Adams County family to join Statehouse push for child care reforms

Jessica and her family from Adams County will head to the Ohio Statehouse West Lawn in Columbus on Wednesday, May 27, to put a local face on a statewide child care fight that reaches far beyond the county line.

They will join Groundwork Ohio’s Family Voices at the Statehouse, an event that is expected to bring together 100 families from across Ohio with state policymakers and staff for a day built around joy, storytelling and collective action. Groundwork Ohio says the goal is to lift up the experiences of parents and young children and press for policies that give every pregnant mom, baby, toddler and young child in Ohio a stronger start.

For Adams County parents, the issue is not abstract. Groundwork Ohio’s 2024 Family Voices Project surveyed 755 Ohio parents and caregivers representing 932 children under age 6, and the responses pointed to the same pressure many rural and small-town families already know: difficulty finding affordable child care, barriers to supports, limited access to quality health care and early learning, and financial strain that makes each workday harder to manage.

The organization’s 2025 Early Childhood Dashboard said Ohio still was not making progress at the scale needed, even after recent investments. Groundwork Ohio has used those findings to push lawmakers toward affordable, quality child care, a refundable child tax credit and stronger health outcomes for moms and babies.

That push has already shown its reach inside the Statehouse. Groundwork Ohio said its 2025 Advocacy Day drew 400 advocates and included 100 legislative meetings, a sign that child care and early childhood policy have become recurring issues for lawmakers in Columbus. The group describes itself as a nonpartisan advocacy organization focused on children from birth to age 5, the years it says matter most for healthy development and long-term opportunity.

The May 27 gathering comes as Adams County families continue to face the same choices that shape work schedules, paychecks and child care arrangements across Ohio. If lawmakers move on the policies advocates are pressing, the result could mean more stable care options and fewer gaps for parents trying to hold jobs while raising young children. If they do not, families in Adams County will keep carrying the cost.