兰·马姆达尼承诺将普惠性儿童照护服务扩展至仅六周大的婴儿，这也是他去年意外赢得选举时主打的“经济负担得起”政策的一部分。迄今为止，他的政府主要集中在将现有面向3至4岁儿童的照护项目——无论是在学校、中心还是家庭托儿所——扩展至2岁儿童。
Zohran Mamdani’s promise to expand universal child care to babies as young as six weeks of age was part of the affordability message that propelled him to a surprise victory in last year’s election. So far, his administration has focused on extendingexisting programs for 3- and 4-year-olds — at schools, centers or home-based daycares — to 2-year-olds.
但新的研究表明，许多家长对年幼孩子的照护方式有着不同的期望，这也引发了关于纽约市幼儿和婴儿的“免费普惠性儿童照护”究竟应如何实施的疑问。
But new research suggests many parents want something different for younger children, raising questions about what “free universal child care” should actually look like for New York City toddlers and infants.
一项针对4306名城市家长和看护人的调查显示，绝大多数人更倾向于由父母或其他非正式看护人在孩子头两年提供照护。根据这项由罗宾汉基金会和“新美国”组织“新实践实验室”共同主导的调查结果，仅有13%的受访者表示愿意为婴儿选择正式的托儿所或学校项目，而这一比例在1岁儿童中则上升至27%。十分之七的受访者表示，对于未满一岁的婴儿，他们更希望由父母亲自照顾；十分之四的人对1岁儿童也持同样看法。
A survey of 4,306 city parents and caregivers found an overwhelming preference for parental or other informal care during a child’s first two years. Only 13% of respondents said they would favor formal daycare or school-based programs for infants, rising to 27% for a 1-year-old, according to the survey, led by the Robin Hood Foundation and New America’s New Practice Lab. Seven in 10 said they would prefer care by a parent for babies under a year old, and four in 10 said the same for 1-year-olds.
到了2岁，这一比例发生了转变，约有一半的受访者表示会选择正式的儿童照护或学校项目。
The balance shiftedat age 2, when about half said they would choose a formal child-care or school-based program.
研究人员在周四发布的报告中写道：“如果不解决家长在孩子出生第一年内无法离开工作的问题，任何普惠性儿童照护策略都无法完全满足家长的需求。”他们敦促市和州政府官员同时考虑扩大补贴或提供其他直接经济支持，以帮助那些更倾向于由父母或亲属等非正式看护人照顾孩子的家庭。
“A universal child care strategy cannot fully meet parents’ needs without addressing their ability to take time away from work” during a child’s first year, researchers wrote in the report released Thursday. They urged city and state officials to also consider expanding subsidies or other direct financial support for families who prefer parental care or help from relatives and other informal caregivers.
曼达尼尚未详细说明针对2岁以下儿童的普惠性托幼服务将具体采取何种形式。在去年初选之前，他曾表示，市政府将“为那些希望由值得信赖的邻居或亲属照顾孩子的家庭提供居家托幼补贴”，但并未详细说明具体实施方式。与此同时，他估计，一项普惠性托幼计划每年可能需要60亿美元。评估其提案的外部组织普遍认为，托幼服务将在正式机构中提供。根据这些估算，年成本约为90亿美元，其中婴儿照护的费用几乎是较大龄儿童照护费用的两倍。
Mamdani has yet to spell out what universal child care would look like for children younger than 2. Before last year’s primary, he said the city would “subsidize child care at home, for families who prefer to have a trusted neighbor or relative take care of their child,” but offered few details on how that would work. Around the same time, he estimated that a universal child care plan could cost $6 billion a year. Outside groups that have assessed his proposals have generally assumed that care would be provided in formal settings. Those estimates have put the annual price tag at about $9 billion, with infant care almost twice as expensive as care for older children.
自前市长比尔·德布拉西奥推行以来，普惠性学前班和3岁儿童托幼服务一直是纽约市广受欢迎的福利项目。曼达尼和纽约州州长凯西·霍库尔已开始将这一模式扩展至部分社区的2岁儿童，今年提供2000个名额，并计划在2027年达到12000个。
Universal pre-kindergarten and 3-K have been popular New York City entitlements since they were introduced underformer Mayor Bill de Blasio. Mamdani and New York Governor Kathy Hochul have begun extending the model to 2-year-olds in select neighborhoods, with 2,000 seats this year and plans to reach 12,000 in 2027.
