Area child care providers said they often feel they are more inconvenienced as licensed child care providers due to the harsh regulations.
Central Missouri Community Action (CMCA) Organizer Jenn Millard invited area child care providers to the Show Me Strong Communities September meeting at California City Hall. Kelly Lucero, Show Me Strong Communities coordinator, said this is to better understand the state of available child care in Moniteau County.
The lack of child care for working parents and their families is a prominent issue within the community. The Moniteau Regional Economic Development Council (MRED) found the county qualifies as a "child care desert," an area with families in need of 50 spots for child care services.
MRED president Mike Kelly worked closely with the CMCA. Kelly brought the issue to the organization's attention during its first Show Me Strong Communities Data Walk in April. During the Data Walk representatives from different entities throughout the county assessed which needs required immediate attention from the community.
After the group came to the consensus Moniteau's lack of child care should be its main focus, attendees developed a "result statement" in subsequent meetings.
"After we met, the results statement that the group came up with...was for all families...in Moniteau County to have access to quality childcare," Lucero said. "The next thing after the group decided that that was going to be their goal statement was how would we measure that."
The group came with several data indicators to measure their progress. This includes the number of licensed childcare slots, the number of licensed childcare providers and the labor force participation rate.
"The next meeting we talked about who would we need in this room," Lucero said. "If you're going to really try to address these problems, who has to be here?"
This brought attention to the child care providers in the room and the insight they could bring to the conversation. Lucero asked providers to take 30 minutes and evaluate the root cause of Moniteau's lack of child care as a group.
Child care providers shared their struggles as parents before entering the field. They said due to the cost of child care many households forgo the service. High prices can drain half of a family's dual income, ultimately, creating high cost barrier. The providers said, for some, it can be more cost-effective to stay at home with their children than to spend money on child care. Although they try to keep their costs low it can be difficult due to the lack of employees and increasing expenses.
Another hurdle providers brought up included inconsistent evaluations from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). Providers agreed, stating the number of violations given to child care providers depends on the case worker doing the evaluation. The opinion of providers is each case worker interrupts the rules provided by DESE differently.
Some went on to say they almost feel incentivized to become or remain unlicensed child care providers, however, doing so would limit the number of children parents could enroll in their business.
Lucero told the group a member of DESE was invited to the meeting, although they did not attend.
In the final conversation of the evening, Lucero said it would be beneficial to bring a state representative to one of CMCA's Show Me Strong Communities meetings. One suggestion given by attendee Angie Bax, assistant director to Jefferson City YMCA's child care division, was to bring Moniteau County's state Rep. Willard Haley to their care centers as well so they can explain their difficulties as providers.