Seventy-seven Colorado children were involved in fatal, near fatal and egregious incidents of child maltreatment in 2018, according to the Department of Human Service’s latest Child Maltreatment Fatality Report.
The report identified child care as one of the most important factors that could reduce abuse and neglect. Subsidized child care has been shown to decrease child maltreatment. Between 2013 and 2017, state officials identified 223 child maltreatment deaths that “might have been prevented had quality, affordable child care been available to all families that needed it.”
Child care costs in Colorado are rising, often eclipsing the cost of college. Child Care Aware of America estimates that in Colorado the annual cost of center-based child care is $14,950 and home-based child care is $10,522. The annual cost of college tuition at a four-year college is $10,797.
Read the rest of the story at Colorado Public Radio.
