Oregon Infant Child Care Project: Parent Voices for Change
Amy Hill
Around the country, parents and care givers continues to struggle to find quality, affordable child care. Infant care can be especially challenging to secure. For parents who are working low-wage jobs, salaries are often eclipsed by daycare costs, making investment in a career seem counter-productive. The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) is committed to engaging Oregon residents in advocating for program and policy solutions to the health challenges that impact them the most. Finding quality, affordable infant child care is one such challenge, in the state.
Given its emphasis on constituent involvement in health program advocacy, OHA’s Infant Child Care Project understood the value of elevating the voices of caregivers themselves. In May 2019, StoryCenter collaborated with the Infant Child Care Project to support a small group of women in sharing their own stories. We guided six courageous mothers through a three-day digital storytelling process exploring themes and prompts related to infant child care. Some spoke solely from their perspectives as parents, and others narrated stories from their experiences as both parents and child care providers. The resulting stories reflect the tenderness of motherhood and the insanity of the current child care environment.
Working with its Advisory Committee, the Infant Child Care Project is developing and implementing ways to highlight and share the stories for general and targeted audiences across the state of Oregon, to raise awareness and mobilize action in support of affordable, high quality childcare for all who need it. View selected stories here.