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Parents facing day care crunch

Observer-Dispatch - 12/25/2019

Call it a "capacity crisis."

New data from a coalition focused on increasing the number of children on track for school readiness shows New York parents are facing a serious crunch when it comes to finding quality, affordable child care slots for their little ones.

Most child care centers and nearly half of providers across the state have wait lists and in regions like the Finger Lakes the number of child care providers who offer infant and toddler care has decreased by nearly a third since 2009. Only Long Island and New York City, among the state's wealthier communities, saw an increase in places for kids under 3.

At the same time, a study by the Center for American Progress shows that the cost for quality child care -- particularly for the youngest of children -- is skyrocketing, with the average cost of center-based care in the state running nearly 80% higher for infants than for 4-year-old preschoolers. That cost can run as high as $15,000 per year, a sum that's more than two-thirds of the annual earnings of a full-time minimum wage worker and a cost that's twice as high as tuition for a year of state college.

The Raising NY survey of child care providers also found:

> Seven of 10 child care centers and half of family child care providers are already at maximum capacity for infants.

> Overall, there has been a 3% dip in infant/toddler care capacity over the past 10 years, and a corresponding 9% decrease in capacity excluding school-aged child care.

Day care providers are feeling a crunch too. The Raising NY survey shows many providers are running on a deficit, and struggle to provide their own workers with wages and benefits that can attract quality, long-term employees. Careerexplorer.com shows the average wage for a child care worker in New York is about $12.87 per hour, or about $27,000 per year.

"Quality education for children starts with quality care during the formative years," said Heather C. Briccetti, president and chief executive officer of The Business Council of New York State, and a co-chairperson of Raising NY.

"Investments into child care providers are critical to set both parents and their children up for long-term success," Briccetti said.

Members of the Raising NY coalition are calling on the state to make a bigger investment in high-quality infant and toddler care, saying that it's an economic investment that makes sense and has invaluable long-term payoffs. There is money available for low- and middle-income families to help offset the cost of day care, but child care advocates say it's not nearly enough.

Ida Perez, director of the Ibero Early Childhood Services center on Clifford Avenue in Rochester, said day care providers have been buffeted by bureaucratic forces beyond their immediate control such as late or delayed state and federal reimbursements for subsidized care.

In Monroe County, cutbacks also curtailed payments for absences and partial day attendance.

As well, Perez said, a focus on state funding for services like Universal Pre-Kindergarten meant that providers quickly found their own finances became more stable if they focused on preschool-age children too. That led to a decline in the number of slots available for infant and toddler care.

About five years ago, Ibero stopped providing before-school and after-school care because payments became so irregular. "It was costing me more to pay an administrator to deal with (the Department of Social Services) for the five families using it that it just didn't make dollar sense and some other centers just did the same thing," said Perez.

Ibero now provides only fully-funded free programming like Early Head Start for infants and toddlers, Universal Pre-Kindergarten for 4-year-olds and Early Pre-Kindergarten for 3-year-olds. Perez said she's seen other day care providers follow suit.

"Infants and toddlers are very costly to care for," she said, noting that such programs require one adult caregiver per four infants, and one caregiver per five toddlers. "It's not that (day care providers) want to stop caring for infants, or are doing this deliberately, but they want to keep the doors open when DSS and subsidy payments are so wishy-washy, most centers now have few toddler and infant spots and focus on preschoolers."

Ibero offers five infant and toddler classes, with a maximum enrollment of 8 children in each class. There is a lengthy waiting list.

"When families do come here, they don't leave unless they're moving out of state," she said.

Ann Marie Stephan is the executive director of Rochester Childfirst Network, which provides direct service to more than 250 youngsters at two sites in Rochester.

There are currently at least 20 parents there on the wait list for infant care.

"We just don't have enough spots for everybody and that's very stressful for those families who are waiting," said Stephan. Not being able to find an available slot can prevent some parents from returning to the workforce after having a baby, or can limit potential job opportunities for new parents, she said.

When there aren't enough slots "choices for parents are very limited," she said. "Either families find family child care, or they find what we call kin care where a family member can take care of the child, or they don't go back to work."

Expanding programs is a challenge when low wages coupled with the demands of the job make it difficult to attract more potential infant or toddler care workers. As well, expansion is limited when state law says an infant care worker may oversee no more than four children at a time.

"I don't know if people fully understand or comprehend that people who work in child care don't make a livable wage," said Stephan. "I don't know if people comprehend that these people are taking care of our most precious resource and they don't even make enough to live."

Without more funding and more attention paid to the issue of child care, advocates say the options available for parents will continue to narrow.

"The need for quality, affordable care for babies and toddlers is urgent and acute, and longstanding for New York's families. Quality care for children under 3 is expensive, beyond the reach of most young parents. Even worse, in too many communities, there are no options at all, at any price," said Betty Holcomb, policy director for the Center for Children's Initiatives.

"Many new parents face sticker shock at the cost of infant care and frustration about long waiting lists for the few slots for babies and toddlers in their neighborhoods. The need for more robust public investment is not only clear and convincing, but so is the research ... there is simply no better public investment to be made."

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(c)2019 Observer-Dispatch, Utica, N.Y.

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