Broadening Access to Childcare Dollars Could Hurt the Truly Needy

In our polarized era, there are fewer and fewer spaces where people who disagree can do so productively and in good faith. The Dispatch’s Debate Series aims to be an outlier: a regular feature where two writers with opposing views can hash out some of the thorniest political and cultural issues roiling the national conversation. If you have an idea for a future topic, please let us know at debates@thedispatch.com. Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You go to bed one night, and wake up to find out you have been tasked with designing the ideal childcare policy for poor families in the United States of America. We all know childcare is too expensive, says a panel of experts, and low-income working parents need assistance to be able to put food on the table for their families. Patrick T. Brown is a contributing writer at The Dispatch, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and the writer of the weekly Substack newsletter Family Matters. Read the Counterpoint For Parents, There Is No One-Size-Fits-All Childcare Solution