Thread by @19thnews

The issue of child care has been largely absent from the debates and campaign rallies at a time when parents seem to care about it most.

But as with so many topics, the pandemic has made it political.

New from @ChabeliH: bit.ly/34FQn2e

2/ In Dec. 2019, Ivanka Trump convened more than a dozen legislators and governors — Republicans and Democrats — at the White House to discuss the country's ailing child care system.

The nation had a "historic chance" to pass paid family leave and child care reform, she said.

3/ Three months after that discussion, the child care system would suffer a nearly fatal encounter with the coronavirus, one that forced daycare closures across the country and thrust more working women than ever into the scenario Trump had outlined just weeks before.

4/ Today, eight months after the onset of the pandemic:

— 1 in 5 child care providers are still out of work
— Thousands of child care centers have closed
— As many as half of the nation's child care slots are at risk of being lost bit.ly/34FQn2e

5/5 But in a Trump administration that once identified child care as a top priority, the topic has become more of a footnote.

What happened?

More from @ChabeliH: bit.ly/34FQn2e