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NEWPORT – Many Washington families are paying too much for child care. In Pend Oreille County, basic costs are compounded by scarcity of licensed daycare centers.
Jessica Walston, 33, of Newport struggles with providing child care for her two children, ages 2 years and 4 months, but finds ways including help from her sister-inlaw who is two months pregnant.
“We are living in a childcare desert,” Walston said.
Even in a two-income household – Walston works at the Washington Department of Natural Resources and her husband works for the railroad – the Walstons cannot afford full time childcare.
The average cost of fulltime daycare in Washington is $1,000 per month; Preschool costs are similar. The average cost of daycare per week per child is $250. The average cost of infant daycare is $1,200 per month.
“It would cost us $2,000 for full time daycare each month,” Walston said.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) considers child care unaffordable if it costs more than 7% of a household’s total income. For example, the average family in Washington pays roughly 18% of their income on child care. That is more than double what HHS considers to be affordable.
“If you are low income, you can get state aid. I don’t qualify so I must pay out of pocket,” Walston said.
The Walstons are looking for part time summer help from a high school student to keep costs low. That adds to $100 per day which Walston said is ‘reasonable.’
“I would seek full time childcare if I could afford it. It is less stress and burden on me,” she said.
Half million kids need child care, fewer providers
According to the Washington State Department of Children, Youth and Families, statewide, 504,000 school-age children (kindergarten through age 12) are in need of care, and only about 12% of these children are served by licensed child care, preschool, or subsidized child care.
The number of family child care providers dropped 20% in five years within Washington, with larger child care centers adding some capacity, according to Child Care Aware. Washington ranks third in the nation for least affordable child care for an infant in a family child care program.
The average cost to have an infant in a child care center is 15.4% of median income for a married couple and a daunting 51.5% of median income for a single parent.
While median household incomes have increased 5% since 2010, median child care rates have increased between 13-20% for center-based care and 11-31% for family child care.
Last year, the CHIPS workgroup (Community Health Improvement Plan) reported that in Pend Oreille County childcare is the county’s highest need based on the number of childcare centers per 1,000 population for children under 5 years old. The plan’s goal is to have all families in Pend Oreille County have access to child care.
CHIPS goals are to streamline the childcare licensing process to increase interest among county residents in becoming licensed childcare providers, identify ways to encourage established childcare providers to come Pend Oreille County, identify challenges for large employers who may be interested in providing child care services to employees, identify qualified county residents to provide in-home child care and work to understand the barriers they face to providing licensed childcare, and explore the feasibility of school district levies for Early Learning Center funding like Valley School District and Kettle Falls School District have done in Stevens County.
Janel Waterman, owner of Lucky Nine Childcare in Newport, said she doesn’t want anyone squeezed out of the child care market especially in Pend Oreille County.
Two licensed daycare centers in county
Lucky Nine Childcare and the Camas Center, the only two licensed daycare centers in the county, have created informational events and a recruiting video to help inform interested parties about childcare.
“I can mentor other providers several hours a month in my facility,” Waterman said.
Lucky Nine Childcare has 22 enrolled children from ages 2 to 12 though they can take newborns.
The only in-home provider in Pend Oreille County, Lucky Nine, was established in December 2021 to cater to the needs of all families no matter the income.
The facility has kept their rates low to accommodate the needs of most families, Waterman said. For those with limited means there are two Washington state aid programs to help subsidize the cost. At Lucky Nine Childcare, the cost of childcare is $45 a day for a child under 2, not potty trained and $40 a day for ages 2 and over, potty trained.
Working Connections Child Care (WCCC) helps eligible families pay for childcare. When a family qualifies for child care subsidy benefits and chooses an eligible provider, the state pays a portion of the cost of child care. Parents may be responsible for a copayment to their provider each month. To qualify for WCCC, a family would need to live in Washington state, the family’s income must be at or below 60% of the state median income (SMI) at the time of application and the family cannot have resources over $1 million.
The Family, Friend and Neighbors Care program helps people who don’t have a day care provider.
Friends, Family and Neighbor (FFN) providers include grandparents, aunts and uncles, elders, older siblings, friends, neighbors, and others who help families by providing childcare. Both in Washington and around the nation, FFN care is the most common type of childcare for infants and toddlers and for schoolage children before and after school.
Child care is still out of reach for many Pend Oreille families. This causes a long waiting list.
“Fourteen children are on my waitlist. Four haven’t been born yet,” Waterman said.
She suggests calling right away if pregnant to get child care.
Lucky Nine Childcare employs five part time workers paying them a $22 to $28 per hour wage and have a ratio of one staff to eight children.
They are expanding.
Waterman said two grants will help with hiring two additional staff members, a complex needs grant for $59,935 and an Equitable grant for $72,000.
“We are trying to increase our capacity. We can go to 16 children at a time,” she said.
