Tracking Down Quality Child Care Can Be Time Consuming and Expensive

By Shelly Sigo, The Bradenton Herald, Pla.
Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News

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BRADENTON, Fla. sJune l0, 1996--When Mary Anderson went back to work full time, plunking down $75 a week for her son's care required budgeting at first.

Now that her 23-month-old son Daniel has been at A Growing Place in Palmetto for about a year, she is pleased with the care he receives.

"It's a bigger day care with two teachers in every classroom and that makes you feel safe. They do a good job," said Anderson, 27, who schedules surgery at Manatee Memorial Hospital. Her husband, Bill, 33, is a used-car salesman.

But the child-care payment is still a chunk out of the Anderson family's budget, especially since they don't qualify for subsidized care.

"That's the first expense that comes out of each paycheck," Anderson said.

Child care is a very difficult thing for many people to afford, said Carol Hunt, director of Project Child Care, 1003 17th St. W., Palmetto. Project Child Care is the central agency for child-care referrals and subsidies in Manatee County since 1985.

Her agency doles out state subsidies for 1,100 local children whose parents meet state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services income guidelines and another 75 children who receive subsidies through Manatee County Children's Services.

The state and county funding either provides parents with vouchers for day care or the children attend one of the 37 local child-care centers and homes under contract with Project Child Care.

Project Child Care owns A Crowing Place, which serves 153 children, 70 percent of whom receive subsidized care. The agency also operates e day care center for about 200 teenage mothers that is funded by the Manatee County School Board

Nationwide, parents pay an average of $3,500 a year for care, reported the Child Care Action Campaign, a national not-for-profit child advocacy organization in New York City.

The advocacy group - which seeks better standards for child care - found that one-third of workers nationwide need child care, while absenteeism from work due to child care breakdowns cost businesses $3 billion each year.

According to the Florida Children's Forum, another advocacy group, 61,000 income-qualified parents are receiving public child-care subsidies, with another 25,000 parents on waiting lists.

In Manatee County, 1,175 parents receive subsidies.

Another 279 working parents are eligible for subsidies, but there isn't enough money to help them, Hunt said.

Those parents are paying for child care and struggling, Hunt said. "Or, they have their kids in compromising situations either juggling them between friends and family or leaving them alone."

While some people can't afford child care now, people like Hunt fear that new welfare-law restrictions will further limit financial assistance.

Child-care experts believe stimulating learning experiences in the first five years of life are critical for proper development of the brain and thought processes.

Those experts advocate improvements in the quality of day care, which would increase training costs and salaries for child care workers.

While Project Child Care provides state-mandated training for all local child-care workers, it is very basic training, Hunt said.

Most day cares can't afford to pay the salaries trained and certified teachers command, so they are forced to train unqualified staff members and have a higher ratio of children to adults just to break even.

"The dilemma is the majority of parents can't pay for care now, or they have a hard time paying for care," said Hunt. "The child care community can't afford to provide the level of cars that children need."

Child-care programs in Manatee County offer a range of programs, said Hunt, from those that simply watch children; to those that offer safe and healthy environments with limited stimulating activities; to those that emphasize top-rate developmentally appropriate programs.

"We are probably providing a little bit of good care in some places, mediocre care in others and hopefully no poor care," Hunt said.

Quality is a concern to many parents, but money drives their decisions about child care, Project Child Care Resource Director Rosa Trahan-Wise said.

"You can hear the frustration in the voice of parents who know what type of child care they want," Trehan-Wise said. "When we tell them how much it will cost, they sacrifice quality for less money."

And summer is a particularly difficult time for parents who need to find care for school-age children.

They are tempted by signs that pop up in front yards offering child-sitting services at seemingly affordable prices, said Trahan-Wise.

"Many families use illegal providers ... rather than pay $80 a week for good, quality care," she said.

There are 282 licensed or registered child-care providers in Manatee County and Project Child Care can help any parent - regardless of income --find child care.

People come to us in tears because they don't know where to turn," Trahan-Wise said. "Our staff does a good job helping them."

The agency uses a computer program to match providers with parents. Staff members help parents find care during odd days or hours, and they know providers who will work with financially struggling parents.

They also qualify parents for subsidies that can make a difference for people like Shonda Davis, 23, of Bradenton, who is separated and raising five children.

With subsidies, Davis pays $32 every two weeks for three of her children, Nakia Cummings, 4, Devontae' Cummings, 3, and Eboni Davis, 1, to attend A Growing Place.

She pays $20 a month for son, D'Uuintin Holloman, 5, to attend Manatee County Nursery School. Daughter Tiffani Davis, 8, attends boys & Girls Clubs of Manatee.

Davis, who also works at A Growing Place, is grateful for the financial assistance. Without it, she would have to pay more than $300 a month for child care end could not afford to work.

People who don't work or who abuse the system that provides for subsidies worry Davis.

"People who don't work need to try to get a Job," she said. "I feel the people trying to do better ought to get the subsidies," Davis said.

HERE ARE SOME TIPS FOR PARENTS FROM PROJECT CHILD CARE:

1. Plan well in advance searching for your child's day-care needs. Some facilities have limited openings or waiting lists.
   
   
2. Check out at least three day-care centers or child-care homes before choosing one for your child.
   
   
3. Visit each center or home and talk to teachers/staff at least twice -one announced visit and one unannounced visit.
   
   
4. Ask for the qualifications and length of employment of teachers/staff.
   
   
5. Review health and safety inspection reports at the state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services child Day Care Licensing and Regulations office, 353 Sixth Ave. W., in Pinnacle Plaza.
   
   
6. Talk to other parents who use the services you are considering.
   
   
7. Buy the best care you can afford.
   
   
8. Once you find day care, get involved. Get to know the teachers and care-givers. Find out what's happening with your child and ask questions.
   
   

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