care centers, intended to boost war production by freeing mothers to work. Labor force participation of women grew significantly during the war, and children of working mothers were eligible for the child care service. The centers had a peak enrollment near 130,000 children in 1944. After the federal subsidy ended in February 1946, California, New York City and Philadelphia were the only locations to use public funds to continue child care programs indefinitely. This report describes federal child care initiatives during World War II, and briefly traces the evolution of federal child care policy from the postwar period until today. This report will not be updated. During World War II, the federal government offered grants for child care services to authorized community groups that could demonstrate a war-related need for the service. The program was justified as a war expedient necessary to allow mothers to enter the labor force and increase war production. Funding authorization came through the 1941 Defense Public Works law (Title II of the 1940 National Defense Housing Act), popularly known as the Lanham Act. The law was designed to assist communities with water, sewer, housing, schools, and other local facilities' needs related to war industry and growth. The federal government granted $52 million for child care under this Act from August 1943 through February 1946. Communities, mostly through user fees, contributed an additional $26 million. At its July 1944 peak, 3,102 federally subsidized child care centers, with 130,000 children enrolled, were located in all but one state and in D.C.' The federal government indirectly supported limited private employer-sponsored child care during the war as well. The most noted instance involved several state-of-the-art child care centers able to serve more than 1,000 children of workers at the large, west coast Kaiser Shipyards. Parents paid a small fee to use the centers (built by the U.S. Maritime Commission), but a majority of program operating expenses, including the cost 1 New Mexico was the only state not to request or receive child care funding via the Lanham Act. Hawaii and Alaska were not yet states but both received Lanham Act funding for child care. Congressional Research Service + The Library of Congress CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web

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