Dear mamas,
This is the first edition of something I've wanted to write for years: a plain, weekly accounting of what's actually happening in the childcare crisis. Not doom for doom's sake — I don't have time for that and neither do you. Just what happened, why it matters at your kitchen table, and where the source is so you can read it yourself. Then we end with hope, because we always end with hope. New editions land every week on the Crisis Watch series page.
Missouri opened a waitlist for childcare assistance — and it exploded.
What happenedFor the first time, Missouri put families seeking childcare assistance on a waitlist, starting this March. More than 11,000 families applied — and the list grew 60% in a single week.
Why it matters to mamasThese are working mamas who did everything right — applied, qualified, filled out the forms — and the answer is "wait." A waitlist doesn't watch your baby on Tuesday morning. Every family on that list is choosing right now between a paycheck and their child.
SourcesMissouri DESE · KCUR
Indiana approved $200 million — for less than half its waitlist.
What happenedIndiana's childcare voucher waitlist reached roughly 35,000 children. In April, the state approved $200 million in new funding — enough to cover about 14,000 of them.
Why it matters to mamasThat's real money and real relief for 14,000 families, and I'm glad for every one. But do the math with me: around 21,000 children are still waiting after a nine-figure check. Funding alone isn't closing this gap. Mothers will have to close it for each other too.
SourceWFYI
The price of care: $13,184 a year — and that's the average.
What happenedChild Care Aware's latest national report puts the average annual price of childcare in the US at $13,184. For families with two kids, care now costs more than rent in 49 states.
Why it matters to mamasMore than rent. In forty-nine states. When the thing that lets you work costs more than the roof over your head, the system isn't strained — it's upside down. If your budget feels impossible, mama, it's not you. It's the math.
The big picture: 350 million children, worldwide, without care.
What happenedThe World Bank estimates nearly 350 million children below primary-school age lack the quality childcare they need.
Why it matters to mamasThis is the question that started Momni in 2017 and it has only grown louder: who will care for all of these children? No government program on earth is sized for 350 million. But there is one workforce on earth that is: mothers, circled up. Watch them light up, pin by pin, on the movement map.
SourceThe World Bank
One hopeful thing
The first Momni 2.0 Circles are forming.
This week, in Utah County, mamas who have never met are putting names next to pins on a map. No legislature voted on it. No budget committee approved it. A few mothers just decided to circle up — and that's how every answer to this crisis has ever started.
What the Circle can do this week
Three small things. One: if you know a mama in Missouri or Indiana stuck on a waitlist, send her this letter — and remind her she's not failing, the system is. Two: drop your pin on the waitlist so your city's Circle forms sooner. Three: if you have one open morning a week, that morning is somebody's whole paycheck — it's exactly how a regular weekly Momni gets matched. Think about it. That's all I ask this week.
"No one is coming to fix this for mothers. Mothers are coming to fix it for each other."
For the full running timeline of the crisis — every report, every number, back to the beginning — it lives on our crisis page. And if you're wondering how a few mothers actually turn this into a movement, that's the whole relaunch plan. I'll be back next week with edition two.