State delivers additional pandemic relief for child care

Additional federal investment still needed to ensure working families can access child care through and beyond the pandemic.

Yesterday, the Department of Health and Senior Services announced it was dedicating $10 million in CARES Act funds to offer additional relief for Licensed, License-Exempt and Registered child care providers throughout Missouri.

“Many child care providers have experienced additional costs and financial hardship due to the pandemic. The additional relief will help ensure working families throughout Missouri can access safe and reliable child care,” said Brian Schmidt, Executive Director of Kids Win Missouri.

A report released by Kids Win Missouri in June details the additional costs child care providers have taken on as they work to maintain healthy and safe environments through the pandemic, abiding by CDC guidelines and local health orders or restrictions. Additional costs include purchasing PPE, sanitation supplies, additional staff to accommodate health and safety requirements as well as lower teacher-to-student ratios and group sizes, and other equipment to modify spaces to help meet requirements.

“Costs for providers have continued to increase, while in most cases enrollment and revenues are down, due to restrictions on capacity and group size, parents losing jobs and leaving the workforce, and frankly, parental anxiety about sending their children back to child care,” said Casey Hanson, Director of Outreach and Engagement for Kids Win Missouri. “Child care providers have been essential throughout this pandemic in supporting working parents and keeping our economy moving, and they need resources to continue to operate as our economy rebuilds and recovers.

While the support from DHSS is necessary and comes at a critical time, advocates are still pushing for additional federal relief to further support and sustain child care programs and assist families as they try to re-enter the workforce and return to their in-person jobs. According to an August landscape report released by Child Care Aware of Missouri, 95 of Missouri’s 114 counties are now considered child care deserts, growing from 63 counties with the designation prior to the pandemic.

“Child care is the backbone of our state’s economy, and we need to ensure that we maintain an adequate supply of child care so that every Missouri parent who wants to work and can work has the opportunity to send their child to a high quality child care program,” said Craig Stevenson, Director of Policy and Advocacy for Kids Win Missouri. “We know that with the state’s current budget situation, federal relief is likely the only way we can ensure there are adequate funds to support child care for all children and families in Missouri.”

To date, pandemic relief for child care has been included in negotiations around a new federal stimulus package. Kids Win Missouri and organizations throughout the country have been advocating for a federal investment of $50 billion to stabilize child care providers’ operations and maintain the supply of child care at pre-pandemic levels.