The Child Care Dilemma
Many Parents Find ‘Affordable Day Care’ an Oxymoron

by Dyas A. Lawson

Despite a lot of talk over the last several years, parents are still caught in a difficult crunch when it comes to day care for their little ones. The dilemmas are still the same they were a generation ago: It’s hard to find high-quality child care at an affordable price.

For one thing, there aren’t as many child-care providers as there are infants and children who need care. For another, changes in welfare and other laws have made it more difficult for many people to pay for the child care they need — and simultaneously, in some cases, made it easier.

Everyone agrees that they’d like to pay their child-care providers a living wage, but many of those who have small children are young, even still in school, and don’t yet earn big wages themselves. It can be a nasty Catch-22.

Day-care costs in this area vary depending on the kind of child: Infants cost more than toddlers, toddlers more than older children. Karen Ekdahl of the nonprofit Bellingham Community Child Care Center (BCCCC) and Michael Watters of Kids’ World explain that that’s because infants require more care and a higher ratio of caretakers to infants.

Brooksana Raney of The Opportunity Council’s child-care resource division says costs in Whatcom County range from $25-$32 per day for infants up to 11 months, $22-$30 per day for toddlers 12 to 29 months and $20-$26 per day for preschoolers 30 months to 5 years. With school-age children who need before- and after-school care, she says, it gets a bit trickier; some centers charge $2.50-$3.50 per hour, others by the day, with the average $18-$22 per day.

That care for an infant can eat fully half a minimum-wage worker’s monthly salary.

Ekdahl says BCCCC is unique in that it has sliding scales to accommodate low-income families. “We try to reserve 50 to 60 percent of our slots for low-income people who can’t qualify for state aid,” she says, adding that those seeking a four-year degree are in a more difficult position because the state prefers to pay for day-care for those in two-year programs. “They want to get them into the workforce quickly,” she adds.

Watters states that it may take some maneuvering and digging, but it’s possible for most people who need it to qualify for child-care subsidies. A two-parent, three-child family where the parents bring home $18,000 each can, under some circumstances, qualify, he says. “It’s not as easy. It can be done, but there is a line the state won’t cross,” he adds.

 

Scales can slide

Raney continues that providers are restricted to a set rate for people eligible for Department of Social and Health Services subsidies. “More and more families can qualify,” she says. “A single parent with one child grossing less than $2,178 a month, working at least 20 hours a week, can qualify for child-care assistance. We do still have people falling through the cracks, though.”

Another problem is availability. Watters just added 100 new child-care slots with a new facility in north Bellingham and says all the infant places were snapped up immediately.

“There is a shortage of infant and toddler spaces,” he says. “If you can’t find one, the infant may be bounced from this aunt to that friend to the lady down the street. Children need consistency; babies need to see the same face cooing at them. That’s not a good situation.”

Others, Watters continues, will use drop-in centers, which are intended for temporary care, as long-term situations. Still others will go the unlicensed child-care route — something Watters points out is illegal in Washington, with one criterion for “child care” versus “babysitting” being regular and long-term care.

“A lot of people end up choosing unlicensed, unqualified day care because they can get it cheap,” he says.

“Infant care is desperately needed, but usually it’s the first (program) to go (if a facility must cut) because of the costs,” adds Ekdahl. BCCCC’s infant-care program doesn’t cover its own costs, and most don’t, she says.

 

Database available

The Opportunity Council works only with licensed providers. Raney says she obtains information from the families and matches their needs to providers in the council’s database, then gives the families the resources to investigate and make their own decisions. “Investigate” includes a giving them a phone number where they can obtain information about a facility’s infraction history.

“I tell pregnant parents and those about to return to work to start looking at least three months in advance, because they’re likely to be put on a waiting list,” Raney states.

Despite the apparent costs, Raney points out that day-care providers don’t make a lot of money. Licensing isn’t easy and involves continuing education. They must contend with taxes, salaries, overhead, insurance, any retirement packages/plans, wear and tear on the home/building and equipment, transportation and more, all of which are expensive.

“They’re caring for a very precious cargo and not getting paid what they’re worth,” she explains. “We need to find a balance for that dichotomy: affordable care versus a decent wage for the providers.”

Brenda Henoch feels fortunate to have found care for her 4-month-old daughter. She has two friends who volunteered to help out and prefers the intimate home setting.

“The tricky thing is to have back-up care,” Henoch explains. “If one’s on vacation or sick, you need to have someone available. I just ran into these situations.”

Henoch, who teaches physical-therapy assistant classes at Whatcom Community College, has still experienced what many parents do: She signed up for WCC’s child-care center, which takes children beginning at 15 months. She is No. 81 on the waiting list. She hopes that by the time her daughter needs it, she’ll be up to the active list.

 

Seek Clean and Caring

If you’re in the market for child care, the looking can bewilder you. How do you know which place is best for your child?

That’s a personal decision, but area providers offer some guidelines. The Opportunity Council has brochures and other publications to help you decide, as well.

• First, do you and your child feel welcome when you enter the facility? The child especially must feel comfortable and welcome.

• Is the place clean? It doesn’t have to be ultra-tidy — places with small children rarely are — but should be clean. Does it have an open-door policy that allows you to drop in any time?

• Look at the various rooms. Is there frequent, warm interaction between children and teacher? Are the activities appropriate to the children’s developmental stage, and held both inside and out?

• Check on the staff’s training and turnover. People who are happy will stay at the same facility. Make sure there’s good communication among staff, parents and children.

• Does the facility follow a curriculum? Children are learning all the time and those opportunities should be used.

• Check the state-maintained database of infraction histories for licensed facilities.

• Will the center be sensitive to cultural differences you might have? Will it adapt to special dietary needs or requests?

Accreditation isn’t mandatory, but assures you that the facility has gone a step beyond minimal licensing requirements. In the process, parents and staff do a self-study to examine the facility’s programs and success. For example, the state requires a 1:7 ratio of caregivers to toddlers, but an accredited facility might have 1:4. Ask if the facility knows of the National Association for the Education of Young Children accreditation program.