Sleeping Cobra1
01-09-2009, 01:36 PM
WENATCHEE —A day job isn't worth the $1,500 monthly child care bill for Vicki Montgomery's three young children. That's more than her mortgage, more than food, more than sending the kids to college.
"It's extremely expensive for us and I don't have any family out here," the East Wenatchee mom said. She'd rather work than stay home, but there's no choice, she said.
For a growing number of parents, child care doesn't pencil out. Washington State is the fourth least affordable state in the nation for child care.
"I have never seen anything quite like what's going on right now," said Susie Tryon, director of Catholic Family & Child Services in Wenatchee. The agency runs the local Resource and Referral Program, which helps local families find a good fit for child care while also being the go-to place for child care businesses to find training and help.
"When the economy gets tough, unfortunately it hits the most vulnerable first, and those are our children," Tryon said. "Then it hits parents who have to make hard decisions. ... It starts to hit business because they can't find good, qualified help."
Parents find other ways
Not all parents have the option to stay home. Of the nearly 400 families who requested help finding child care from the local Resource and Referral program, more than half were single parents.
Parents who must work often rely on family, friends or older children to watch the kids, said Kim Ferguson program manager for the local Resource and Referral program.
It's not always consistent — if the baby sitter is sick or if grandma gets tired — but it's affordable.
Child care by the numbers
Average cost of child care statewide: From $10,344 a year for infants to $5,412 for school-age children
Average cost of child care in Chelan and Douglas counties: $6,133 a year for infants to $2,366 for school-age children
The median income for the two-county area: $43,159
The number of children in licensed child care in the two-county area: 50 percent
Average number of children on child care subsidy: 573 a month in Douglas County, 1,269 a month in Chelan County
Source: Washington State 2008 Child Care Survey, last available county reports from 2006 by Catholic Family & Child Service Child Care Resource & Referral
"People can be scrambling every day who is going to be watching their children," Ferguson said. "Those children can be put in very unsafe situations."
In the last few months, more parents are calling about starting their own child-care business.
"Either they have lost their job or they've had their hours cut back so much that they need to start taking supplemental income," said Holly Yale, a child-care services coordinator for the Resource and Referral program.
The process includes a 13-page checklist of requirements, several hours of training and at least $2,100 in seed money. Of 10 callers, Yale sees maybe two or three at the state-required licensing orientation.
"I think most are surprised what it takes," Ferguson said.
Child care enrollment has fallen in the last six months.
Yale said she's taken several calls this week from providers that need more children.
Gina Standerford, owner of Valley Christian Center, said she's noticed more parents who pay for child care without state subsidy are switching to in-home care. The trend started six to eight months ago, she said.
"I had a big percentage of private pay, and now that's 15 percent," Standerford said. "I was close to 40 percent. I've even lost state-paid because people started losing their jobs."
The state Office of Financial Management estimated Working Connections Child Care, the state subsidy program for working low-income parents, may grow by 1.6 percent in the next two years.
"It may be that we see fewer WCCC cases as parents become unemployed and are not eligible for the subsidies, or it may be that more families will be applying for subsidies as their incomes fall within the eligibility range," Department of Early Learning spokeswoman Amy Blondin wrote in an e-mail to the World. "Because we're in such a tough economic situation, it's hard to predict what will happen."
The local increase in families who need state aid drove The Learning Curve — a school for small children in East Wenatchee — to begin accepting the subsidy, even though it's about $100 less than the normal rate.
"I had to change my program and start taking subsidy, mostly due to the economy," said owner Joy Robertson-Mayer. "I was taking so many more phone calls that needed DSHS compared to private-pay."
Typically, part-time children make up their own class of 12 to 14 children at The Learning Curve. When the class shrank to four students, Robertson-Mayer combined it with a full-time class.
The shift happened for different reasons, she said. Some parents couldn't afford part-time school anymore. Some moms left paid child care to take turns watching the kids between friends.
"Some went from part-time to full-time because the parents have to work more," Robertson-Mayer said.
Parents seem to need more flexibility this year, she said.
