Mar 2, 2009 6:01 pm US/Central
Day Cares Struggle As Parents Lose Jobs, Cut Back
(WCCO)
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Like many people, Kelly Massey works at home, being a licensed child care provider for 13 years. However, now, the same woman who teaches math lessons by staging a mock circus is learning real world lessons of her own.
CBS
When two-income families suddenly become one-income families, things change at home. There may not be a need, or the money for day care.
There are 12,000 licensed family child care businesses in Minnesota, taking care of 187,000 children, but in this new economy, their challenges are growing, and their numbers are shrinking.
Like many people, Kelly Massey works at home, being a licensed child care provider for 13 years. However, now, the same woman who teaches math lessons by staging a mock circus is learning real world lessons of her own.
"I've had at least four or five families, just this school year, that have dropped out, have come back part-time, have just been trying to juggle their finances and things, and trying to make things work," she said.
Still, their work situations affect hers. Massey is licensed for 14 children, but only had eight on Monday. She's riding the wave of a new economy.
"Usually I am full, so this is kind of a shock to me and just trying to figure out what I can do to market and get more children in," she said.
Katy Chase, the Executive Director of the Minnesota Licensed Family Child Care Association, said that's a trend.
"These providers who have lost 40 or 60 percent of their income, obviously you can't run a business like that, and these are small businesses," said Chase.
Small businesses are facing big decisions, like raising prices to meet budgets, turning down part-time children to save room for full-timers or increase marketing.
However, one place you won't see any cutbacks is snacks for the children. Most family providers are part of a USDA food program that reimburses them for serving healthy meals.
"And we have monitors that go out actually at least three times a year to visit each of our family providers that are on this program," said Chase.
Meanwhile, child care providers worry that Minnesota's governor could make cuts to the state program that subsidizes child care for some working parents.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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