Securing Our Children’s Future through Family-Friendly Public Policies
Written Statement of
Debra L. Ness, President
National Partnership for Women & Families
November 18, 2010
The National Partnership for Women & Families applauds Chairman Dodd for his career-long
dedication to improving the lives of women and children. We thank him for convening these
hearings to point the way for future action on these vital issues.
Children are our nation’s future. Safeguarding their health and enhancing their ability to learn
must be a top priority. America’s children will only thrive if the people who care for them the
most—their parents and guardians—can take the time away from work to look after them when
they are sick. Family-friendly workplace policies that provide paid sick days and paid family
leave are crucial to the health and well-being of America’s children.
Let’s face it—children get sick. Children face both short-term, common illnesses and long-term
serious health conditions; in both cases, they need their parents with them to get better faster.
Younger children in particular need parental care and supervision when they fall ill, and sick
children of all ages need parents to administer medicine and take them to medical appointments.
Study after study shows that children recover faster when cared for by their parents. The mere
presence of a parent at a child’s bedside shortens the child’s hospital stay by 31 percent,i
reducing health care costs and improving health outcomes.ii
Children—and our communities—suffer when parents lack paid leave. Despite the clear benefits
for children and families, many parents can’t be there for their sick children because their
employers don’t offer paid sick days or paid family leave. At least 53 percent of working
mothers and 48 percent of working fathers don’t have access to paid sick days to care for a sick
child or recover from their own illnessesiii and only 10 percent of private-sector workers have
access to paid family leave through their employers.iv
When routine illnesses like the flu strike, many children go it alone at home without anyone to
care for them, or they go to school sick—and risk getting sicker—because their parents can’t
take time off from their jobs. Parents without paid sick days are more than twice as likely to send
a sick child to school or daycare.v When children go to school or child care sick, it affects their
ability to learn, and the health of other children, teachers, and child care providers is also put at
risk.vi The result is similar to when sick adults go to work: decreased productivity, increased
contagion and higher rates of infection for all.
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Paid leave is good for newborns and early childhood development as well. Paid parental leave is
associated with lower child mortality rates and healthy child development.vii Children whose
mothers take longer leaves before returning to work full-time after giving birth are more likely to
be taken to the pediatrician for regular checkups and more likely to be breastfed, which
contributes to life-long child health.viii
The health and well-being of children improves when mothers and fathers have access to paid
sick days and paid family leave. When parents can’t take time away from work, children cannot
get the timely medical care they need. Parents without paid sick days are five times more likely
to take a child or other family member to an emergency room.ix In contrast, working parents with
paid sick time or paid vacation days are five times more likely to stay home to care for their sick
children than those without paid time off.x Children’s long-term health is better because they are
more likely to be taken to well-child visits and to get their immunizations, which may prevent
serious illnesses, when their parents have paid sick days.xi
Working families across the country need and want these policies. Seventy-six percent of
Americans believe that businesses should be required to provide paid family and medical leave,
including 61 percent of Republicans and 90 percent of Democrats.xii States and cities across the
country have already taken the lead in moving legislation forward and the time has come for
federal action as well. Proposals like the Healthy Families Act and paid family leave insurance
programs would make a tremendous difference to the health and well-being of our nation’s
children. They must be a priority for this Committee and the Congress in the future.
i
Jody Heymann, The Widening Gap: Why America’s Working Families Are in Jeopardy—and What Can Be Done About It, Basic Books. 2000.
S.J. Heymann, Alison Earle, and Brian Egleston. 1996. As cited in Vicky Lovell, Paid Sick Days Improve Public Health by Reducing the
Spread of Disease, Institute for Women’s Policy Research. 2006. http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/B250.pdf.
iii
Vicky Lovell, No Time to Be Sick: Why Everyone Suffers When Workers Don’t Have Paid Sick Leave, Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
2004. http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/B242.pdf.
iv
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Table 32: Leave benefits: Access, civilian workers,” National Compensation Survey. March 2010.
http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/benefits/2010/ebbl0046.pdf.
v
National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago for the Public Welfare Foundation, Paid Sick Days: Attitudes and Experiences.
May 2010. http://www.publicwelfare.org/resources/DocFiles/psd2010final.pdf.
vi
Ibid.
vii
Christopher J. Ruhm, “Parental Leave and Child Health,” Journal of Health Economics, Vol. 19, No. 6, 952. 2000.
viii
Lawrence M. Berger, Jennifer Hill, and Jane Waldfogel, “Maternity Leave, Early Maternal Employment and Child Health and Development in
the U.S.,” The Economic Journal, Vol. 115, No. 501, 44. 2005.
ix
See note v.
x
S. J. Heymann, S. Toomey, and F. Furstenberg, “Working Parents: What Factors are Involved in Their Ability to Take Time Off From Work
When Their Children are Sick?,” Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine 153. August 1999. 870-874. As cited in Lovell 2006.
xi
See note ii.
xii
Heather Boushey, “It’s Time for Policies to Match Family Needs.” 2010. In Maria Shriver, Heather Boushey, Ann O'Leary, and John Podesta,
The Shriver Report:A Woman's Nation Changes Everything. 2009. http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/03/pdf/work_survey.pdf.
ii