"We're trying to come up with creative ideas on how to help their personal budget and still give the kids a quality education," Robertson-Mayer said. "Where two years ago, our enrollment was either full-time or part-time with not a lot of room to negotiate."
http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090109/NEWS04/701099947/1002
"It's extremely expensive for us and I don't have any family out here," the East Wenatchee mom said. She'd rather work than stay home, but there's no choice, she said.
For a growing number of parents, child care doesn't pencil out. Washington State is the fourth least affordable state in the nation for child care.
"I have never seen anything quite like what's going on right now," said Susie Tryon, director of Catholic Family & Child Services in Wenatchee. The agency runs the local Resource and Referral Program, which helps local families find a good fit for child care while also being the go-to place for child care businesses to find training and help.
"When the economy gets tough, unfortunately it hits the most vulnerable first, and those are our children," Tryon said. "Then it hits parents who have to make hard decisions. ... It starts to hit business because they can't find good, qualified help."
Parents find other ways
Not all parents have the option to stay home. Of the nearly 400 families who requested help finding child care from the local Resource and Referral program, more than half were single parents.
Parents who must work often rely on family, friends or older children to watch the kids, said Kim Ferguson program manager for the local Resource and Referral program.
It's not always consistent — if the baby sitter is sick or if grandma gets tired — but it's affordable.
Child care by the numbers
Average cost of child care statewide: From $10,344 a year for infants to $5,412 for school-age children
Average cost of child care in Chelan and Douglas counties: $6,133 a year for infants to $2,366 for school-age children
The median income for the two-county area: $43,159
The number of children in licensed child care in the two-county area: 50 percent
Average number of children on child care subsidy: 573 a month in Douglas County, 1,269 a month in Chelan County
Source: Washington State 2008 Child Care Survey, last available county reports from 2006 by Catholic Family & Child Service Child Care Resource & Referral
"People can be scrambling every day who is going to be watching their children," Ferguson said. "Those children can be put in very unsafe situations."
In the last few months, more parents are calling about starting their own child-care business.
"Either they have lost their job or they've had their hours cut back so much that they need to start taking supplemental income," said Holly Yale, a child-care services coordinator for the Resource and Referral program.
The process includes a 13-page checklist of requirements, several hours of training and at least $2,100 in seed money. Of 10 callers, Yale sees maybe two or three at the state-required licensing orientation.
"I think most are surprised what it takes," Ferguson said.
Child care enrollment has fallen in the last six months.
Yale said she's taken several calls this week from providers that need more children.
Gina Standerford, owner of Valley Christian Center, said she's noticed more parents who pay for child care without state subsidy are switching to in-home care. The trend started six to eight months ago, she said.
"I had a big percentage of private pay, and now that's 15 percent," Standerford said. "I was close to 40 percent. I've even lost state-paid because people started losing their jobs."
The state Office of Financial Management estimated Working Connections Child Care, the state subsidy program for working low-income parents, may grow by 1.6 percent in the next two years.
"It may be that we see fewer WCCC cases as parents become unemployed and are not eligible for the subsidies, or it may be that more families will be applying for subsidies as their incomes fall within the eligibility range," Department of Early Learning spokeswoman Amy Blondin wrote in an e-mail to the World. "Because we're in such a tough economic situation, it's hard to predict what will happen."
The local increase in families who need state aid drove The Learning Curve — a school for small children in East Wenatchee — to begin accepting the subsidy, even though it's about $100 less than the normal rate.
"I had to change my program and start taking subsidy, mostly due to the economy," said owner Joy Robertson-Mayer. "I was taking so many more phone calls that needed DSHS compared to private-pay."
Typically, part-time children make up their own class of 12 to 14 children at The Learning Curve. When the class shrank to four students, Robertson-Mayer combined it with a full-time class.
The shift happened for different reasons, she said. Some parents couldn't afford part-time school anymore. Some moms left paid child care to take turns watching the kids between friends.
"Some went from part-time to full-time because the parents have to work more," Robertson-Mayer said.
Parents seem to need more flexibility this year, she said.
"We're trying to come up with creative ideas on how to help their personal budget and still give the kids a quality education," Robertson-Mayer said. "Where two years ago, our enrollment was either full-time or part-time with not a lot of room to negotiate."
http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090109/NEWS04/701099947/1002