The aim of expanding childcare is to maximize our time away from young children, thus minimizing exactly what they need most. This aim is backward. Early childhood policy must be driven by what young children need from us, not the other way around. 

The push for universal childcare rests on three core claims — the foundation for an increasingly ambitious agenda to transform how young children are raised in America. Yet all three are false.

CCFP launches a new initiative to help state leaders advance family-based ECE policy that empowers lower-income parents, strengthens the workforce, and helps young children thrive.

Following her testimony at the Senate Finance Committee’s hearing on “Examining the State of Child Care,” Katharine Stevens answered Senators’ questions on four key childcare policy topics.

Katharine Stevens joins the Economics of Flourishing series at the Archbridge Institute to discuss the role of education, parental stability, and skills development in fostering human flourishing.

Katharine joins the Tammy Peterson Podcast to discuss the vital role of family in early childhood development and the need for better policy to support parents and children.

Federal policy must target the lower-income families who need access to good childcare the most — aiming to empower parental choice, ensure better use of current federal funds, and promote a much-increased state role in funding childcare.

Federal policymakers should aim to: 1) Boost choice for low-income parents. 2) Shore up family childcare. 3) Break down bureaucratic silos to amplify impact of current funding. 4) Leverage a broader range of federal funds. 5) Promote state leadership in early care and education.

Dr. Katharine Stevens joins host Nic Dunn of the Sutherland Institute to help recenter true pro-family policy at the core of public debates and offer policymakers and voters a framework for a better approach.

An expert panel joins CCFP and the Niskanen Center to discuss Katharine Stevens’s new report on the strengths and weaknesses of Build Back Better’s early care and education legislation, and the best path forward for federal policy.

Katharine Stevens interviews economist Art Rolnick about his nationally recognized work with the Minnesota Early Learning Scholarships program, a parent-choice-driven model providing scholarships to parents with children from ages prenatal to five.

Is Build Back Better really dead? Katharine B. Stevens analyzes the childcare and universal preschool provisions of BBB, revealing a detailed legislative blueprint of an increasingly influential vision for America’s young children: federally-controlled preschool programs for all children from birth onwards.

Katharine B. Stevens joins an expert panel at RISE 2023 to discuss the policy and practice of supporting a mixed delivery system and parental choice in early education.

Katharine Stevens joins Naomi Schaefer Riley and Ian Rowe on Are You Kidding Me? to discuss the importance of families in child development, how to better utilize existing systems to improve outcomes for children, and the role of public policy in creating cultural change.

Dr. Katharine B. Stevens joins Traci DeVette Griggs of Family Policy Matters Radio to discuss the drivers of early brain development, how we can support families to help children thrive, and why this is a pivotal moment for early childhood policy.

Katharine B. Stevens joins Emily Jashinsky on the Federalist Radio Hour to discuss the science and policy of early development. Is “public education starting at birth” the right policy approach in early childhood?