EXCERPT FROM: Highlands Ranch Herald
By Michele Sample
Editor’s note: This is the second article in a two-part series on daycare choices, cost of daycare, and the option of utilizing grandparents for childcare.
Parker family and child psychologist Dr. Kathleen Sandal-Miller said she is seeing a lot more families consolidating and grandmas and grandpas moving closer to help out with childcare.
When Castle Rock resident Wendy Nelson became pregnant with her first daughter five years ago, her parents moved from Wisconsin to be closer to their grandchild. Nelson now has two girls, a four and two-year-old, who were taken care of full-time until they were 14 months old by Nelson’s mother, while she continued her career as a Chief Financial Officer for a financial services company.
“It is really a blessing to have the girls grow up with family and know their roots,” Nelson said.
According to the results of a nationwide survey of grandparents released in September of 2008 by the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, more and more grandparents are serving as a key support for working parents.
Now the Nelson’s have their two girls in a childcare center four days a week, with a “grammy day” on Friday. Nelson said it has been the best thing in the world to have her parents spend time with her children, and it has been very successful because they share the same values, such as reading to the children.
“Of course there have been small moments, like the time my mom gave her a bite of ice cream,” Nelson said laughing. “Being a new mom, hormonal, I almost had a coronary.”
“Grandparents can be great co-parents,” Sandal-Miller said.
According to the survey, 40 percent of grandparents with grandchildren under 13, living less than an hour away, are currently providing childcare, and about 50 percent of grandparents provide back-up care for sick care, and 30 percent help with before and after care.
According to 2009 KidsCount in Colorado, a study published by the Colorado Children’s Campaign, Colorado is the third-highest for childcare costs for 4-year-olds and ranks eighth for infant daycare, at $905 a month. The childcare costs are from a survey of licensed daycare facilities in 2007. Rankings were based on how much of a family’s income goes to childcare. In Colorado, care of one 4-year-old takes 13 percent of the median two-parent income and 40 percent of the median single-parent income.
Douglas County Child Care Association president Andrea Price-Stogsdill said the average cost for childcare in a home-setting environment for an infant is $200 to $250 per week, for full-time.
“Every provider makes their own rules,” Price-Stogsdill said. “But most consider over four-and-a-half hours per day, a full day.”
For Highlands Ranch childcare for children over the age of two, for full-time in a home-setting can range from $175 to $200 per week.
If one of the parents is fortunate to have a dependent care flexible savings account through their employer, they are able to contribute from pre-tax income into the account for daycare. The federal limit is $5,000 per family, regardless of how many young children are in the family. Each pay period, the employer will deduct a proportionate amount from their paycheck. While this means the employee won’t have the total contribution taken out of their income until the end of the year, the employee can spend and get reimbursed for the full amount that they have allotted at any time. All the employee has to do is submit the bill to their employer and provide a taxpayer identification number or Social Security number of the individual or childcare center when federal income tax returns are filed.
For a family in the 25 percent federal-tax bracket, this means saving about $33 of every $100 of expenses, according to the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies.
Examples of eligible services include:
Before and after care.
Late pick-up fees.
Placement fees for a dependent care provider, such as an au pair.
Examples of non-eligible services include:
Education or tuition fees.
Expenses for children age 13 and older.
Overnight camps, field trips, clothing and food.
Now what about finding childcare for children who may have a special need, learning disability, or just don’t seem to fit into the daycare environment?
“If needs are found at an early intervention, some schools in Douglas County have special preschool programs,” Sandal-Miller said.
Another resource Sandal-Miller recommends for families for research into their own situations is Child Find.
Child Find is a component of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that requires states to identify, locate, and evaluate all children with disabilities, aged birth to 21, who are in need of early intervention or special education services.