Mission Statement
We educate, advocate, and litigate to make child care a civil right
We believe in justice and opportunity for children, families, and child care providers. We make laws work for Black and Brown people, children with disabilities, and those historically discriminated against.
Remembering Our History As We Build Our Future
The 1970s: In America
The civil rights movement grows. Lawyers get creative using the law to fight for people’s rights. More and more women enter the paid workforce.
The 1970s: at the Child Care Law Center
Child care activists team up with the San Francisco Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights to press for fair child care laws. Out of this momentum, the Child Care Law Center is born.
The 1980s: In America
President Reagan vilifies families
who qualify for welfare, refusing
to see them as hard-working.
Leaders create layers of punitive
restrictions on government aid.
Child care assistance becomes
part of welfare programs, as a way
to oversee women, to make sure
they work.
The 1980s: at the Child Care Law Center
We draft the Family Day Care
Legal Handbook. This new tool
empowers child care provider
to know their rights as business owners.
Our innovative problem-solving
includes turning historically
racist zoning policy into
a tool for the expansion
of child care.
The 1990s: In America
States write their own child care
funding rules, assuming that people
in poverty want to defraud the
government.
President Clinton vows to
“end welfare as we know it.”
Disability rights advocates pass the
groundbreaking Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA).
The 1990s: at the Child Care Law Center
In Miller v. Carlson (1991) and
Rose v. Eastin (2000) we litigate
to win fair rules for families as
the state implements racist
welfare laws.
We work hand-in-hand with
child care providers to include all
children, regardless of mental or
physical needs.
The 2000s: In America
The Great Recession cuts funding
to child care programs. When
crisis hits, child care is one of the
first things to get cut, even
though it is essential to families.
The 2000s: at the Child Care Law Center
Our trainings in child care law help
legal-aid lawyers open the
door for people to get jobs,
housing and opportunities.
We fight to make state child care
rules fair for families.
The 2010s: In America
Twenty years after President Clinton passed welfare reform, fewer families than ever receive child care assistance despite a growing economy and growing needs.
The 2010s: at the Child Care Law Center
In Parent Voices Oakland v. O’Connell (2010) we bring legal action to reinstate child care for 55,000
families.
We rewrite the California Child Day Care Facilities Act to end a patchwork of discriminatory local zoning restrictions.
We reform biased child care eligibility laws to support economic advancement for families.
The 2020s: In America
The global coronavirus
pandemic hits.
The murder of George Floyd by
police is a tipping point for America
to reckon with racism across all our
systems, including child care.
The 2020s: at the Child Care Law Center
We create pandemic resources and
FAQs. Thousands of providers and
families use our tools to navigate
child care, financial uncertainty
and health risks.
We continue our work to dismantle
systemic injustices based on race,
economics, gender and disability that are embedded in the child care system.
Our Impact
Justice for children, families, and child care providers.
We focus on increasing affordable child care for families with low incomes, equitable pay for family child care providers, and rights for children with disabilities. We use the following advocacy strategies:
I. Legislative Advocacy
Our Strategy: The Child Care Law Center uses our legal expertise and relationships within the community of California’s child care providers and families to advocate for child care reforms, including child care policies, laws, and funding.
Some of Our Legislative Wins:
Keeping Kids Close to Home Act (2019)
Different rules from city to city hindered home-based child care programs and caused a steep decline in licensed care. Our solution created a uniform law for zoning, fees, and the use of homes to provide child care.
Neither landlords, homeowners’ associations, nor cities may bar child care from operating in any home. Child care providers will find it easier to open or expand their businesses and create more child care spaces for families.
Strong Start for CalWORKs Families (2019)
Families are now entitled to longer-term child care assistance to focus on the things they need to succeed – like health, education, and job training. This law ensures that families enrolled in CalWORKS will have reliable, safe child care for at least twelve months. (The legislation was adopted through the state budget.)
Continuous Child Care for Working Families (2018)
When legislators raised the state minimum wage, many California families became ineligible for child care benefits. We made it possible for families to get a raise in pay, and keep their child care subsidy. This paved the way for equal educational and economic opportunity for approximately 280,000 children in California.
II. Budget Advocacy
Our Strategy: We fight for appropriate and inclusive funding for child care in California by monitoring federal and state legislation, educating our supporters and colleagues, urging people to take action, and coordinating with our national partners.
Twice as many families with affordable child care
Child Care Law Center’s budget advocacy has helped increase the number of dollars dedicated to child care and increased the number of children who are able to have it. Between 2012 and 2022, the number of children with affordable child care in California has doubled.
III. Racial Justice Education
Our Strategy: Child Care Law Center helps people understand the legal underpinnings of child care that are harmful to families and providers — particularly those that are Black and Brown.
Racist Roots of Child Care
We created this Learning Journey with Parent Voices California and California Resource & Referral Network. We unearthed the problematic origins of the troubling and racist policies that exist today. Advocates armed with an understanding of the past are better equipped to build a better future for our Black and Brown providers and families.
