TAMPA, Fla — President Joe Biden signed an executive order in an effort to improve access to childcare.
According to the White House, the cost of child care has risen 26% in the last decade and more than 200% over the past 30 years.
"My next biggest bill would be day care, then my mortgage," mother, Mickaela Gonzalez, said.
On Sunday, President Biden posted a message to social media that reads, in part, quote: "You can pay more than $17,000 a year per child for child care. For many families, that's more than you pay for a mortgage…"
That bleeds true for Gonzalez, a local mother of four with two kids in full-time daycare.
"It's sad, but I need to pay my mortgage, so I need my kids in school. So I kind of have to take the loss of higher daycare costs," Gonzalez said.
On top of higher costs, child care slots are slim.
According to the White House, in 2019, 76% of families with young children who searched for care reported difficulty finding adequate child care. For many families, it's only gotten worse.
"There actually isn't day cares, if you haven't noticed, Tampa has no day cares... If you want a daycare slot, you're on the waitlist for six months. So then you still lose," Gonzalez explained.
The executive order has more than 50 directives in hopes to increase access to affordable care for families and provide more care options.
The order has plans to increase compensation and benefits for early childhood education.
According to the White House, the average annual salary for head start and preschool teachers is about $35,000.
While salaries trail behind inflation, Gonzalez said she's had to make several sacrifices to keep up with the costs of childcare, including saying goodbye to mommy Mon-dates.
"On Monday, they get the early release, so it would be like a big day. Like, mom might be taking us to Busch Gardens today! But, unfortunately, I just couldn't do it anymore," Gonzalez added.
She said she's always wanted a big family but said she never would have thought child care would cost her this much.
"Right now, I'm actually working three jobs. One is full-time and the other two are like side businesses, so I can maintain. It gets frustrating because I feel like I'm missing time with my kids, but I'm trying to do something better for my kids," Gonzalez said.
