Nearly 11,500 additional Marines and sailors are coming to Eastern North Carolina in the next four years - bringing with them an estimated 9,500 spouses and children.

The increasing population will demand more housing, more infrastructure, more schools, more businesses. But many of the families will also need child care - a service already in short supply locally.

"Child care is sometimes overlooked as a piece of basic infrastructure, but child care keeps our county working," said Rachel Nelson, child care resource and referral director for the Onslow County Partnership for Children.

And while most industries operate on a supply-and-demand basis, Nelson said child care is not so simple.

Low profit margins, strict regulations and the lack of a county-wide sewer system are a few of the many challenges potential child care center operators must face, Nelson said. Many of the child care centers in the county are small, operating "hand-to-mouth," she said.

"There really aren't the big corporations coming here and building child care, which is a sign that it is not profitable," she said. "It is not as attractive as a lot of other industries because of the profit margins."

Even before the announcement of Marine Corps increases, Camp Lejeune and New River Air Station together had a deficit of more than 2,000 child care slots, Nelson said.

"That's just to meet 80 percent of the projected need," she said. "In comparison, Camp Pendleton only needed 55 slots to cover 80 percent of their area's need."

The most difficult age group to find care for is infants, said Nelson and Marla Talley, administrator for Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Community Services children, youth and teen programs.

The reason: The ratio of caregivers to infants is 1 to 4, because babies need so much care, Talley said. For preschool-age children, the ratio is 1 to 12.

On base, waiting lists for infants can be 10 months or even a year long, Talley said.

"We encourage parents when they first confirm their pregnancy to get on the waiting list, because if they wait until the baby is born or just before, they won't get in," she said.

The shortage of child care makes it difficult for all parents, Talley said. Hourly child care for spouses who do not work is even more limited, she said.

"The childcare spaces are so limited, I can't afford to give you a space when you're not working. Yet, you may need child care locked on to go get a job," she said.

In addition to the families where one parent is a Marine and the other holds a civilian job, many families have two parents serving on active duty - or just a single active-duty parent, Talley said.

Off base, Nelson said her agency offers referrals for child care, then follows up with surveys. Of the 115 families who have received a referral and replied to the survey since July 1, 53 families said that "no openings" was a problem for them during their child care search.

For those families, 43 percent said they either could not accept a job or they could not keep working because of the lack of child care availability, Nelson said.

Full text available at the Jacksonville Daily News