JoAnn Lewis cares for 14 children in her Davenport home. She has no health insurance.
And neither do her two staff members.
Lewis, who earned about $25,000 after expenses last year, was among a group of unionized child care workers who met with state officials last week in hopes of crafting "a more stable, quality child care system."
One of their main goals: health insurance.
"Child care professionals are leaving the field in shocking numbers," said Ruth Steinmetz, a spokeswoman for Child Care Providers Together/AFSCME Council 61.
Iowa's registered in-home child care providers experienced a 27 percent turnover rate between 2006 and 2007, according to union analysis of state records.
The turnover rate is connected to the fact that 28 percent of Iowa child care providers have no health insurance, the union found in a survey conducted earlier this year. Statewide, about 9 percent of Iowans have no health insurance.
Low wages and lack of respect are other reasons for the high turnover rate among child care workers, Lewis said.
Negotiations this week between the child care union and the state Department of Human Services were the first since the union was created last year. The union delegation represents about 5,500 registered in-home child care providers, Steinmetz said.
The delegation wants to discuss ideas on retirement planning for child care providers, expanding the availability of business training and creating public awareness that child care "is a highly respected and important profession." And they'll talk about child care providers pooling together to get health insurance.
Full text available at the Des Moines Register