Nearly half of US childcare centers say they face permanent closure, survey finds

Millions of parents depend on child care centers to educate their kids, or to simply look after them so they can work and run errands — but the industry has been quietly bleeding out during the coronavirus pandemic, and if help doesn’t come soon, 40% of child care providers say they’ll likely close down for good.

Even as school districts across the nation prepare to resume in-person classes this fall, promising relief to working parents who have been pulling double duty, many daycare and other child care businesses might not live to see it, a survey by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, found.

Less than a fifth of child care programs believe they will make it another year. Nearly 30% expect they won’t make it past September, and 52% said they’ll likely be shut down by the end of 2020.

“The child care sector is approaching this catastrophic situation with both courage and determination. At the same time, providers rightly are weary, skeptical, and scared,” Rhian Evans Allvin, CEO of the NAEYC, said.

“As a country, we have a choice to make. Are we going to continue to underfund and undervalue a system that is the backbone to the rest of the economy or are we going to make the necessary investments that recognize the essential nature of child care?”

Over 5,000 child care providers from all 50 states responded to the survey.

Many have been forced at some point during the pandemic to temporarily close, and 18% still remain closed.

Of those currently operating, 86% said they are serving fewer children, and overall enrollment is down 67% on average across the board. And besides lost business, there’s the new costs of personal protective equipment, disinfecting and thorough cleaning.

A full fourth of early childhood educators said they had applied for or received unemployment benefits, according to the survey, and 73% of providers said they will soon be implementing pay cuts, furloughs, and layoffs, or they already have.

Financial assistance is needed, and quickly, the NAEYC says. While $3.5 billion was set aside for child care in the CARES Act, the organization says it wasn’t enough.

“We received funds from the Paycheck Protection Program, and supports for our families who receive child care assistance funds. But they have almost run out, and once they’re gone, so am I,” Jennifer, a child care provider in Mississippi told NAEYC.

Health experts generally don’t recommend parents send their kids to daycare or similar centers, unless they have no other choice, McClatchy News reported.

There have been numerous coronavirus outbreaks at daycare centers across the country, according to McClatchy News, but despite those cases, many child care professionals maintain that with heightened safety standards and guidelines in place, there’s little reason for parents to worry, so long as they’ve chosen a provider they trust to adhere to those standards.

This story was originally published July 14, 2020 at 8:36 PM with the headline "Nearly half of US childcare centers say they face permanent closure, survey finds."