Too many parents in Missouri either cannot find safe and adequate child care — or they can’t afford it when they do.

The consequences, reported in the 2023 KIDS COUNT Data Book released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, are tearing at families, neighborhoods and the nation’s economic health.

“The high cost of child care is not just a financial burden on families,” said Tracy Greever-Rice, program director for Missouri KIDS COUNT. “It is a societal issue that affects our economy, our workforce and the future of children.”

The annual KIDS COUNT data report records a wealth of information to gauge the welfare of the nation’s children by the state of their health, education, family and community, and economic well-being.

There are many reasons in the latest report to focus on the stress of child care.

• Ten percent of Missouri children birth to 5 years old live in families where someone quit, changed or refused a job because of problems with child care.

• Women are five- to eight-times more likely than men to experience negative employment consequences related to caregiving.

• Missouri’s average annual cost of center-based child care for a toddler was $8,862, which equals one of every 10 dollars earned by an average married couple and nearly three dollars for every 10 dollars earned by a single mother.

• Child care wages on average fell in the bottom 2 percent of all professions with an average pay of $28,520 or $13.71 an hour in 2022.

• The impact of the failing child care market cost $122 billion nationwide in lost earnings, productivity and tax revenue.

While the Covid-19 pandemic worsened the situation, our nation’s struggle with child care has gone on far too long, said Lisa M. Hamilton, the president and CEO of the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

“America has never had a functional child care system,” Hamilton said. “It is past time for our leaders to build one . . . our nation’s future depends on it.”

The report identifies policy action, investment and reforms that are urgently needed, including:

• Investing more in child care at the federal, state and local level, including more funding for public pre-kindergarten and Head Start.

• Maximizing remaining pandemic recovery act dollars and reauthorizing and strengthening the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act.

• Working together between public and private leaders to improve infrastructure for home-based child care.

• Expanding the Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program in support of student parents.

Overall, the state-by-state report ranked Missouri 28th in the nation in the welfare of its children. By category, Missouri ranked 18th in children’s economic well-being, 22nd in education, 35th in health and 25th regarding family and community factors.

The 2023 Data Book compiles information from 2021 and compares it to the data collected in 2017 to identify trends.

In Missouri, most of the indicators showed some improvement over the four-year span, but Black and Hispanic children continue to be as much as two or three times as likely as white children to live in poverty, be born at low birthweight, suffer preventable hospitalizations or give birth as teenagers. Disparities in academic performance also persist.

The 50-page Data Book like the reports before it provides critical awareness and drives change on behalf of Missouri’s children, said William Dent, the executive director of the Family and Community Trust.

The book “is a critical tool for policymakers, advocates and communities to understand the challenges facing children and families across the country,” Dent said. “We are grateful for this valuable resource that enables us to make informed decisions and take targeted actions to improve the well-being of Missouri’s families.”

The KIDS COUNT 2023 Data Book is available for download at the Annie E. Casey Foundation and by going to aecf.org/databook.