This publication looks at the overwhelming loss to the Maryland economy as result of the State’s inadequate child care system. Conflicts such as a sick child, finding affordable care, and even weather related issues add up to billions in lost dollars, lost productivity, and lost opportunity. The report asked parents with children age five and under who had worked in the last year questions about child care issues and how these issues affected their work. What they found was a tremendous cost to working families, the state’s tax base, and business’ bottom lines. All this despite mounting evidence demonstrating the importance of early childhood education and its economic, social, emotional, and intellectual benefits to children and society. (author abstract)