Betsy Dionne of Oldtown was fortunate to have her two daughters aged 5 and 2 years old enrolled at Lucky Nine Childcare. After moving from southern California, they immediately contacted Waterman.
“We feel fortunate,” she said. “It allows me to work.”
Establishing a child care center takes nine months to prepare and 90 days to be issued a license.
“We had a long list of things to do like having a fenced in play area, take CPR training, install fire extinguishers and taking a 30-hour childcare basic program,” Waterman said.
“With a temporary license you are limited to six kids. So, licensors have time to look at the facility and training records,” she said.
Preschools are challenging too
Jana Mueller, facilitator of the Newport Parent Co-op Preschool, says the co-op charges $500 per month and requires parents to volunteer at the center while taking parenting classes supported by Spokane Communi- ty College.
“The classes focus on all aspects of the family. The child is also socialized with the parent,” Mueller said.
There are few preschools around Pend Oreille and Bonner counties. A preschool, also known as nursery school, is an educational establishment offering early childhood education.
Newport Parent Co-opt Preschool has been operating for over 40 years.
“We are a longstanding cornerstone in the community,” Mueller said.
The preschool is looking for new space, Mueller said the facility could no longer support rent from the church where they are located.
Mueller said they offer low rates so they can enroll as many families as possible. Only one class has a waiting list in pre-K. Other classes don’t have a waiting list.
Metaline Falls Mayor Tara Leininger said they had a Head Start program at her church, the Metaline Falls Congregational United Church of Christ, for many years but ended up closing when the funding dried up.
Head Start is a free program that promotes the school readiness of young children from low-income families.
“Head Start is well needed in our area,” Leininger said. “There is always a need for programs for our little ones.”
In Idaho
In Priest River, 59-yearold Donna Shove has taken care of raising her great-grandson, age 4 1/2 years, since he was 20 months old.
Because he is Shove’s great-grandson, she is eligible to receive The Idaho Child Care Program, which pays a share for child care. The monthly maximum income a family of four can have and qualify is $4,375.
The caregiver has to be certified before they will pay for childcare. Shove said she has not been able to find anyone that meets all the requirements.
“If I do find someone to watch him occasionally, I have to pay for it out-of-pocket,” she said. Shove said she struggled to make ends meet even before having to pay more than $800 a month for child care. She said she and her fiancé had not been expecting to have to pay for child care.
Shove’s fiancé has been forced to take early retirement to help out with watching him, but he still has one to two jobs per week that he has committed to doing, just for them to be able to survive financially.
The lack of child care services has been a problem.
Shove’s job is at stake, she said, as she juggles multiple priorities with home life.
“This puts me in jeopardy daily of being terminated from my position, plus it is against company policy for callers to hear people or animals in the background while working from home, and this happens often,” she said. “Our little man is our priority, so what he needs comes first. This often puts me behind on my scheduled tasks for my employer on a daily basis.”
Shove’s great-grandson is not old enough for pre-school yet, and he is an only child so he has to play by himself the majority of the day.
“This is forcing him to have to grow up way faster than he should have to, and he gets very bored not being able to interact with other children,” she said.
On the flip side, Tana Vanderholm, owner of Storybook Cottage Early Learning Center in Oldtown, said Bonner County is not, unlike Pend Oreille County, a child care desert, according to Idaho Workforce Development.
Storybook is building two new classrooms. Vanderholm said their rates are comparable to similar programs in Idaho.
“Parents can get ICCP subsidies to help pay for preschool. Others privately pay,” she said.
The Idaho Child Care Program (ICCP) serves families with children under the age of 13 or over 13 if a child has a disability, providing child care assistance to working families by paying for a portion of child care. The parent’s share is based on the size of the family and the amount of their income.
Hailey Scott, Yount Daycare manager in Priest River, said Bonner County needs more licensed childcare services.
“Mostly it’s cyclical. Most don’t remain in the business,” Scott said.
“Staffing is also a concern. We can take in more children, but we don’t have the staffing,” she said.
There are 43 enrolled at Yount Daycare, and between 25 and 30 are seen each day. Enrollment rates vary depending on age and whether the families need full time or part time childcare, but Scott said the average daily rate is between $30 and $45.
“Infants are more expensive. We offer discounts to families with more than one child enrolled,” Scott said.
Yount Daycare, begun by Scott’s mother Ann Yount, has been operating for 41 years.
Yount’s employees must be trained annually by IdahoSTARS.
IdahoSTARS is a joint project between the Idaho Center on Disabilities and Human Development and the Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children. It is funded by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare and the Child Care and Development Block Grant.
“It is rewarding but sometimes stressful to maintain the needs of 30 kids,” Scott said.
“We spend a lot of working hours with our co-workers. We must work well together, and we are selective in who we hire. This ensures we are thriving,” she said.
