A new report shows Kentucky families are having a tougher time paying for child care than they did in recent years. We found out why that's weighing down both families and child care providers.
A new report shows Kentucky families are having a tougher time paying for child care than they did in recent years. We found out why that's weighing down both families and child care providers.
Child care providers at New Beginnings know children are curious, adventurous, and they're going to make a mess.
A new report shows Kentucky lags behind many states in helping working parents pay for child care. A family of three in Kentucky living at the federal poverty line spends eight percent of their income on childcare after government assistance. The national average is six percent.
Gerry Roll, Executive Director of Hazard Perry County Community Ministries, says, "Quite honestly most parents, any parent, can't afford to pay what high quality care costs."
At New Beginnings that means charging families only what they can afford after government subsidies, and child care providers are often forced to make cuts just to sustain business.
Roll says, "As a child care provider what that means is our wages for our staff are lower."
That's often seven to twelve dollars an hour, at most.
Experts say providers and families nationwide need more government help.
"If we don't get these children to start out right with that good, high quality early childhood education, they're not going to be ready for kindergarten, they're not going to be ready for that first CATS test in the third grade," explains Roll.