Opinion

America’s child care crisis needs more parental freedom — not more Washington control

Faith-based programs, home-based providers, relatives, and stay-at-home parents are all part of the vision

By Alex J. Adams Fox News

Published May 13, 2026 5:00am EDT

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Dana Perino details Mamdani’s free childcare push, promotes new novel

‘America’s Newsroom’ co-host Dana Perino weighs in on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s push for free childcare and discusses her new novel, ‘Purple State,’ on ‘Fox & Friends Weekend.’

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For millions of American families, child care has become one of the defining affordability challenges of modern life. In communities across the country, the cost of care now rivals a mortgage payment or in-state college tuition. Parents are delaying having children or cobbling together unreliable arrangements simply because they cannot find affordable care that fits their family’s needs.

Yet for years, Washington has responded to this challenge with the same failed formula: more mandates, more bureaucracy, and more federal micromanagement — paired with calls for ever-larger taxpayer subsidies to offset the cost of these failed policies.

The results speak for themselves. Costs continue to rise. Child care slots continue to disappear. Waitlists grow longer. And small providers are being buried under layers of bureaucracy from both federal and........

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