Federal cuts and declining pandemic money have exacerbated child care concerns this summer, and they aren’t anticipated to go away by the start of classes. Parents reported lengthier trips and increased stress, even though their children may have slept better.
Mississippi Today spoke with a dozen parents from throughout the state regarding their plans for summer childcare for their infants and elementary school-aged children. They expressed a mixture of anger with the available options and anxiety about finding care.
Compared to recent summers, parents have had more reasons to be concerned about those options. The landscape of child care has changed as a result of the elimination of federally sponsored summer programming for young people, the addition of day care tuition fees, and the elimination of vouchers to help with tuition subsidies.
Shequite Johnson, a professor at Mississippi Valley State University, has had to drive forty-five minutes away from her place of employment to provide day care.
She stated that she had to leave her 13-year-old with her 4-year-old. And you’re placed in a position where these choices must be made. Some even check on their infants during lunch after leaving them alone at home for five hours.
Due to exorbitant prices, she was forced to withdraw her 4-year-old son from a daycare in her hometown. In addition to the $135 weekly price, she also had to pay a $100 registration fee for each of her two boys, a $150 supply fee that was revealed in June, and a $20 late fee during pickup.
Vouchers that pay child care expenses will be reduced, according to a recent announcement from the Mississippi Department of Human Services. Johnson’s alternatives in the area were restricted to three programs in outdated facilities and a city-run program in a dangerous neighborhood without her child care voucher.
Children in elementary school can participate in free or reduced summer activities offered by Delta Health Alliance. However, Johnson’s salary exceeds the threshold.
According to Carol Burnett, executive director of the Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative, there is a problem in Mississippi at the moment. Employers are unable to retain their personnel due to the scarcity of reasonably priced child care. Nevertheless, Mississippi wants people to return to their jobs.
Parents are being forced to make decisions. She went on to say that none of them are good.
Through this program, the Child Care Initiative helps single mothers find better-paying employment and pays for child care while they are transitioning. Additionally, the group is pushing for the Mississippi Department of Human Services to allocate a portion of the $156 million in unused Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds to the state’s Child Care Payment Program.
These voucher state programs are supported nationwide by the Child Care Development Fund, which ran out of funding in September because to the epidemic. To continue supporting the same number of families, the Department of Human Services requested $40 million from the Legislature, but only $15 million was granted.
The agency suspended child care voucher renewals in April, with the exception of parents who are homeless, foster parents, guardians of foster children, teen parents, parents of special needs children, deployed military parents, and TANF applicants. 9,000 parents thus lost their child care subsidies.
Until enrollment falls to 27,000 or the department’s monthly budget falls below $12 million, the hold will remain in place. There was no other information available as of Friday, but it stated that an announcement would be made within the next few weeks.
According to federal instructions, it is not permitted to use TANF monies that were not used for child care assistance in previous years. The remaining monies, however, can be used to establish a direct payment program at the TANF state office.This policy was implemented in Texas and Ohio.
According to an email retrieved as part of a records request submitted by Mississippi Today into communication regarding TANF funds, Eric Blanchette, regional manager for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, discussed this concept with Chad Allgood, the early childhood director for the Mississippi Department of Human Services. Mississippi had no plans to implement a comparable policy as of Friday.
A second rent
Monica Ford’s monthly child care expenses for her three children come to around $1,600. In addition to her day job as an auditor with Magnolia Guaranty Life Insurance Co., she also drives for Shipt. She recently had to move in with her husband’s parents, along with their kids.
She remarked, “It’s more than I’ve paid in rent.” I currently live with my family because of this.
She pays $10 every minute for late pickup at the Jackson daycare where she works. The following morning is the deadline for paying the fees.
According to almost all of the single mothers surveyed, they take on additional employment to pay for the growing expense of child care in their community. They spend less time with their kids as a result of the additional employment.
In the spring, Ashley Wilson’s child care voucher was not renewed. She works 55 hours a week at Sonic Drive-In and a bingo hall.
We don’t receive assistance. Wilson, an Indianola father, stated, “That’s what I don’t understand.”
