Advocates helping families living in ‘day care desert’

MIDDLETOWN — As the state grapples with a shortage of quality day-care spots for infants and toddlers, the Middlesex Coalition for Children has been working on the state level to pass legislation that would help make it a little easier for working parents to provide for their children.

This is taking place amid a climate of socalled “day care deserts,” meaning there are three times as many children as licensed day care slots in an area with more than 50 children under the age of 5.

Middletown has about 47 licensed day care providers, according to data compiled by the Center for American Progress, which shows the capacity of these day cares is about 1,171. By comparison, the most recent U.S. Census shows there are about 2,307 children under the age of 5 living in Middletown.

An interactive map of the United States on the center’s site allows visitors to drill down to the state level, and even to individual neighborhoods in each municipality.

Across Connecticut, 44 percent of residents live in an area without adequate child care, according to the Center of American Progress.

More than half of residents in day care deserts have a below-average income and about half are black or Hispanic. In the areas with a shortage, 41 percent of them are white and earn more than the median income.

“When we think about the notion of a day-care desert, what we’re really talking about is inequities at the very beginning of children’s lives,” said Wendy Simmons, director of education and equity at the research/advocacy group, Connecticut Voices for Children. “Because of the expense, even in places that have low levels of child care, people with means and resources will always have access and access to the best.”

Despite the high demand for child care, data from Voices for Children shows more programs are closing in the state than opening. The problem, Simmons said, is the lack of living wage. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in May 2017 that the average child care worker in Connecticut made $12.88 an hour, which amounts to less than $27,000 a year.

The Middlesex Coalition for Children, based in Middletown, advanced two bills this last legislative session that would help working parents — both of which died before the Connecticut General Assembly

could act upon them, however.

Izzi Greenberg, executive director of the coalition, is also chairwoman of the CT Early Childhood Alliance Advocacy Committee. She talks to legislators, acting as a conduit between the state legislative process and local agencies, such as preschools, schools and parent advocacy groups. “My role it to be the connector.”

Middlesex United Way Vice President of Community Impact Ed Bonilla has sat on the Middletown School Readiness Council for 11 years in various capacities. He’s now cochairman. During his tenure on the panel, day care shortages for infants and toddlers has been an ongoing and pressing issue.

“Options are few, and it seems most of the state’s efforts are [centered on] 3to 4-year-olds for school readiness to get ready for kindergarten. Obviously, with that focus — which is important — it doesn’t lend itself to infants and toddlers.”

The most important brain, social, emotional development for a child happens in the first 1,000 days, Greenberg said. “Any interventions that are necessary, any bonding, skill building, the way you interact with other people — nearly all of that is learned and developed before you even go to preschool.”

The importance of infants and toddlers being in a quality environment during this period of development can’t be overstated, she said.

Even the push for universal

preschool, which many conceive to be a potential solution to many of these issues, presents somewhat of a problem. “It really needs to be universal infants and toddlers preschool. You can’t forget that part, because that’s when the important stuff is happening,” Greenberg said.

“Being with a parent is a quality environment, especially for working parents. You’re going to gramma’s house one day, you’re going to a friends’ another day, maybe you’re at two half-days of child care — the consistency isn’t there, the opportunity for secure and regular bonding isn’t there. There’s a lot missing when parents are forced to cobble together child care,” Greenberg said.

There also exists a lack of infant/toddler spaces in day care centers and it’s very expensive for openings that do exist.

Day care is much more expensive for the very young because state regulations limit the capacity of children based on their age and the size of the facility. There must be one adult for every four infants and toddlers under the age of 3. The ratio increases to 1 to 10 for children older than 3. In family day cares, there can be up to six children who do not attend school full-time and three school-age kids.

One of the issues Greenberg has been focused on is a predictive scheduling bill, which would mandate employers to provide employees a timetable of hours in advance. The initial proposal provided for two weeks. As the session drew to a close, it was reduced to between 48 and 72 hours, effectively rendering it useless, she said. The bill eventually died. “Twenty-four hours: It really doesn’t help people in low-wage jobs,” he said.

It’s already a monumental task juggling child care, several jobs and other responsibilities that come with parenting on a limited income, Greenberg said.

Another bill the coalition proposed was a type of family leave. “It was like unemployment, where a small percentage would come out of employees’ paychecks, so it wasn’t an additional employer tax. It was a little bit of money that would come out of employee paychecks to go into a fund that would pay for people to take time off when they had a baby,” she said.

It would have allowed parents to have important bonding time with their very young children. “A lot of times, that isn’t happening because moms give birth, and have to go right back to work,” she said.

Greenberg sympathizes with parents’ frustration.

“It’s not even legal to take puppies away from their parents before they’re six weeks in most places, and here, we don’t even extend that courtesy to humans. It’s terrible.”

Simmons said there needs to be more government funding for early child care.

“The ratio is there for quality. Infants and toddlers require a lot of support,” Simmons said. “That’s why most other countries have dealt with this through government subsidies. We’re just a little behind.”