Childcare Becomes Less Affordable

It’s a lot quieter these days at the Concord Boys and Girls Club.

Typically, Tom Parizo explains....

TAPE: we see 120-135 youth per day...right now we are seeing 90.

In an effort to get a handle on why their enrollment dropped 25%, staff called families who, in some cases, had sent their kids to the club for years.

Parizo says a pattern emerged pretty quickly.

TAPE: the individuals that are not able to attend anymore are our low-income families that really count on the state to help them with childcare.

The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services runs the Childcare Scholarship program.

The program helps subsidize daycare and after-school programs for families that make 250% or less of the federal poverty line.

Beginning this summer, the state changed reimbursement rates to places like the Concord Boys and Girls Club in order to comply with federal guidelines.

The result is some childcare centers now receive higher co-pays from the state, while others get less.

Those places that get less are asking parents to kick in more money, a difficult proposition, especially given the current economy.

HHS’s Ellen Wheatley says she speaks to several parents a day on the phone.

She says she understands the impact of these changes.

TAPE: what families tell me is that the increase in what they are having to pay is a real drain on their families. So it’s difficult for them to cut other expenses to pay more for childcare.

To make matters worse, Wheatley says due to a lousy economy, more people are seeking out state assistance.

In less than a year, September 2008 to this July, program enrollment jumped 14.5%.

Wheatley says as a consequence, starting October 1st, the state will open a waitlist.

TAPE: having a waitlist is probably the biggest tragedy in childcare throughout this state. It will be very difficult for families. It will be very difficult for places that want to hire low-income families. If they don’t have childcare, they won’t be very reliable in terms of being at work. And when they are at work, they may be worried about their children.
Wheatley says she’s not sure how long people will have to wait once on the list.

But, regretfully, she says it could take up to a year.

Some families, like 43-year old Wanda Kula and her 8 year old son can’t afford childcare because of the economic downturn.

Kula worked at Precision Technology until the plant closed down last month.

She had been paying full freight to send her boy to the Concord Boys and Girls Club.

After she lost her job though, she had to pull him.

TAPE: I cannot afford to do the $60 a week. Even $10 a week right now is not affordable for me. I can’t do it.

Kula says she’s noticed a change in her son since he stopped going.

TAPE: he hasn’t been happy. The routine he’s had for the past two years was taken away from him.

Instead of sports, cooking and games at the Club, Kula says it’s been a steady diet of T.V. and video games.

But earlier this week, the Club told her to send him back and not worry about the money.

And Kula was very happy for both of them.

TAPE: I can’t afford to send him to karate class. But yet, I went over there yesterday and there was a karate instructor for the next six weeks teaching kids karate. That’s a good thing.

Kula says her son will definitely be able to go to the Club for the rest of this week, but after that she’s not sure.

With more families struggling and the change in state funding, places like the Boys and Girls Club and Girls Inc. understand it’s a new day.

To make sure kids like Wanda Kula’s son don’t go home alone, or wind up at some sitter’s house watching cartoons, they’ve got to find ways to raise more money.

Everyone agrees, that’s not an easy thing.

For NHPR News, I’m DG.