Study Finds Acute Shortage of Child Care

An extensive study has found an urgent need for more licensed child care throughout Los Angeles County and revealed that only a handful of in-home programs and day-care centers are accredited, suggesting that some children may not be receiving the brain-stimulating experiences they need for healthy development.

Countywide, an additional 200,000 licensed spaces are needed for school-age children and more than 100,000 for infants 6 weeks to 2 years old, according to the Los Angeles County Child Care Needs Assessment study to be considered Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors.

The report also found:

* Deficiencies vary depending on the community, with some areas needing more infant care while others need more space for preschool children.

* Low-income areas, particularly Latino communities, have the most severe shortages of affordable day care.

* More than 100,000 children are on waiting lists for subsidized care.

* Additional financial assistance is needed to help low-income working families obtain licensed child care.

“There are a lot of sorely neglected low-income working families who need child care,” said Laura Escobedo of the Child Care Resource Center in Van Nuys, which refers parents to licensed providers and dispenses subsidies to eligible families. “We have a lot of families that are in a real bind. Maybe they’re making $20,000. They can’t take $500 to $600 [a month] out for child care.”

To alleviate the situation, the Child Care Planning Committee’s report recommends more space for infants, increased funding for subsidized infant care, and easing the process for building new day care facilities. The study also recommended improving training for child-care workers and increasing their hourly wages, which average between $7.24 and $12.19. Exactly how much this would cost was not specified in the report.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said Friday that the dearth of licensed child care is not surprising, considering all the mothers who have traded welfare checks for paychecks.

“It’s very much part and parcel of our own welfare implementation,” he said. “In the short run, money [for child care] isn’t the problem. The bigger challenge is to get qualified child-care facilities and providers in amounts that would meet the demand that welfare reform requires.”

The report, to be completed every five years, was required as part of AB 1542, the landmark welfare reform bill signed by Gov. Pete Wilson in 1997. It was funded through the state Department of Education and took a year to complete.

Eight geographic areas of the county were studied. Among the specific findings:

* The San Fernando, Santa Clarita and San Gabriel valleys have the greatest need for infant care.

* Downtown, West Hollywood and East Los Angeles have severe shortages of both infant and preschool care.

* The pervasive poverty in South-Central Los Angeles undermines the expansion of services while relatively affluent communities on the Westside struggle to meet the needs of working low-income families.

Long Waiting Lists for Subsidies

Some families are on long waiting lists for government child-care subsidies. Others earn annual incomes barely above the state limit of $37,608 for a family of four, making them ineligible for government programs, yet unable to afford licensed child care. Instead, their children generally are watched by neighbors, family members or perhaps parents who work opposite shifts.

Despite an apparent need for more child care, research showed that child-care centers countywide have a 17% vacancy rate and in-home programs have a 25% vacancy rate.

The main reason for this discrepancy is the affordability of child care, said Kathy Malaske-Samu, who wrote the report. Many low-income working families can’t afford to pay for child care that can average about $100 a week, and those with higher incomes can afford to be picky.

“Quality plays a role in it,” Malaske-Samu said. “When you have the money to purchase care, you have some expectations.”

The committee estimated the demand for licensed care based on the number of mothers working and the number of people participating in the welfare reform program known as California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids or CalWORKs. The committee could not determine whether the families whose children are watched by relatives or neighbors do so out of choice or because licensed services are unavailable or unaffordable.

Officials also looked at the quality of child-care programs. Few have received accreditation by outside organizations, which focuses on education and enrichment and is separate from the licensing process concerned with health and safety issues.

To earn accreditation, providers must show that their program offers an enriching learning environment.