Moms First

Paid leave pays off. That’s the message behind leave management software company Cocoon's campaign with Bobbie for Change. And we couldn’t agree more. With national paid leave stalled in Washington, Cocoon is stepping up. They’ve donated $13,855—$1 for every leave they’ve managed to date—to a coalition of advocacy groups, including Moms First. And for every leave managed for the rest of the year, they’re adding another dollar to the pot. Why does this matter? Because caregiving is an economic issue. And the private sector has power. 👏 This is what corporate leadership on care looks like. Huge thanks to Cocoon and Bobbie for Change for backing policy change with real dollars—and reminding us that smart leave policy supports families AND businesses. Let’s keep the momentum going, one policy, one paycheck, one parent at a time. Learn more at https://xmrrwallet.com/cmx.plnkd.in/gwi7fZkc.

Take everything you know about parenting in the U.S. Now raise the difficulty level. That’s what it’s like for families raising children with disabilities—yet they’re too often left out of the conversation. Parents of children with disabilities face all the same hurdles in America’s broken child care system—sky-high costs, limited access, and long waitlists. But they also face fewer options, higher financial burdens, and a system that doesn’t account for the specialized care their kids need. Here’s the reality: 📉 1 in 3 families of children with disabilities report difficulty finding child care 📉 Parents of disabled children are 3x more likely to leave or lose their jobs due to care issues 📉 Women (who make up 2/3 of all caregivers) are pushed out of the workforce at 3x the rate of men 📉 Medicaid and CHIP—lifelines for 40% of children with special health care needs—just saw their funding slashed by $1 trillion over the next decade And the emotional toll is devastating. A whopping 43% of parents raising children with disabilities report suicidal thoughts—but many can’t access mental health support. This isn’t sustainable. And it’s not acceptable. We need to talk about care policies that work for all families, including—and especially—those facing the steepest climb. At Moms First, we’re here to say: You deserve better. And we’re fighting for a system that sees and supports every kind of caregiving. Are you the caregiver of a child with disabilities? Whether you've struggled to find child care, left a job you loved, navigated endless waitlists for services, or felt isolated in a world that wasn't built for your family, we want to hear from you. Share your story today: https://xmrrwallet.com/cmx.plnkd.in/ek5Xj_iU.

Working dads, which is harder: supporting your team, or supporting your baby's neck? This video is adorable—and also a reminder that over 70% of American fathers return to work less than two weeks after having a baby. We cheer for dads who show up at home and at work, but let’s be real: this isn’t what support should look like. More dads deserve the time to care, without having to multitask their way through it. Let’s build a future where caregiving is visible and valued. Where dads are expected to take leave—and actually able to. Video via @/jasonwetzler

What’s your industry’s biggest blind spot when it comes to supporting parents? From rigid return-to-office mandates to inequitable leave policies, too many workplaces aren't built for working parents. But if we want to retain top talent and build workplaces that actually work for families, we need to name the gaps. 👀 Tell us what you see. Vote below, then drop a comment to share what would actually make a difference.

This video is hilarious—and also heartbreaking. Grandparents have long been the invisible infrastructure behind working families. But here’s the reality: 🔹 Many grandparents today are still working, retiring later, or struggling with their own caregiving responsibilities. 🔹 Not all families live near extended relatives. 🔹 Relying on unpaid labor shouldn’t be the default plan for child care in America. It’s time to move from patchwork to policy, with solutions that recognize child care as a public necessity, not a personal favor. Let’s build a system that supports parents, kids, and grandparents alike. 🎥 via @/organicdrewgle

