Megan from SW Portland
Last spring I appeared before our State Legislature to testify on behalf of expanding and improving the Employment-Related Day Care program. At the time, the childcare industry and the day-to-day experience of the parents relying on that industry was in full-blown crisis. More than 500 childcare facilities had closed over the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbating a situation where the entire state of Oregon was already declared a child care desert with only enough care for 1 in 3 babies.
I’m afraid to say things have only gotten worse. The numbers collected in the U.S. Census Pulse Survey for December 29, 2021 – January 10, 2022 are staggering:
2.5 million adults took unpaid leave to care for a child under 5 who couldn’t attend daycare
3 million adults used sick time or PTO and another 3 million adults cut work hours to care for a child who didn’t have care
A half a million adults lost a job and another 1.2 million adults didn’t look for a job to care for a child who didn’t have care
And another 2.6 million adults supervised a child under 5 while working
While this spike is undoubtedly related, at least in part, to the Omicron variant ripping through our communities at this time, the stories behind the statistics are not temporary. As a single mom of two kids 5 and under in Washington County here in Oregon, I can affirm that access to affordable and stable childcare remains my number one stressor. For kids with special needs like my older son–stability comes in the way of a teacher a child trusts who is trained to support their needs. For parents like me who need to work, stability simply means knowing you won’t wake up to a message that your daycare has closed due to lack of staff or lack of ability to stay afloat. Unfortunately with the average childcare wage at $12.24 an hour, I can’t blame teachers for quitting and I can’t blame providers for shutting their doors. Something has to change, because if childcare crumbles then our ability to work, and our ability to function as a society crumbles too.
Available, affordable, and excellent childcare is not just a basic need for me as a single working mom, but a game changer for my son with special needs. Any break in the continuity of care sets him back in his development.
I live in constant fear of losing childcare, and sadly I share that experience with just about every Oregon parent I know right now. This is why I think our state needs to invest in this package, in child care providers. Not just to better support and keep current providers open, but to start to bring more providers online and increase access to child care across the state.