It’s not just that daycare is hard to find. For many people, it’s simply not available.
Since the Valdez child care center Stepping Stones closed two years ago, working parents like Brianne Skilbred have had to scramble.Stepping Stones was the only licensed facility offering all-day care. The only other licensed provider is a preschool that offers half-day classes a few days a week, and even that is near capacity.
The main problem was staffing, she said. The center was offering hourly wages from $14 to $24 an hour, depending on experience, but in the wake of the pandemic, Skilbred said, they needed more than wages to attract employees. Susan Love, a college administrator and the chair of a city child care task force, said the lack of licensed providers sharply limits who has access.
“If we are trying to pull all the many resources of the town together to help solve the problem, and we’re struggling with it, I think it speaks to the complexity and the the depth of how challenging the problem is,” she said.Still, in years past, people and businesses have made it work. But Elise Sorum-Birk, the deputy city clerk for Valdez who worked closely with the task force, said things have changed.
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