America is in a parenting crisis. The financial costs of child care are soaring; most new parents don’t take the amount of leave they want; and many face the impossible task of balancing full-time work and caring for their children. The coronavirus pandemic has only exacerbated these problems, with many parents losing their jobs, getting sick or frantically trying to work while filling the void left by day care and in-person schooling. …
From a polling perspective, the issue is a slam dunk: Eighty-two percent of Americans favor either employers or the government paying for leave for mothers who give birth or adopt a child, and almost 70 percent support paid leave for new fathers. The public isn’t committed to just a progressive or conservative method of distributing these benefits, either. CONT.
David Byler, Washington Post