EXCERPT FROM: Times Union
By Jennifer Gish
When Sarah Bruno-Robichaud learned she'd be laid off from her job in the social service field last September, one of her first thoughts was not how she'd pay the utility bill, but how she could keep her day care provider.
The mother of four from Ballston Spa figured it wouldn't take long for her to find another job. It was just a matter of being able to hold onto her two youngest children's spots in the licensed home day care she had been using since her 5 1/2-year-old son was an infant.
Months later, Bruno-Robichaud continues to sift through job listings looking for work, and her two day care spots have long since been filled by other children.
Nationwide, parents like Bruno-Robichaud — who were told to secure day care spots while they were still pregnant because affordable, available spots were so hard to find — are now unemployed and struggling once again to navigate the child care maze. And day care centers that already operate on slim profit margins are closing because of the economy, making child care even harder to come by when parents do finally secure employment again.
But in the Capital Region, which is seemingly feeling the effects of the recession more slowly than the rest of the nation, cases like Bruno-Robichaud's are not quite so common — yet. If Gov. David Paterson follows through with a plan to lay off 8,900 state workers and big businesses begin to announce downsizing plans, that picture could change quickly.
"It doesn't mean there aren't pockets of child care providers that might be experiencing some vacancies; as far as a trend at this point in time, we aren't seeing it. We're keeping such a close eye on it because if we start to see more facilities closing, it's going to limit the options for families," said Patricia Skinner, executive director of the Capital District Child Care Council, a nonprofit resource and referral agency for parents and child care providers.
In its 2008 report, "A Picture of Child Care in the Capital Region" the council said the Capital Region still had shortages in infant and school-age care, but there was an abundance of child care opportunities for preschoolers.
In January, the Center for Disability Services announced that its day care and preschool programs, serving about 200 disabled and non-disabled children in the Capital Region, would close in June because of "economic uncertainty" and "mounting fiscal challenges."
According to the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies, nearly three-quarters of child care referral agencies surveyed nationwide said the number of families unable to make or falling behind on child care payments increased between June and December 2008. Meanwhile, 65 percent reported an increase in vacancies during that time, and 41 percent were laying off staff.
In Dallas, a local child care organization reported that a dozen centers closed in just two months. Others there have turned to more flexible hours, 24-hour operations in some cases, to meet the needs of parents who take second jobs or work longer hours.
"I think we can knock on wood," says Rayette Johnson, director of child care services for the Capital District YMCA, which operates three early child care centers and 53 after-school programs in the region. "I've read news articles from around the country, and day cares have been closing in different areas of the United States. Almost every week you can read a day care's closing because of loss of parents, or loss of subsidies in some states."
Enrollment at the YMCA's centers has held strong, Johnson says, and as usual, the organization has waiting lists for infants and toddlers. Just last week, parents in Clifton Park lined up before breakfast, waiting to register their children for the 2009-10 after-school care program.
"We have talked about things to do for families if they get into that situation, whether we extend them a few weeks of child care ... or things like that, but we really haven't seen a big impact yet," she says. "Now if they lay off 8,000 state workers, they tend to be here in the Capital District, then we may see a bigger impact."
Recognizing the economic difficulties some families face, Maple Leaf Child Care Centers, with locations in Guilderland, Malta, Glenville and Rotterdam, didn't raise rates this year, says Karen Harkness, operations director for Maple Leaf.
Some parents have asked if they could delay payment for a day or two, or requested to have their children enrolled in the program on a part-time rather than full-time basis, she says, and the centers have been able to work with parents, depending on the circumstances.
Other parents who receive subsidized child care through their county's department of social services have seen personal contribution rates double in some cases, making it impossible for them to afford day care, Harkness says.
Four families also lost jobs in recent months and needed to pull their children from the center, she says, but two of those families quickly found new employment, and the center had space for them when they returned.