在宣布调查结果的一份声明中，曼达尼表示，在制定计划时，“家长的声音必须成为我们的指引”。
In a statement announcing the survey results, Mamdani said parents’ voices “must be our north star” in mapping out a plan.
他说：“这些结果既证实了我们面临的挑战之巨大，也印证了我们所采取的方向：扩大2岁和3岁儿童的托幼服务，帮助家庭获得所需的照护，并建立一个为所有家庭服务、而不仅仅是为富裕家庭服务的体系。”该声明并未提及针对最小年龄儿童的潜在计划。
“These findings affirm both the scale of the work ahead and the direction we are taking: expanding 2-K and 3-K, helping families get the care they need, and building a system that works for every family, not just those who can afford it,” he said. The statement didn’t address a potential program for the youngest children.
然而，延长育儿假或向选择居家照顾或依赖家庭成员照看孩子的父母提供直接补贴，可能在政治和财政上面临复杂挑战。纽约州已经拥有全国最慷慨的育儿假计划之一，允许员工最多享受12周的假期，假期工资为平均周薪的三分之二，上限为1228.53美元。该福利由员工工资缴纳的费用资助。
Still, expanding parental leave or offering direct payments to parents who stay home or rely on a family member could prove politically and financially complicated. New York State already has one of the most generous parental leave plans in the nation, providing up to 12 weeks at two-thirds of a worker’s average weekly wage, capped at$1,228.53. The benefit is funded by employee payroll contributions.
研究人员承认，将正式的托幼计划免费化可能会增加有年幼子女的家庭的需求。但他们也鼓励该市在任何普遍性体系中，都为“那些希望获得此类服务的父母”建立“个性化、非正式的安排”。他们表示，鉴于正式婴儿照护的成本相对较高，延长育儿假可能更受家庭欢迎，且效率更高。
Researchers acknowledged that making formal child care programs free could increase demand among families with younger children. But they also encouraged the city to build “individualized, informal arrangements for those parents who want them” into any universal system. Enhancing parental leave, they said, could be more appealing to families and more efficient, given the relatively high cost of formal infant care.
“目前，我们整个城市正在共同定义‘普遍性托幼服务’的含义及其应有的形式，”New Practice Lab的高级政策顾问Alyson Silkowski说道。
“We're in this moment where we're collectively defining as a city what ‘universal child care’ means and what it should be,” said Alyson Silkowski, a senior policy adviser at New Practice Lab.
虽然纽约人比其他地区的父母更愿意在孩子年龄较大时选择正式的托幼服务，但在孩子出生后的第一年，他们倾向于自行照顾孩子的意愿与美国其他地区的父母大致相同。“通过这项调查和研究，我们现在基本明确地了解到，到2026年，父母们对于不同类型的照护服务存在怎样的兴趣倾向，”Silkowski说道。
While New Yorkers are more willing than parents elsewhere to embrace formal child care as children get older, their preference for looking after their children themselves during the first year roughly matches that of parents elsewhere in the country. “With this survey and with this study we now have directionally a pretty strong signal as of what the interest is” among parents for different types of care in 2026, Silkowski said.
该调查还表明，目前提供免费2至5岁儿童托位的小区，可能并非需求最强烈的地区。在布鲁克林高地、威廉斯堡、金融区和上东区等高收入地区的父母，更倾向于为2岁儿童选择中心式照护服务。相比之下，目前提供托位的小区，如福特汉姆和华盛顿高地，在需求排名中位于各区后50%。尽管如此，市政府表示，已有超过5700个家庭申请了这些有限的托位。
The survey also suggests that the neighborhoods currently receivingfree 2-K seats may not be those where demand is strongest. Parents in high-income areas like Brooklyn Heights, Williamsburg, the Financial District and the Upper East Side were more likely to prefer center-based care for 2-year-olds. By contrast, neighborhoods whereseats are currently being offered, like Fordham and Washington Heights, ranked in the bottom half of districts by demand. Nonetheless, more than 5,700 families applied for those limited seats, the city has said.