You're on your own, kid: Understanding America's broken childcare system

or, an interview with "No One's Coming to Save Us" host Gloria Riviera

Several months ago, a friend sent me the podcast No One Is Coming To Save Us, and told me I had to listen. She was right—the show, hosted by journalist Gloria Riviera, examines the childcare crisis in America, and it’s right up my alley. Given that we talk a lot about the state of American childcare in this newsletter, I knew Gloria would be a perfect interview guest.

Gloria is a podcast host and journalist with Lemonada Media. In addition to No One is Coming to Save Us, she also co-hosts The Defenders, along with Samantha Bee, which looks at life in the United States after the fall of Roe v. Wade. Gloria spent more than 20 years with ABC News, reporting from more than a dozen countries across the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and Asia covering war zones, natural disasters, extreme adventures, and more. Her work has been recognized with a DuPont award, multiple Emmy and Webby nominations, a Signal Award, and more. Gloria lives in Washington DC with her family.

JW: We all know that childcare is a mess in the US, especially compared to other countries. But why is this the case? Walk us through how we got here.

GR: Starting back in the late 1800s, we saw the beginning of childcare centers. But these services were only reserved for women who had no other option. These women where in bad situations, referred to as the “four D’s”—meaning your husband, the father of your children, needed to be either dead (presumably from serving the country in war), disabled, a drunk, or deserted your family. And if that was the case, then some very rudimentary child care organizations, called day nurseries, were available because it was recognized that these women had no other choice but to work to support their families. But again, these were pretty basic—really the fundamental purpose was to make sure your child did not get trampled by a horse while walking outside. Overall, having to put your child into this kind of organized care was seen as a great misfortune. There was no recognition that these settings could be structured in a way that was beneficial to children.

Starting in the early 20th century, women began to go to college and child development emerged as a new field of study. At this point, people started recognizing that childcare centers could be educational, not just custodial. But only wealthier families had access to these education-based systems, called kindergartens, because they were mostly structured as half-day programs with an instructional component for mothers (meaning that the mothers stayed on site and received education on how to be a better parent, while the child was in another room).

Now let’s jump to World War II, when somewhat suddenly there was the realization that women needed to go to work to support the war effort. To facilitate this, legislators decided that there needed to be some solid caregiving organizations for young children to support these families while the husband was away at war and the woman was going to work to support the war effort.

So the federal government started funding childcare centers that were well-staffed with educated teachers, and in some locations, doctors, art teachers, and nurses too. There were all sorts of different resources that made them very holistic, supportive environments for young children. And this is my favorite tidbit—when the woman came to pick up the child, some centers offered a warm meal for that woman to take home! Because God forbid someone who'd put in a full work day be also expected to figure out dinner for their family.

Unfortunately, as soon as the war ended, the federal dollars dried up and these childcare centers closed. Actually, Eleanor Roosevelt had a newspaper column at the time, and she vehemently argued to keep these centers open. But when the men came back from war, they wanted their jobs back, and women were encouraged to return to the home.

Of course, we know that many women (particularly poor women) remained in the workforce and still needed childcare. And so, in 1971 Minnesota congressmen Walter Mondale proposed the Comprehensive Child Development Act. This act would have created a federally-funded, child-centered, national day care system for kids 0-5, and—miraculously—it actually passed in both the Senate and the House. Nixon was prepared to sign it, but then… Ronald Reagan was still governor of California, and he was already flirting with a pretty extreme right contingent of the Republican party. And the story is Reagan went in and bullied Nixon into vetoing the bill. So now every time I go to DCA and pass this huge statue of Reagan, I shake my head and I'm like, “thanks a lot, Ronald Reagan.”

JW: So, we’re left without federally-funded universal childcare, but there have been attempts to make progress on this issue at the local and state levels. What are some of the best practices you’ve seen implemented here in the US?

Season three of the podcast focuses on this topic specifically, but I think one of the examples that sticks with me the most is what they are doing in Tulsa, Oklahoma. For the episode, I interviewed three women in the early childcare space who all work collaboratively—even though some might perceive them as competitors—to provide high-quality care for children in the area.

One of the women, Jennifer Kirby, is the executive director of Cherokee Nation Human Services and she spoke about how the Cherokee Nation provides cash payments to familial caregivers—grandmas, aunties, etc.—because so much early childcare is provided within families. I mean, that gets me so excited because you’re also proving support to the elderly. How good does it feel for them to make money and to be recognized for the work they’re already doing? It’s also additionally important because Oklahoma is a childcare desert, meaning there aren’t enough centers to meet the need, so family care is essential.

JW: You started your podcast around the time I started this newsletter—in the middle of COVID. At that time, there were all these working moms speaking out about how unsustainable everything was. Reflected in the media was a lot of hype around COVID being this inflection point for working parents. And so here we are, in 2024. What do you think—was COVID a turning point?

I think it was. I am a glass half full person and I'm a glass half full reporter. And so I would say that yes it was a turning point because now we're all talking about it. How many conversations did you have about childcare before COVID? Not too many. So I choose to say yes.

Now the next question is, okay, so what's been done about it? And that's the harder question to answer because with COVID relief, we did see federal dollars invested in helping families. And we spoke to parents who just would say the most beautiful things about how they used those funds. Single mothers would use those funds to hire a babysitter so that they could go participate in the PTA, or they could go do something for, God forbid, their wellbeing. It was looking good, but then all that funding went away. It's hard not to be down about it, but I think that COVID was a turning point because it got the entire country to wake up and finally see mothers.

JW: So, if no one is coming to save us then, presumably, we need to save ourselves. But we have such a culture of individualism here in the US that advocating for collective care (in many different domains) feels like a huge challenge. What are some of the most effective messages or political strategies you’ve seen?

GR: Well, first of all, I would say before I did this podcast, I was not a childcare voter. I had no idea how my elected representatives felt about childcare. So, first and foremost, become a child care voter.

I would also say that most people want more affordable childcare, they just disagree on how to get there. But, at the end of the day, the money has to come from somewhere, and we really need to get people more comfortable with contributing part of their earnings to the betterment of the country as a whole.

Lightning Round

Favorite activity to do with your kids… Travel. I love to travel with my kids. We went to Puerto Rico in February, and it was so much fun. We took this crazy bus into the jungle and went swimming in the rapids. It was super fun.

Best book you’ve read lately… I'm someone who always has 15 books on my bedside table. But I'm reading The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese, and it's so good.

Favorite piece of advice for working moms… Ask for what you deserve. I just turned 50 and I got an offer to do something, and I looked at the offer and I was like, “This is not a fucking charity. I work so hard, and I am worth more than this. I cannot do this.” And I went back with what I thought was an outlandish number, and they agreed to it.

I have one other piece of advice. My first job in the news business was as the assistant to [the reporter] Sam Donaldson. And my friends were all going to be “real reporters” and I was going to be his assistant. But I was like, "You know what? It's not so much the job, it's the environment. Who am I going to meet? Who's going to be around me and who am I going to be working for?" And that job to this day, I'll probably never have a better boss. So, prioritize being in the right environment.

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