Parents of young children across Iowa are struggling to find child care. “I recently called everywhere in Ankeny, probably 15-20 different daycares. And I was shocked to hear a waiting list was 70 families deep,” Ankeny mom Kellee Briggs said.Briggs is ready to return to work after a few months of maternity leave, but she has struggled to find a daycare for her 4-month-old triplets.She finally found one center with room for the triplets, but most centers said no. Some said there was at least a year-long wait.”That’s not even looking at safety. So we’re solely looking at who could take them. And that’s obviously not a great feeling for a parent to have to base it on just who can versus where would you really like to send your kid at and feel comfortable with that decision?” Briggs said.State lawmakers passed laws this year allowing centers to increase the number of kids per worker and letting 16-year-olds watch kids without adult supervision. But Grace Barnes, who teaches two-years at 2 for U Childcare in Ankeny, argues those changes would make staff shortages even worse. Watch: Republican-sponsored child care plan passes State Senate”If you increase ratio, teachers will leave. There will be teachers who leave,” Barnes said. “If you’re not in a good state of mind, how can you take care of kids? That’s so difficult.”This is why child care director Morgan Michael chose not to change the ratios, hoping to prevent teacher burnout.”We have had to shut classrooms down because we don’t have those quality staff members. And we want to continue promising our families that we are giving them the quality program that we are here to serve them,” Michael said.Michael says she’s still hoping for other solutions to help recruit and keep teachers in the classroom. She says increasing teacher pay would go a long way to fix child care challenges in our state.Other headlines:
Parents of young children across Iowa are struggling to find child care.
“I recently called everywhere in Ankeny, probably 15-20 different daycares. And I was shocked to hear a waiting list was 70 families deep,” Ankeny mom Kellee Briggs said.
Briggs is ready to return to work after a few months of maternity leave, but she has struggled to find a daycare for her 4-month-old triplets.
She finally found one center with room for the triplets, but most centers said no. Some said there was at least a year-long wait.
“That’s not even looking at safety. So we’re solely looking at who could take them. And that’s obviously not a great feeling for a parent to have to base it on just who can versus where would you really like to send your kid at and feel comfortable with that decision?” Briggs said.
State lawmakers passed laws this year allowing centers to increase the number of kids per worker and letting 16-year-olds watch kids without adult supervision. But Grace Barnes, who teaches two-years at 2 for U Childcare in Ankeny, argues those changes would make staff shortages even worse.
Watch: Republican-sponsored child care plan passes State Senate
“If you increase ratio, teachers will leave. There will be teachers who leave,” Barnes said. “If you’re not in a good state of mind, how can you take care of kids? That’s so difficult.”
This is why child care director Morgan Michael chose not to change the ratios, hoping to prevent teacher burnout.
“We have had to shut classrooms down because we don’t have those quality staff members. And we want to continue promising our families that we are giving them the quality program that we are here to serve them,” Michael said.
Michael says she’s still hoping for other solutions to help recruit and keep teachers in the classroom. She says increasing teacher pay would go a long way to fix child care challenges in our state.
Other headlines:
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