I’m fortunate enough to work from home so I can be with my toddler all day. I had a bad experience in day care as a child and decided early on in my pregnancy that I would find a way to stay with my daughter. I’m lucky. But most working parents simply can’t do this, and rely on a multitude of sources for childcare.

From relatives to child care centers, preschools to babysitters, sometimes it’s a good thing for our children to encounter so many personalities and diversities. Making new friends is also a great aspect of childcare, as usually other children are present, too. But this can be costly. Child care expenses are by far higher than all other household expenses on average.

In fact, in New York state, alone, the cost for two children attending a childcare center is more than one parent earns in a single year! That means one parent’s entire salary is devoted to childcare. The national average ranges from 48% to 102% of the average income of single parents. Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of working?

Nationwide, parents with one baby can expect to pay well over $4,000 a year on childcare—sometimes even up to $14,000. Care for one toddler alone can range from $3,380 to $10,787 for a single year. Childcare is so expensive, in fact, that in 44 states, a year’s worth of it costs more than a year of schooling at a university.

Many governments outside the United States provide assistance with childcare. And while the U.S. is reported to give about $20 billion in childcare aid each year, most of it only goes to a small percent of low-income families through subsidies, or through tax breaks—leaving the majority of parents with little or no aid at all.

So Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine and Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas are introducing the Family Tax Relief Act of 2009, which would give millions more families relief through the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit.

Currently parents are only allowed to claim $3,000 annually on their taxes for child care, well below what the average family spends. This act would double that amount and then some, making it to where child care would be fully refundable for working families.

Parents should be able to get quality, affordable childcare while they work hard to make ends meet. You can tell your senators that you want them to co-sponsor this legislation here.