(Opinion) With Gov. Ned Lamont’s targeted reopening date of May 20 comes a host of logistical questions, including the one that dominated our lives long before COVID-19: What about diapers?
Childcare providers will not accept children unless parents supply disposable diapers for the hours their babies are in care. Nationally, one in three young families cannot afford an adequate supply of diapers to keep their children clean, dry and healthy. Diaper need has only increased during the pandemic as many families have lost wages. Getting parents back to work will require childcare — which of course demands diapers that an increasing number of families cannot afford.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut is leading a charge to include $200 million in diaper assistance in the next relief package coming out of the Senate. We have worked closely on this with the senator, who was an advocate for families experiencing diaper need even before the pandemic struck. He has built a bipartisan coalition along with Sen. Joni Ernst (R‑Iowa) to support a Social Services Block Grant to help diaper banks around the country serve more families.
Work is also being done in the House of Representatives by U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of New haven, who has long been a champion for federal legislation to help end diaper need and a strong supporter of our work here in the state and throughout the nation.
In Connecticut, the public and philanthropic sectors have been stepping up. The Diaper Bank of Connecticut has received $50,000 in state funding to provide diapers for one month to all families participating in home visiting programs. The Community Foundation of Greater New Haven, Fairfield County Community Foundation and Hartford Foundation for Public Giving have all contributed emergency support as well.
When COVID-19 hit, the Diaper Bank of Connecticut was already expanding. Before the pandemic, there were about 45,000 families in the state experiencing diaper need. We served 15 percent of them. That’s not nearly enough – and it’s also an impressive achievement. A recent study in The American Journal of Public Health found that nationally only four percent of families with diaper need got assistance from their area diaper bank. That’s not an indictment of the great work being done by our colleagues around the country. It’s an illustration of the tremendous size of diaper need. We cannot expect nonprofits to meet the demand alone – any more than we can expect them to pave and maintain the nation’s highways. A problem of this scale cannot be solved without the involvement of the largest institution in the country, the government.
If diapers make it into the final relief package, it will be an excellent investment for the U.S. taxpayer. A study of our clients in Connecticut found that every $1 spent on diaper assistance yielded $11 in economic benefit. Diapers allowed adults to work more hours and to attend educational programs that qualified them for higher paying jobs. The study found that in families that needed to access childcare, adults missed an average of four paid workdays monthly because of diaper need. Families who received diapers also saved on pediatric care because their children were sick less often. Diaper rash was cut by one-third. It’s important to note that infrequent changing not only puts babies at risk for rash but also for serious infections requiring medical treatment. Earlier research had demonstrated a link between diaper need and maternal depression, which harms moms and babies alike.
Much of the research being done on diaper need has happened right here in Connecticut, the home of one of the nation’s oldest and largest diaper banks and of the National Diaper Bank Network (NDBN). Both organizations will continue to work to expand the number of families that we help. We are also proud to have demonstrated why that help matters so much.
Young families cannot thrive – in any sense of the word – if they do not have an adequate supply of diapers. When provided with free diapers, they are healthier and more prosperous. The Diaper Bank of Connecticut relies on the generosity of our own community to make that happen, especially now. But we cannot depend solely on individual giving, and neither can the more than 200 other diaper banks around the country who make up NDBN.
Public support for diapers is a good strategy to get parents back to work right now and will remain a good strategy whenever the country finally emerges from this pandemic.
Janet Stolfi Alfano is executive director of The Diaper Bank of Connecticut. Joanne Samuel Goldblum is CEO of the National Diaper Bank Network.
Diapers, tampons and pads should be covered by welfare, WIC, food stamps, or any other public assistance funds. Childcare facilities will not accept children without disposable diapers, Parents can't work if they don't have childcare, women can't work when they don't have supplies for their periods, girls can't attend schools when they don't have period supplies. When we enable parents of children and women to work and female children to go to school, then society benefits by having more people who can be employed and educated.