Child Care - By Anonymous

My greatest challenge has been with child care. We don't have many options for child care in our community, so if my current sitter can't watch our children, we have to rely on an unlicensed acquaintance or friend to watch them. We really have to think outside of the box and use family or friends for care. Our local child care has a waitlist, and I've seen that be a barrier for many families in our community.

We need reliable child care and child care providers that are consistent. We have a high turnover at our local child care centers because they don't get paid enough or get benefits in order to commit to the position long term. The key to a child's security and sense of safety is routine and structure and having new caregivers come into the child's life will not support healthy development for children in child care facilities. If working at a child care center offered a livable wage, then retention would be higher and families and children would benefit immensely. Caregivers for our children are making minimum wage and it's not a motivator for an individual to want to work in the field. If they do work in the field it tends not to be long term, as it's not sustainable.