TWO RECENT news stories tear at any working parent’s heart.

The first, out of Greenville, concerned a mother arrested for leaving her 5-week-old daughter in the car, alone. According to The Greenville News’ report, the mother was inside a Toys-R-Us applying for a job while the baby sat in an unlocked vehicle in the midday sun.

The second, from Columbia, detailed the loss of child care assistance for low-income families that currently helps the parents of 4,700 children stay in the workforce.

In cases such as the Greenville one, it is always dangerous to speculate. Law enforcement and social services agencies may determine it was a case of neglect, plain and simple. But the possibility also exists that this instance relates to a larger policy question — whether there are enough safe, affordable and accessible child care options for working parents of all income levels.

At five weeks, a baby is too young for most child care programs, even if a parent can afford them. Even if parents can arrange child care while applying for jobs — a tall order when you’re not getting paid — the options for enriching, safe care don’t broaden much for an hourly, entry-level employee who likely would work nights, weekends and holidays. It is not hard to imagine that many people in such circumstances resort to family, friends or their older children to provide ad hoc child care. Or, they simply leave children alone when they are far too young for that responsibility.

Good child care easily costs $80 to $100 a week. That’s for the basic program, no extras, and most centers are only open during the traditional daytime working hours. (Many of their workers probably appreciate that, as they leave child care centers every evening to go to second and third jobs to help make ends meet. But that’s another story.)

Meanwhile, low-income families across the state are currently being notified that they will be cut from a program that helps make child care more affordable. The assistance goes to working poor families, classified as those making $2,300 a month or less for a family of four. For many of those families, the loss of good child care could easily set off a crisis that leads to their falling into welfare-eligible status.

The assistance is still being used by welfare-to-work families, whose costs have increased. However, that doesn’t lessen the blow for the families affected. In many cases, the change means those families would go from paying about $7 to $11 a week for child care to $80 a week, says Sandra Hackley of Interfaith Community Services of South Carolina.

“Oftentimes, we find they leave their child care programs, because they find they can’t do that,” Ms. Hackley says. “Where they go, I can only speculate.”

Her agency refers parents to child care services. There are a few local child care programs which have scholarship options. Some parents may choose to move from centers to child care providers who keep children in their own homes, which is generally more affordable.

“I just hate it for the children, because the continuity of care is affected,” Ms. Hackley says. In addition, several locally owned and operated child care centers have gone out of business, at least in part because of the loss of these customers.

“You’re definitely impacting your supply,” Ms. Hackley says. In some instances, children who did not get assistance were forced to move from their centers that closed. “It just increases the demand and decreases the supply, particularly for infant and toddler care,” she says.

Ms. Hackley served on the Healthy Child Care South Carolina Steering Committee, which in 2000 made several policy recommendations. The panel called for increasing affordable, high-quality child care for infants, toddlers, children with special health care needs and those who require care in non-traditional hours and in under-served geographic areas. The panel said affordability of care should be enhanced, as families struggle when more than 10 percent of their gross income goes for care. The steering committee also focused on improving the quality of child care programs through measures to ensure proper staffing levels and training.

“Bottom line, South Carolina must invest money in early child care and education programs,” she says. “We have to have a line item in our budget for quality early child care and education.” Ms. Hackley stresses that she is not speaking only of 4-year-old programs, but offerings to help working parents provide a safe, enriching environment for their children from birth.

As an example of public policy success in this area, Ms. Hackley cites the U.S. military, which has made its early childhood programs for military families a priority. She says military leaders realized many of their recruits were coming from military families.

“It was the realization that this was their future,” she says, “They put a major investment into their programs.” Today military child development programs are nationally accredited, the highest standard for child development, and they serve as models for other public entities seeking to set up their own enriching programs.

We see in South Carolina the consequences of failing to adequately focus on families and the care and education of our youngest children. That ranges from children who aren’t ready for school to our stuffed state prison system. The loss of safe, affordable child care for thousands of working families will contribute to more such problems that cost more to fix in the future than would an investment in childhood development today.

Reach Ms. Brook at (803) 771-8458 or nbrook@thestate.com.