Elliot Haspel

Exciting news from New Mexico, proving that states continue to innovate in the face of the federal government's decades of inaction on childcare. Don't let anyone tell you there isn't nationwide demand for childcare as a public good. shorturl.at/tTENi

Public school is a right. Should child care be considered one too? Researcher Elliot Haspel thinks advocates are framing the argument for child care all wrong. Why he believes child care is central to family creation — and national security.

Coverage of "Raising a Nation" from @latimes.com

www.latimes.com/california/s...

The Tri-Share Model Is Not a Solution to the Child Care Crisis Former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called child care a “textbook example of a broken market.” The problems plaguing this broken market were aptly

State and local policymakers looking to increase child care affordability, supply, and compensation must continue expanding public funding. Tri-Share does not build supply or substantively improve wages and benefits, making it a poor solution to the child care crisis. tcf.org/content/comm...

Unfettered Sports Betting is Bad Some genies can -- and should -- be put back in the bottle

Everyone having a sportsbook in their pocket is not, it turns out, a good idea.

familyfrontier.substack.com/p/unfettered...

Raising a Nation: Elliot Haspel on What a Universal Childcare Movement Will Take It is no secret that childcare in the US is, as Elliot Haspel puts it, “a hellscape.” Elliot’s new book, Raising a Nation: 10 Reasons Every American Has a Stake in Child Care for All, is a welcome add...

"Childcare undergirds everything we care about as Americans." - Great conversation between @lbilik.bsky.social and @ehaspel.bsky.social in today's Fireside Stacks.

www.firesidestacks.com/p/raising-a-...

Raising a Nation: 10 Reasons Every American Has a Stake in Child Care For All offers a new framework for thinking about a comprehensive, inclusive child care system: one that supports families in all their diversity, whether they want to utilize a licensed child care program, f...

It's publication day for Raising a Nation! Get it on Amazon, Bookshop, or wherever you get your books!

www.amazon.com/dp/0197799299/

Childcare Is Not Just an Economic Fix. It’s a Social Good. Even strong defenders of childcare sometimes rely on the economic case that childcare programs keep workers in the labor force. While it’s not wrong, that argument misses the true role of childcare: s...

I have a piece out in @jacobinmag.bsky.social today, adapted from my new book Raising a Nation, on why good child care is about far more than just the economy-- it's about the very health of our communities and society.

jacobin.com/2025/08/chil...

Also look at this screen. Look at our roster of experts! If you want to understand what is going on with the economy and with policy you need to attend @rooseveltinstitute.org events and read @rooseveltinstitute.org papers.

Today, the think tank Capita launched our "Unifying Family Policy" series w/the first three interlinked policy briefs in a cumulative effort to forge a family policy agenda responsive to the forces that will shape family life in years to come. (Series intro & links here: capita.org/a-unified-fa... )

Today, the think tank Capita launched our "Unifying Family Policy" series w/the first three interlinked policy briefs in a cumulative effort to forge a family policy agenda responsive to the forces that will shape family life in years to come. (Series intro & links here: capita.org/a-unified-fa... )

New book argues child care is a ‘societal imperative’ In ‘Raising a Nation,’ researcher Elliot Haspel says everyone should want strong supports for early childhood, even those without children.

Excited to share the first media coverage of my new book, "Raising a Nation," from @jackiemader.bsky.social! The book drops August 11th and can be pre-ordered here: www.amazon.com/dp/0197799299/.

hechingerreport.org/why-american...

Parents and providers know what they need in a childcare system: something simple & safe where all kids have a high quality spot. We worked with Community Change on a new paper w/ research rooted in conversations with stakeholders about these simple demands.

'We cannot look away': Oregon congresswoman says mom, 4 children have been held in federal custody for nearly 2 weeks Rep. Maxine Dexter said the four children are U.S. citizens and that the family has been detained since June 28 at a Washington CBP facility.

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/oregon-mom-4-kids-detained-weeks-customs-and-border-protection-peace-arch-park/283-c1d2b1be-cc4b-4b9c-bb09-97cd5515e7e7

Childcare is a hellscape for most US families. Why isn’t there a bigger push for change? Long seen as women’s work, childcare is underpaid and considered a private matter for families – not government

Childcare in America is broken—expensive, scarce, & treated like a private problem rather than a public priority.

@ehaspel.bsky.social & Rebecca Gale on how the US has failed to treat childcare as the essential infrastructure it is #fixingchildcare 👇 www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Childcare is a hellscape for most US families. Why isn’t there a bigger push for change? Long seen as women’s work, childcare is underpaid and considered a private matter for families – not government

I co wrote a piece, via @newamerica.org’s Better Life Lab, for @theguardian.com about America’s surprising lack of a mass social movement demanding major child care reform— https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/11/childcare-family-movement

Quote with The rising market share of investor-backed childcare chains is not an isolated phenomenon; it is part and parcel of the broader financialization of human services, with investor activity ranging from nursing homes to autism service providers to emergency rooms to prisons. This financialization is most notably marked by the influence of private equity firms, which also exert political power to protect their interests—interests that are not always aligned with what is best for children, parents, staff, communities, and the country writ large. Most of these sectors are heavily dependent on government funding, meaning that this misalignment can result in private investment entities leeching off public money while also harming the end users.