Wilson was unable to pay the $185 weekly and $20 late fines at her favored day care center in Indianola. Through a deal with Angel, a donor who assists local families with daycare provider fees, her sister was able to cover monthly expenses.
Wilson looked at other local daycare centers. A number of them were in hazardous areas with employees who let milk bottles go bad. On some afternoons, her kid returned home with cuts, and on others, damp. When she can, she asks her relatives for assistance.
In April, Whitney Harper’s child care coupon was missing. When a family member agrees to watch her two-year-old, she is fortunate. She has recently thought of using offcare.com, a website that matches parents with nearby babysitters, to hire a sitter. The hourly wage in Jackson, where she resides, is $14.
As a sales associate at Home Depot, she is unable to pay the $150 to $250 weekly fees charged by the majority of day care centers in the Jackson metro region.
This year has been more difficult. Regarding her employer, she stated, “They won’t work around my schedule, but I need the job.”
This is the worst I have seen it
Families losing child care vouchers put day care centers at danger. Some institutions have had to raise tuition and fees to make up the lost revenue, while others have had to approach private donors.
According to Burnette, they are modest enterprises. The big story in child care is how much it costs to run it. It requires adequate public investment.
This week, Level Up Learning Center owner and CEO Kaysie Burton visited Greenville s Walmart, seeking to persuade the manager to sponsor his employees child care tuition. She submitted two grant applications and is working on at least three others. Burton s business survived flooding and relocation. But the latest voucher cutback could shut her banner-adorned doors to the community
At Level Up Learning Center, 75% of parents rely on child care vouchers. In the last three months, 20 Learning Center parents have lost their child care vouchers yet most have stayed. Burton has a policy of not turning parents away if they are willing to contribute a portion of the weekly rate. She has not increased her tuition or instituted punishing fees.
But making up the lost revenue can be a challenge. Since the cutback, she has let seven teachers go, or roughly a third of her staff.
We re down to skin and bones right now, Burton said. I am willing to take anybody that is willing to come partner with us and help us help parents so that their kids can keep coming in.
When Burton started her business during the COVID-19 pandemic, she saw the need in the Mississippi Delta for affordable, quality child care. She remains committed to helping prepare a future generation of Greenville leadership.
We re in the thick of it with our parents, Burton said. And we all just need help and we need prayer.
SunShine Daycare owner Barbara Thompson has greeted each parent at the door since she started babysitting neighbors kids in her living room. The former banker has long had a passion for raising neighborhood children regardless of their parents status or income. She raised her seven siblings when her mother died when Thompson was 12.
But for the first time in 30 years of running a business in Greenville, Thompson is losing families by the dozen as well as longtime staff. She has leaned heavily on prayer and has reached out to state representatives for help. She fears more departures and the downsizing of her business.
In the last two months, 12 parents pulled their kids from SunShine. She will have to let three teachers go as a result.
We won t have any children if this continues, Thompson said.
She regularly informs parents of the child care voucher waitlist and of the process for renewals. Besides caring for children, Thompson advises many young parents in her community. She noticed that state agencies communicate primarily through email, which a lot of her parents don t check regularly.
Children who leave her stoop festooned with cartoon characters can face hours alone without parental supervision. Some children will sit and watch television with their grandparents. For Thompson, child care is about raising children to be productive citizens. The youngest years are some of the most important, she stressed.
They didn t take it from us, Thompson said. They took from the children. That s the world s future.
Waitlisted
Vennesha Price is waitlisted at nearly every day care in Cleveland, where she lives. She s been on some of the lists for eight months.
If you haven t been a resident for five years and you haven t navigated the waiting list for five years, it s harder to find a spot, she said.
She found it difficult to both have a productive work day and watch her elementary-aged children. Eventually, she found a day care that was 40 minutes away. She wakes up an hour earlier to make the commute in time before work.
I m a single mother so it s very difficult, Price said. After my grandmother went on to the Lord, it became a struggle trying to get to the day care in time.
She started factoring late fees into her monthly budget. She s also including the gas money needed for the extra legs of her commute. Her child care costs doubled for June and July.
It s almost like private school tuition now, she said.
