Strategies

Provide financial assistance to working parents, or parents attending school, to pay for child care

Expand federal or state child tax credits by increasing credit amounts, making credits refundable, decreasing or eliminating the earnings threshold, or creating a fully refundable supplement

Expand refundable earned income tax credits for working individuals and families with low to moderate incomes

Offer employees control over an aspect of their schedule through arrangements such as flex time, flex hours, compressed work weeks, or self-scheduled shift work

Adopt policies that allow custodial parents who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to collect all child support paid by the non-custodial parent; no portion is retained by the state

Offer flexible working arrangements, allowing the duties of a single full-time position to be covered by two part-time employees

Organize workers to bargain collectively for improved wages, benefits, and working conditions

Increase the lowest hourly, daily, or monthly compensation that employers may legally pay to workers

Provide employees with child care options at work; care may be provided free of charge, partially subsidized as part of an employee benefit package, or offered at market rates

Provide employees with paid time off for circumstances such as a recent birth or adoption, a parent or spouse with a serious medical condition, or a sick child