Missouri ‘child care deserts’ pose issues for parents and providers

By Siobhan Harms

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    VIENNA, Missouri (KOMU) — During the pandemic, Missouri lost 30% of its child care facilities, according to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). That loss exacerbated an already significant child care shortage.

“We definitely have what’s called deserts in the state,” Dr. Pam Thomas, the assistant commissioner for DESE’s Office of Childhood, said.

Thomas said a region is classified as a child care desert when only one out of three children in that region has access to a child care facility. In Missouri, 89 out of 114 counties meet the child care desert criteria.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 5% of the Maries County population are children under 5 years old. Since the county has over 8,000 residents, there are at least 400 children under 5 years old. Yet, there are only four licensed daycare facilities in Maries County—together serving just 60 children.

Kiddie T Junction is licensed to serve 20 children, making it one of the largest facilities in the county. Co-owner Ellie Quick said she had to stop adding parents to her waitlist.

“I was turning down so many people,” Quick said. “And there’s a lot of people that call and want to be on your waitlist but don’t have kids yet. Yes, I want to take your kids, but I can’t put you on our waitlist and say ‘Yes, we have a spot’ whenever there are other kids that are in need at the time.”

Quick said the child care shortage is so severe, she has had parents from other counties ask if she could give their child a spot at her facility. She said turning down parents who are in need is upsetting.

“You try to refer them to all the daycares around here,” Quick said. “But they’re all full too. So you’re kind of to the point where [you say], ‘I don’t know where else to refer you to.’ And, I hate that.”

Molly Otto is a part-time caregiver at Kiddie T Junction. She said she sees the child care shortage’s impact firsthand through her family.

“My brother is expecting a baby and they can’t find daycare to take their baby,” Otto said. “If they don’t find one, then they’re going to have to find someone to watch [the baby]. Or they’ll have to take a step back from their jobs. So, it’s definitely stressful for them.”

Both Otto and Quick said paying for daycare can be stressful for parents. That’s why Quick said she doesn’t want to raise her $25-a-day rate for child care despite rising costs.

“The rise of prices has really hit home here,” Quick said. “We have to pay employees. Also since we are a bigger facility, food costs went up, but we can’t afford to raise our prices anymore because how do parents afford it? If they’re trying to work and bring their kids to daycare, I don’t know how they can make it possible.”

Darla Schwartze co-owns Kiddie T Junction with Quick. She said the paperwork involved to stay licensed with the state can be overwhelming.

“Sometimes we get aggravated with the state because the paperwork is paid more attention to than the kids itself,” Schwartze said. “It shouldn’t be about the paperwork. It should be about the kids and the safety of the kids. Sometimes I feel like the rules are made by a man that has never had kids.”

One of the rules that Schwartze and Quick said they take issue with is the requirement that they count their own children in the license capacity.

This went into affect after Gov. Mike Parson signed an omnibus child protection bill (HB 397) in 2019. The bill included Nathan’s Law, which closed a loophole that allowed unlicensed providers to care for four children and an unlimited number of related children. However, the bill also got rid of a provision allowing licensed providers to not count their own children in their license capacity.

Quick said two out of the 20 spots they have at Kiddie T Junction are taken by her children.

“Those are non-paying spots that we could fill, but we can’t because I have to count them,” Quick said.

Schwartze said she thinks these number and ratio requirements are too stringent considering the severity of the caregiver shortage.

“It’s just the controlling numbers,” Schwartze said. “I mean, I understand that there needs to be a control on them. But we are turning people away in a small community. People are still having babies and there is not enough [support].”

“In the state of Missouri, we lose over a billion dollars in workforce revenue because parents can’t return to work when they have children or they can’t stay at work if their child is sick or [if they don’t] have reliable, affordable child care,” Thomas said.

In addition to an immediate negative economic impact, child care deserts could lead to long-term economic issues. When children are exposed to positive, developmentally appropriate learning opportunities, Thomas said there is an economic return on investment for as much as $13 for every $1 spent.

“If we want children to be successful in school, if we want them to be ready for school and have success later in life, we have to have early childhood opportunities available for them,” Thomas said.

To make those opportunities more accessible, DESE has launched an Innovation Start-up Grant application for child care providers and businesses who want to work together to expand child care in their local community. The application is open on the Child Care Relief Funds website and must be submitted by May 31.

The grant comes as part of Parson’s fiscal year 2023 budget plan for Missouri’s child care portion of the federal American Rescue Plan Act Discretionary funds.

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