A parent I’ll call Cylesha told me this story.
Even in the retelling, I could see she still wanted to fight. She had left her baby with a home childcare provider, the kind with a license and a sign. She had told her to be gentle.
The baby had a skin condition. She left 12 diapers. Wipes. Lotion. Ointment. She dropped the baby off in a clean white diaper. When she returned to pick her child up eight hours later, the same diaper was still on. It was brown, and the baby was red. The rash had turned to blisters across her diaper area.
This happened in a family childcare program, not in one of New York City’s Family Child Care Networks. The seat was there, but the care wasn’t.
This is not one parent’s nightmare. It shows how a seat in child care means little if it’s not a good seat. As New York City debates expanding child care, we must demand more than numbers. We need real care from people who know how to take care of babies and have oversight to support them.
When politicians promise “a seat for every child,” it sounds like progress — but many of those seats exist only on paper. I have served as executive director of a Family Child Care Network for five years. In that time, I have seen two babies die. Both could have been saved if support and supervision had been stronger, like the Bronx baby who died from fentanyl poisoning at a home daycare and the 1-year-old who drowned at a Bronx childcare center.
Families deserve childcare seats that offer their children the kind of care they get at home.
Cylesha told me the caregiver who neglected her baby said she had not been paid by the city in months. That does not excuse the harm, but it shows what happens when caregivers are left holding everything alone. Low pay. No backup. No structure. No safety net.
That caregiver’s words echo across the city. In under-resourced neighborhoods, childcare providers wait for reimbursements. They buy supplies out of pocket, with their own money. They fill out endless forms. They earn less than a living wage. They get few visits or checks. These are the people caring for our youngest children. They hold the weight of the city in their hands, yet the city leaves them alone to fail.
Some will say more seats are better than none. Some will say oversight slows progress. However, expansion without standards is a shell game. A child may be in care, but not cared for, and when harm comes, it’s too late.
Before we vote for the next mayor or council member, we must ask:
- How will you ensure every childcare seat is inspected regularly and meets safety standards?
- How will you guarantee full, timely payments so caregivers are not driven to neglect by empty accounts?
- What support will you give providers, such as training, supplies, mentoring, or small grants, so they can meet health and hygiene standards?
- How will you build community oversight that includes parents, advocates, and local leaders?
- What reports will you make public to show which seats are real and safe, not ghost entries on a spreadsheet?
New York already has the structure — public agencies, licensing, Family Child Care Networks — but each new administration treats them as side work. We need a mayor who puts these systems at the center.
In Harlem, the Bronx, East Flatbush, and Washington Heights, parents live this truth. The promise of access means little when a child comes home sick or hurt. Equity is not in the slot. It lives in the touch that keeps a child safe and the peace a parent feels at pick-up.
When you hear a candidate say “a seat for every child,” ask how many will be safe. Ask who inspects. Who pays. Who answers when harm is done.
Because for every child in bad care or no care, there is a parent lying awake, wondering what to do tomorrow.
Cylesha said she had to keep working, so she found another place. That place was better, but she wished she didn’t have to go through it alone. A strong system could have been there for her.
Emilie Gay is executive director, program support, with the Family Child Care Network, NYC.
