Child care can be a non-profit or a for-profit business, a regulated or an informal caretaking service for working parents. It provides educational opportunities for children to interact with peers and a public assistance program for families with low incomes seeking payment support and child care services that are not expensive. Minnesota has an estimated 900,000 children ages 12 and younger; 25 percent are ages 0 to 2, 27 percent ages 3 to 5, 30 percent ages 6 to 9 and 22 percent ages 10 to 12. 500,000 households with one or more of these children, 34 percent have annual incomes at most 200 percent of the national poverty level. (Valrose, Richard C. & Jennifer. November 2010). Minnesota has one of the highest labor-force participation (82 percent) and for women ages 16 and over (78 percent). For children ages 12 and below, when they are not with a parent or at school, child care providers take care of them in various settings. This setting can include their own homes, licensed preschools and before and after school programs, child care centers and licensed and legal unlicensed family child care homes. According to the Minnesota Child Care Resource and Referral Network, in July …show more content…
Minnesota has about 10,800 licensed child care providers, whereby most of the child care providers (61%) located in greater Minnesota and others in the 7- country metropolitan area, whereby the child care providers receive payment per week for a child. Most of the childcare providers have always raised their grievances, but they end up on deaf ears, until the year 2013 when they decided to come together and form a Childcare Providers Union which will take care of their