This conversation is based on the Source Media Properties series ‘It Takes a Village: Why Child Care is Everyone’s Business.’ Read the entire series at richlandsource.com, ashlandsource.com or knoxpages.com.
Ohio’s economy loses $5 billion dollars each year due to insufficient child care coverage, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
In north central Ohio, specifically, experts say thousands of potential employees may be sitting out of the workforce because they can’t find or afford child care.
To better understand the hurdles local families face, journalists with Source Media Properties embarked on a months-long reporting project called “It Takes a Village: Why Child Care is Everyone’s Business.”
Over 1,000 local parents, caregivers, child care providers and community members responded to a survey they created about the issue.
Richland Source Reporter Katie Ellington Serrao joined the Ohio Newsroom to talk about their findings.
On the biggest barriers to accessing child care
“In our survey, we asked people to identify obstacles to child care, and the biggest one that people cited was definitely price. We had 690 people respond to that specific question and 78% of them said that price was an obstacle.
“Other common ones were availability, oftentimes based on where you live or how old your child is. Rural areas, which make up a lot of our coverage area, tend to have fewer options. A lot of times there are fewer slots in infant care. More than half of parents also cited what they feel is a lack of quality child care options. And about a third of people said they had trouble finding child care that aligned with their work schedule.”
On personal stories of child care challenges
“It was really heartbreaking to read some of the stories. One Ashland County respondent said, ‘I work directly with homeless families and a lot of these families have struggled to find jobs or accept jobs because of the lack of child care openings and the hours that child care is available.’ So, this issue is more than just convenience, it directly impacts people's ability to gain self-sufficiency and stabilize their families.
“And then, on the other end, we heard from a lot of, quote-unquote, middle-income people who make just enough that they don't qualify for child care assistance. One woman said that daycare takes a third of her paycheck.”
On the economic impact of insufficient child care
“The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation estimates that Ohio loses billions [of dollars] every year from insufficient child care coverage just because of lost worker productivity, because of people who can't enter the workforce because they can't find or afford child care.
“Anyone who has kids or is friends with a parent is familiar with the phenomenon of, ‘Oh, my kid is sick and I can't send them to daycare while they're sick and so I have to stay home.’ So you see a lot of typically women dropping out of the workforce during a time when employers are saying, ‘We desperately need more workers.’”
On solutions
“One thing that we've looked at so far is the tri-share model, which exists in Michigan and was recently codified in Ohio state law. Basically, it's a program where if your employer is willing to help pay some child care costs, the state will also chip in for child care costs. And so instead of the burden being exclusively on the parent, it's split between employer, employee and the state. Obviously, that can be tricky because you can't access state money unless your employer is willing to foot part of the bill, but that is something that employers can offer to help their employees, to maybe boost retention and be more competitive for those employees.
“We'll also be looking at Kentucky, which passed legislation that makes child care free for all child care workers. Child care workers are paid a very low wage. A lot of them qualify for public benefits. A lot of them use things like SNAP and Medicaid. So that can ease the financial burden on them and on their employers, who may be offering employee discounts out of their own pocket as well.
“We'll also be looking at some local solutions. Here in Knox County, the Salvation Army rallied behind the cause of child care and launched a campaign to open a child care center. [There’s a] very similar story in Ashland County, where the Ashland Women's Fund got the community involved and launched a center called Foundations. So we'll be looking at it at the local level, at the state level and around the country as well.”
Read more about how families in north central Ohio are navigating child care challenges at richlandsource.com, ashlandsource.com or knoxpages.com.