A private equity-backed company sent letters to childcare programs in the Midwest asking, “Have you ever considered how you might transition your business to a new owner?”

A fitting title for @ehaspel.bsky.social's brief on private equity ownership in childcare. rooseveltinstitute.org/public...

And those that choose not to massively cut SNAP and Medicaid will have to find the money elsewhere in their budgets. I've been reporting on state childcare programs recently and everyone expects unrelated things like that to get deeply slashed if these benefit cuts go through.

Who a Child Care Program Sells to Matters I have a new policy brief out with some ideas on public sector solutions to child care supply

More childcare providers are retiring—& without a plan, families face fewer and riskier options.

@ehaspel.bsky.social breaks down his new brief which explores how public policy can support ownership transitions that serve the public good #fixingchildcare familyfrontier.substack.com/p/who-a-chil...

Quote from the Roosevelt Institute discussing the need for publicly supported ownership transition models in the childcare sector, emphasizing societal benefits and diverse, high-quality options.

📉 Childcare is a broken market—and it’s failing families, providers, and communities alike.

@ehaspel.bsky.social explores how public intervention isn’t optional, but essential. #fixingchildcare rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

“Have You Ever Considered How You Might Transition Your Business to a New Owner?” - Roosevelt Institute In a new analysis Elliot Haspel explores how growing private equity ownership in childcare is driving inequality, limiting community access, and threatening sector stability—and how government-led sol...

One reason private equity-backed child care chains continue to expand is that there is no one else for independent program owners to sell to. In a new brief for @rooseveltinstitute.org, I look at public sector solutions that can put kids & fam's over profit.

rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

Most of us probably know intuitively that private equity & investor-backed chains should have no place in the care & education of young children. Grateful for this excellent brief from @ehaspel.bsky.social that gets into the weeds of WHY & HOW we should guard against corporate capture of childcare.

Local, state, and the federal government must develop alternate ownership transfer mechanisms in childcare as a bulwark against profit-maximizing financialization and as an affirmative good for building a family-friendly and family-centered care system and policy framework.

NEW: Investor-backed chains are quietly taking over childcare—deepening inequality & shrinking access.

In a new brief, @ehaspel.bsky.social outlines how public tools can shift power back to families & communities. #fixingchildcare rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

NO ON SB106 Late at night on June 24, the Senate Finance Committee requested a last-minute amendment to S.B. 106, specifically written to kill Preschool for All. You can read reporting about this wildly undemocra...

It's refreshing that these people aren't using a pretext of concern over the program's rollout to scuttle it. The move is transparently about the wishes of the very wealthy over the will of the voters. You can dislike Preschool for All & still see that this is bad: actionnetwork.org/letters/no-o...

In Oregon, the Democratic governor and Dem state senators are trying a cloak-and-dagger maneuver in the final days of session to pre-empt a locality (Portland area) from collecting a tax that its voters overwhelmingly passed to support universal pre-K.

familyfrontier.substack.com/p/oregon-is-...

It's OK to Call a Bad Bill a Bad Bill You do not in fact 'gotta hand it' to the GOP for putting in a few not-awful tax bill provisions

"How can anyone or any organization that claims to have the backs of children and families do anything but be in full-throated opposition to this bill?...it’s a matter of this is a terrible piece of legislation that will do enormous harm" the latest from @ehaspel.bsky.social

Quebec provides universal childcare for less than $7 a day. Here’s what the US can learn Public childcare network is a win for everyone – kids, parents and the government, and the Quebec model is a shining example

That's what we're after- child care for every New Yorker. It can be done.
“They turned childcare from being a welfare service for low-income families to a core part of the social infrastructure,” like schools, roads and fire departments." @ehaspel.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Quebec provides universal childcare for less than $7 a day. Here’s what the US can learn Public childcare network is a win for everyone – kids, parents and the government, and the Quebec model is a shining example

Good look at Quebec's child care system and what the U.S. can learn: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

My new book RAISING A NATION: 10 REASONS EVERY AMERICAN HAS A STAKE IN CHILD CARE FOR ALL is available for pre-order! www.amazon.com/dp/0197799299/

Also, if you email your preorder receipt to raisinganationbook at gmail dot com, you'll get a free 6-month subscription to my Family Frontier substack.

My new book RAISING A NATION: 10 REASONS EVERY AMERICAN HAS A STAKE IN CHILD CARE FOR ALL is available for pre-order! www.amazon.com/dp/0197799299/

Also, if you email your preorder receipt to raisinganationbook at gmail dot com, you'll get a free 6-month subscription to my Family Frontier substack.

Read this piece by @ehaspel.bsky.social and then read @kedseconomist.com 's great report. Keep these in mind while you struggle to stitch together camps and daycare for your kids this summer. It doesn't have to be this way.