Child Care Law Center’s Communications Conference
In 2022, we presented the Child Care Communications Conference: Movement Building for Racial Equity. This conference for child care advocates explored how to craft racially just messaging to win racially just legislation. This conference was built around the ECE Toolkit for Effective Messaging.
IV. Community Education and Outreach
Our Strategy: Workshops for child care providers, advocates, and legal aid attorneys inform and update them on the law, their rights, and children’s rights (including the Americans with Disabilities Act).
We are building a network of in-the-know providers, families, advocates, lawmakers, and legal aid attorneys
Annually, we offer workshops and training to nearly 5,000 Californians.
V. Movement Building
Our Strategy: The Child Care Law Center does our part to build a movement of child care providers, legislators, and community advocates who are equipped with the knowledge to fight for equity and racial justice in child care.
Family child care providers helped write and pass the Keeping Kids Close to Home Act
When child care providers come to us with a problem, we not only solve the problem on the individual level, we also pave the way for a broader impact that can benefit everyone. We gave child care providers draft legislation, legal analysis, and support so that they could, together, have a say in the rules that affect their businesses.
What our community has to say about Child Care Law Center:
“What the Law Center has given us – helping us understand the legislature and how to advocate for ourselves – is so powerful. So many more families will be able to find child care in their neighborhoods because more providers will be able to open up or expand.”
Ana Andrade- Child Care Leader & founder of The Wolf Pack Family Child Care
“I’m so grateful for you guys. I ended up getting the house! I’m just relieved that I found one [landlord willing to rent to me], now on to getting my license and students.”
Alicia- A family child care provider who secured a rental home for her family child care after we educated landlords to whom she had applied.
“The Child Care Law Center diligently worked on an appeal case to help me get through my semester and try to keep my children’s school … Ultimately I was able to finish my semester in school. We will forever be grateful for all the work the Child Care Law Center did for our family and is doing for many families facing similar struggles.
Tammy- A parent who kept her children enrolled in child care, with the help of Child Care Law Center.
“We did it! I’m just happy to know that my grandson will be able to get educational services and help for his behavior. With tears in my eyes. I could not [have] have come this far without your team of educated experts in child care law. We are almost to the finish line.”
Mia- A grandparent who got her grandson re-enrolled in child care after he had been expelled, with support from Child Care Law Center.
Staff & Board Test
Staff & Board
Staff
Board
Donors
When we use our racial equity lens and legal expertise to educate and advocate for change, we can offer families and providers the
tangible access and opportunity they rightfully deserve.
Our Impact
- Now in California, there is no cost for child care for families with low incomes. Parents asked us to help them draft the legislation to reform the child care fee policy. After three years of temporary waivers, the reform is permanent in 2023. Upwards of 150,000 families with low incomes are free from paying for child care, leaving them with an extra ~$600 a month in their pockets. With affordable child care, families can get ahead and stay ahead.
- Our innovative problem solving made way for a change in California’s home based child care zoning laws that make them uniform across the state. Our work actualized that child care rights are also a constitutional property right.
- Our aggressive and forward thinking attorneys expanded the eligibility ceiling, did away with egregious eligibility requirements and guidelines, and removed sites of onerous burdens so that families with low incomes can get and keep the child care they love for as long as they need it.
With our partners and our community, we will nurture this movement for more just and inclusive policies that allow every family to raise children with dignity. Join us!
Financials
Audited Financial Statements:
Form 990:
Contact Us
You can contact us via email, phone, or mail
using the contact information below.
LEGAL AND LEGISLATIVE
Legal Assistance: If you have a legal question about child care law in California, please visit our Intake & Referral service.
Legal Aid Attorneys: If you are an attorney and would like to request a training for your organization, please contact Director of Legal Advocacy Laurie Furstenfeld at lfurstenfeld@childcarelaw.org.
Legislative Staff: If you have a question about child care legislation or policy, please contact Director of Legal Advocacy Laurie Furstenfeld at lfurstenfeld@childcarelaw.org.
PRESS
If you would like to feature Child Care Law Center in an article or publication, please contact Executive Director Maisha Cole at mcole@childcarelaw.org.
Donations
Make a Donation: If you would like to make a donation and support making child care a civil right, you can do so on our Donate page.
Adjust Your Recurring Donation: If you would like to make adjustments to your recurring donation or contact information on file, please follow the directions on our Self-Service page.
Request a Contribution Receipt: If you require a receipt of your contribution, please contact Development Manager Sarah Carlin at scarlin@childcarelaw.org.
FUNDING
Funding Inquiries: If you are a member of a Foundation, please contact Executive Director Maisha Cole at mcole@childcarelaw.org.
STAFF
To reach a specific staff member, please view our Staff Page to find their contact information.
PHONE
To reach our office, please call (415) 558-8005.
Mailing Address:
Child Care Law Center
PO Box 9066
Berkeley, CA 94709
