I salute Daniel Beekman for his complete article “The way to discover inexpensive baby care and baby care subsidies in WA” [June 4, Local News]:
I served for 40 years as government director of a number of baby care applications and Head Begin applications in King and Pierce counties. Our Head Begin and Early Childhood Schooling and Help Program, restricted to households with very low incomes, have had lengthy waitlists. Little one care facilities even have lengthy waitlists and baby care is prohibitively costly.
Most mother and father, notably those that converse English as their second language, are baffled by our disjointed early studying panorama, attempting to grasp the variations between baby care, preschool, Head Begin, ECEAP and the subsidies supplied by the state, King County and Seattle, every with its personal set of necessities. Beekman’s article does one of the best job I’ve ever seen of describing every program’s eligibility, price and availability. It ought to be made accessible broadly.
How can it’s that our companies for kids beginning to five are so underfunded, complicated and sometimes inaccessible, but when the youngsters attain kindergarten, their schooling is totally publicly funded and accessible to each baby who exhibits up at any time?
John Bancroft, Seattle