Day care providers adjust to pandemic

By Taylor Brown

tbrown@yourmvi.com

Child care providers that have stayed open during COVID-19 pandemic are facing challenges.

The Department of Health approved almost 500 centers to remain open to offer help during the crisis for those who work in life-sustaining positions.

Not all centers that received approval are open, and those that are have seen drops in enrollment as parents are laid off.

Many cannot take new children and have been forced to lay off staff and change their operations to comply with CDC recommendations.

Kim Lincoln, director of Lighthouse Family Development Center and Day Care in Rostraver Township, said it has been difficult since stay-at-home orders and other restrictions have been put in place.

The day care center is owned by Christian Center Church and opened in 2018.

“It was birthed out of a passion I have to provide a safe, loving environment for children where their families can have the confidence that their children are being loved and provided with the best opportunities to reach their full potential in a safe environment,” she said.

Normally, the center has nine staff members and 39 children actively enrolled.

Since the pandemic, there are only three staff members working part-time and three children attending.

“Our biggest change has been having to lay off most of our staff due to active enrollment dropping so drastically,” Lincoln said.

Lighthouse Center Daycare closed March 17 when Gov. Tom Wolf announced the first shutdown order.

After temporarily shutting the doors, Lincoln reached out to see how many parents who were essential workers needed child care.

“We decided based on their responses to go ahead and apply for a waiver to reopen and serve those families,” she said. “Our desire is to be there for the children and their families as much as possible. Our mission is the love and care of children, and we have been working diligently through all the changes to make sure we can provide care in every way we can.

“This is so much more than a job for me. It has always been my passion.”

Despite declines in staff and enrollment, the center is staying afloat financially, but there have been cutbacks.

“We are managing OK,” Lincoln said. “We are supported by the church, so that has helped a lot. We have had to make some cutbacks, primarily laying off staff.”

The center still receives funding from the state for children in the program who qualified for assistance before the closure.

“The state is continuing to make those payments, which has been a blessing and allowed us to reopen for the families who needed it,” she said.

Uncertain about how long parents will be out of work or when the state will reopen, it’s hard to plan ahead.

“I am trying to think ahead as to what our needs might be,” she said. “I can not ever take the risk of placing children in any kind of jeopardy.”

Fortunately, Lincoln said she was stocked up on cleaning supplies before the pandemic.

“We actually had a good stockpile of sanitizing and cleaning supplies when this started and were able to do a complete disinfecting of our site the day we closed,” Lincoln said. “ We have dropped from using five rooms to only one so we haven’t run short of anything yet.”

Lincoln said she has everything she needs to remain open and is prepared for more children to return when things return to “normal.”

“I don’t foresee the physical need for anything we don’t already have,” she said. “We do have a challenge with the daily changes, directives and guidelines. What we do need is clear and concise communication about what we are expected to do on a daily basis and any expectations as we move forward.”

In the meantime, she and her staff will push ahead and wait to see more smiling faces of the children who once attended.

“We miss the children and our families,” she said. “We are trusting that our families will return their children to us for care and we will be able to reopen completely.”

Until that happens, Lincoln said she is in ongoing communication with families to maintain relationships with parents and the children.

“I have stayed in touch with my staff and we are all anxious to be back to work loving the children and helping them grow and learn,” she said.  “If anything, this time has helped us all appreciate the time we get with each child and the ability we have to serve the families who come to us.

“Our resolve to provide a safe, loving place for families has only grown during this time.”

She wants the community to appreciate those working in open child care centers.

“Child care is a profession that is easily taken for granted,” she said. “We love every child as closely to a parent’s love that we can. We are placed at risk every time a child develops an illness. We work diligently to bring peace and joy to children and families as they walk through the challenges they face.”

Lincoln said she, her coworkers, and other child care workers provide a vital gift to the community.

“Like many industries, we are an underpaid and under respected industry,” she said. “I hope now that so many things are being re-evaluated in our culture that my staff and child care workers everywhere will be seen for the vital service they provide and the gift they are to our community.

“I may be partial, but I have some amazing people working with me.”

The situation is different for Roberta Adams, who has owned and operated Kidz Playhouse in Finleyville since 1994.

When shutdowns began, she knew it would affect the families and children she cares for — and her livelihood as well.

She has lost four children since the start of the pandemic and has four remaining children in her care.

Three of the children are at the daycare full-time.

“This has definitely affected me financially,” she said. “I would say I lost close to half of my income. I have two families who have ELRC funding, which has been approved to be provided to me until April 30, but I only care for one of those families right now.”

At least two families registered won’t return in the foreseeable future, she said.

“Two families will not be coming back anytime soon because the parents totally lost their jobs,” she said. “Those parents will need to find new employment because the companies they worked for will not recover from shutdowns.”

She is also struggling to find needed supplies to sanitize and is making her own wipes.

“If it wasn’t for already having numerous cans of Lysol spray, I would be screwed,” she said. “As far as Clorox/Lysol type wipes, I have not had any since the first week of the shutdown and it’s impossible to find.

“I have made my own via baby wipes.”

She has run completely out of other items.

“I have been out of paper towels, and the few rolls I have managed to find are terrible quality and are useless.

“I do have toilet paper, not because I bought in abundance and hoarded, but because I only have one child and my family of three that use the bathroom.

“I purchase a 12-pack of my normal brand when I see it being stocked.”

To keep things running smoothly and as normal as possible, she has been in constant communication with the families of the children she is still caring for.

“I spoke to parents still working first to request some safety measures be put in place,” she said. “We talked about what they are doing at home as well. I had to put some trust in them, as well as they in me.”

To keep families and children safe, she refuses to take any shortcuts.

“We do drop-off and pick-up via my enclosed front porch,” she said. “I take the kids in and immediately sanitize their hands. I even have washed off their faces, too.”

Car seats, toys or other items the children bring with them are sprayed and disinfected.

Door handles are also wiped down after each person leaves.

“You could say I’m a little obsessive, but you never can be too safe,” Adams said. “We have a conversation each drop-off, basically for me to visually assess families and to also find out if anything has changed in their home.”

She works alone and has had little help from the state.

“I have received no help other than the state agreeing to continue the child care assistance funding whether I am watching the child or not,” she said. “I have applied for the U.S. Small Business Administration Disaster Assistance Loan, but have heard nothing.

“I was given a confirmation code after I sent my information, but the funds for that have dried up.”

Like many others, she is also struggling to receive unemployment for self-employed workers.

“I would just like to have my full income back,” she said. “It took me six months to get my full ratio of children, who are full week and full day.

“I literally had a month and a half of a full income to pay bills, creditors and a little pocket cash. It’s hard when you are self-employed, can only watch six children and cannot charge the fees day care centers do.”

She is not sure what the future holds for her business.

“When the shutdown is lifted, I will pretty much have the same kids as right now,” Adams said. “I’m not sure what will happen.”

The Department of Human Services Office of Child Development and Early Learning and Penn State Harrisburg’s Institute of State and Regional Affairs want to study the impacts of COVID-19 on child care providers.

OCDEL will work with a team of research specialists at ISRA to identify the specific operational and financial challenges that child care providers must overcome to stay open after statewide business and stay-at-home orders are lifted.

The research team will survey a statewide representative sample of 1,000 randomly selected licensed child care providers and conduct interviews with program directors and staff.

Researchers will also gather information about the extent to which the interruption of services will impact demand for child care moving forward and what resources and supports are needed to help child care providers navigate the period and provide high-quality child care to families.