📍🇺🇸 Greetings from… anywhere but here. In the latest edition of our newsletter, The First Word, we took a tour of the nations investing in families and treating care like the economic engine it is. A few highlights: 🇸🇪 480 days of paid leave in Sweden 🇨🇦 A $10-a-day child care plan is rolling out nationwide in Canada 🇯🇵 Up to 12 months of paid leave with generous wage replacement in Japan 🇫🇷 Universal pre-K starting at age 3 in France And here in the U.S.? 🚫 No national paid leave 🚫 No universal child care 🚫 One in four moms returns to work within two weeks of giving birth We’re the only developed nation that leaves moms to figure it all out alone. But here’s the good news: These countries prove that bold, family-first policies work. It’s not a question of possibility, it’s a question of priority. Want more content like this in your inbox? 👉 Subscribe to The First Word at https://xmrrwallet.com/cmx.plnkd.in/ePe7SUN2. 

“I want to do stuff for hospitality. I want to create more childcare, more healthcare access — selfishly, all the things that have affected me as a chef and as a boss…I'm all about the 12 or 14 hour shifts, but I'm also all about, 'Your kid is sick, take the next four days off.’” —Chef Tristen Epps Top Chef winner Tristen Epps is reimagining food—and what leadership in hospitality can look like. Epps recently shared his vision with Food & Wine: a Michelin-starred Afro-Caribbean restaurant and an industry where no one has to choose between their shift and their sick kid. At Moms First, we couldn’t agree more. In an industry driven by round-the-clock workers, unpredictable schedules, and high turnover, flexibility and access to child care can transform workplaces for the better. That’s why we’ve been working to bring this conversation to kitchens across the country. In March, we hosted a fireside chat at the MAPP Impact + Womens Hospitality Initiative Leadership Conference in Las Vegas, where small business owner Molly Moon Neitzel shared that offering child care benefits yielded a 128% ROI using our calculator. From that momentum, we launched a cohort of small- and medium-sized businesses in hospitality to explore real-world, right-sized care benefits. Many leaders had never considered that this was something within reach—until we made the business case clear. And this spring, three of those restaurant leaders joined us on the Hill to advocate for policies that support working families. Their voices helped move the needle on expanding the tax credit for child care and shaping new provisions in Section 45F for small businesses. Seeing chefs like Tristen Epps carry this mission forward makes us even more hopeful for the future of care in hospitality. Let’s keep building an industry—and an economy—that works for the people who power it. ✍️ by Kat Kinsman

Major League Baseball (MLB) player Brent Rooker hit 17 home runs at the Home Run Derby—and, like parents do, he found time to feed his baby daughter a bottle mid-event. One viewer asked if it was “necessary” to do that on live TV. His response? “Yes, it was necessary to feed my 11-month-old child her nighttime bottle at like 9:00 pm. Thank you for asking.” Too often, caregiving is treated like something to hide, squeeze in, or apologize for. But care is part of life—and part of work. Moments like this challenge the outdated idea that parenting is “unprofessional” or should be invisible. Thank you to Brent—and to all the dads—who show what it really means to show up. 🎥 via Front Office Sports

What surprised you most about becoming a parent while working? Was it the cost of child care? The inflexible schedules? The mental load no one prepares you for? Whether you’ve been in the trenches for a while or are just starting out, the truth is: our systems haven’t caught up to what working parents actually need to thrive. Follow Moms First and join the fight for affordable child care, paid leave, and other policies families need to thrive.

Summer break is landing parents in debt, no Disney trip or beach vacation necessary. New data from LendingTree shows what families have known all along: child care in this country isn’t working—especially when school’s out. Just look at the numbers: 🔸 62% of parents who used summer child care or camps have gone into debt to cover the cost. 🔸 2 in 3 parents say summer care is a financial struggle. 🔸 Nearly 1 in 5 parents surveyed reported cutting back on basic needs like food and utilities. 🔸 86% of parents wish they could afford to enroll their kids in more activities, but 36% say affordable options don’t even exist in their area. Parents desperately need a system that actually works. As Liz Tenety put it in Motherly®, “Surviving every summer shouldn’t be a parenting badge of honor. It should be a policy failure we’re finally ready to fix.”