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What do you do when the world is turned upside-down? Once you stop panicking, you listen. That鈥檚 the core value underlying the RAPID-EC Survey Project, a multidimensional tool for discovering the lived pandemic experience of U.S. families with young children.

鈥淭he whole field is trying to listen more,鈥� says Joan Lombardi, chair of the project鈥檚 national advisory team. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going for what [RAPID director] Philip Fisher calls 鈥榮urround-sound context.鈥欌�� This means, she says, listening to the adults in children鈥檚 lives: parents and providers. Twelve thousand families have completed the survey at least once. A monthly newsletter goes out to participants, feeding their data back to them and sending the message: We hear you. You鈥檙e not alone.

The most recent set of RAPID-EC survey questions uncovers the lives of the child care workforce during a period of widespread economic and emotional stress. Top-line findings include:

• Nearly 1 in 5 parents who use center- or home-based child care report experiencing disruptions in care for their children. Staff shortages are causing most of these disruptions. A Virginia parent reports, 鈥淒ay care staff shortages have caused them to cancel day care at short notice.鈥�
• 18% of child care providers report that they are considering leaving their child care job or closing their programs in the next year. A center director in Indiana says, 鈥淟ack of staffing and the ability to pay a livable wage is the main challenge at the moment. Our area is having a huge crisis finding qualified staff and retaining the ones we currently have.鈥�
• Another 20% of providers are considering leaving the child care field entirely. 鈥淚 just had to completely close a center because all of the staff left for other, better- paying or less stressful jobs,鈥� says a Michigan center director. 鈥淗iring new staff is proving impossible.鈥�

A center director in Washington sums it up: 鈥淓veryone is stressed and turnover is high.鈥�

As the mother of a 7-year-old and twin 3-year-olds, Cristi Carman, project manager of RAPID-EC, is living the crisis while collecting, cleaning and analyzing the data. 鈥淟ack of child care affects everything,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hen the adults in kids鈥� lives feel stress, you can bet the kids are feeling it too.鈥�

The very rapidity of the RAPID-EC means that decisions can be made on the basis of what鈥檚 happening right now. The findings 鈥� some expected, some surprising, some alarming 鈥� are regularly cited in media outlets and in congressional staff briefings. Advocates for child care and other family support measures use the data to engage policymakers, businesses and other stakeholders, but its use goes beyond this week鈥檚 policy debates. Carrie Masten, Nat Kendall-Taylor and Natalie Renew鈥檚 declares that U.S. needs to shift its thinking 鈥� child care is not 鈥渁 small logistic that parents are expected to sort out鈥� but rather 鈥渁 fundamental prerequisite for American families to function.鈥�

Along the way, Lombardi notes, the project has listened to researchers, providers and representatives from various policy groups such as the Center for the Study of Social Policy, ZERO TO THREE, the First Five Years Fund and the Alliance for Early Success, among others, for input on the survey questions.

Brenda Jones Harden of the University of Maryland鈥檚 School of Social Work and the president of the ZERO TO THREE Board of Directors, is on the RAPID advisory board. 鈥淪ince the beginning of the pandemic,鈥� she says, 鈥淩APID-EC has been the voice of America鈥檚 parents of young children. It has chronicled their financial and psychological challenges, and highlighted the burden of parenting while trying to keep their children safe, healthy, happy and provided for.鈥� She says the evidence gathered by the project is informing strategies for supporting parents to contend with the stressors that the pandemic has wrought, adding, 鈥淚 have consistently been amazed at the quantity and quality of the data coming from this regular survey, how the evidence is framed to inform the public and the engagement of the advisory group in ensuring that the research is conducted in a rigorous and impactful manner.鈥�

Later this year, Fisher and RAPID-EC are moving from the Center for Translational Neuroscience at the University Oregon to Stanford University, where he will be leading a new Center on Early Childhood. Along with the national survey, the project will undertake in-depth surveys of 2-4 specific communities, with the goal of informing policy and reflecting the needs of parents.

鈥淥ur goal,鈥� says Lombardi, 鈥渋s to bear witness to families.鈥�

This story originally published on Early Learning Nation and is now archived on 社区黑料. Learn more here.