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Day Care Shutdowns in Sacramento Region Leave Parents Scrambling

After the economy caused her daughter's preschool to contract and close, Amy Peterson-Mar was faced with several tough questions.

Would she be able to find affordable care? Should she look for a center near her home or near her job? And how would she break the news to Elspeth, known to everyone but the folks who printed her birth certificate as "Beanie"?

In the end, Peterson-Mar said, she found a family care home that would work for a while and "we told (Beanie) she was going to camp."

Parents across the region are facing similar tough choices, with some pulling their kids out of day care because they have lost jobs, others forced to move their children elsewhere, often at higher cost, as centers close.

Sacramento County suffered a net loss of about 500 family day care homes and 10 large child care centers between 2006 and 2008, according to a new study by the California Child Care Resource & Referral Network.

Those closures reduced available child care slots in the county by more than 4,300, or roughly 8 percent. Ongoing job losses and foreclosures have caused the trend to continue, several child care providers and experts said.

In short, volatility reigns, and children are caught in the middle. And the loss of longtime child care providers could hamper economic recovery, advocates say, because when people eventually find jobs again, they'll compete for fewer spaces.

"You do it as long as you can," said the Rev. Michael Kiernan, who oversaw St. Patrick's Day Care, where Beanie Mar attended classes until its June closure. "At some point, you have to face the evil day."

A stressful transition

St. Patrick's seemed the perfect choice for the Mar family: It was stable, having been around for 15 years, and matched their frugal budget, offering five-day-a-week care for $500 a month, Peterson-Mar said.

Beanie was 2 1/2 when she started at the preschool in March 2008, one of 30 children divided into two classes of 15. The school had a diverse mix. Some of the kids in Beanie's class were from the surrounding south Sacramento neighborhood; others, like Beanie, lived in the nearby Pocket community.

A few months into Beanie's tenure, the downsizing began.

"One day, there were 15 kids," Peterson-Mar recalled. "And the next day, there were 13. And the next day, there were 10. And you say to yourself, 'What is happening?' "

That question was particularly relevant in south Sacramento, where 118 of 399 family day care homes closed between 2006 and 2008, according to the California Child Care Resource & Referral Network. That's a 30 percent decline in just two years.

South Sacramento has one of the region's highest foreclosure rates, and some child care providers closed after losing their homes. It's also a high poverty area with a relatively low proportion of college graduates – the group that has suffered the most from high unemployment rates.

The situation likely will worsen in lower-income areas because of recent state cuts to child care subsidies through the welfare-to-work program, said Donna Sneeringer, who works for Child Action, part of the referral network.

Kiernan said his preschool had struggled in recent years to keep its prices in the financial comfort zone of the surrounding community. "That's one of the things that catches up with you," he said.

The preschool stopped offering its free lunch, said Annemarie Meyer, whose son Sean also attended. Then it let a teacher go, cutting back from two classes to one.

"They told us there was a chance they were going to close," Meyer said.

Around June, that warning turned into a reality.

"We had to make some choices about where we put our resources," said Kiernan, noting that the local diocese had experienced a drop in funding.

The Meyers were able to transition quickly: Sean was almost in kindergarten anyway.

The Mars had a tougher time. Their financial situation had worsened because Amy Peterson-Mar, a state worker, had lost three work days a month to furloughs.

The Mars used a family day care while they waited for a slot at a child care center near Peterson-Mar's job downtown. They got into that center and are thrilled with it, but are paying about $150 a month more for less care: Beanie attends only four days a week.

"St. Patrick's was such a godsend," Peterson-Mar said. "It's just very sad."

Small-business owners hurt

Just a handful of parents are left to mourn the passing of Station Imagination Day Care in Rancho Cordova.

Corin O'Briant started the family care center in her home in 2006. Back then, Rancho Cordova was booming, and she quickly filled all 12 slots.

"We were full within one month," O'Briant recalled, adding that she hired three helpers. "We had a fairly long waiting list."

Like a lot of local businesses, O'Briant was riding the wave of robust regional population growth.

From 2004 to 2006, the number of children under 13 in Sacramento County grew by 15,000, or 6 percent. The county added more than 300 family child care homes like O'Briant's during that period.

Then came the bust. From 2006 to 2008, the county lost 2,000 children, a 1 percent decline.

O'Briant started really noticing the difference last January. "At that time, we had a few kids start to age out and we weren't able to fill slots," she said.

Her problems compounded as parents lost jobs and pulled out their children. Other parents' hours were cut; they could no longer afford care.

"A lot of the parents I had were in construction when the market dropped," O'Briant said. "There was a lot of embarrassment. They said, 'We really don't want to pull our kids, but we really just can't afford it.' "

By the end of November, O'Briant was down to five kids, three of them attending only part time. That wasn't enough to pay her employees, or even support her.

So she persuaded a friend who runs a day care to take the remaining children and then posted an ad on Craigslist two days before Christmas: "Station Imagination Daycare and Preschool is closing its doors. For sale … bins of toys, baby dolls, blankets, $5 for all."

O'Briant is going back to school to get a teaching credential to add to her English degree from California State University, Sacramento.

Losing experience

Over two decades as a small day care operator, Jenny Frank amassed a library of 2,000 children's books. Large storage bins of toys line the backyard fence of her Antelope home.

Frank is hanging on, but it's getting tough. She used to have 16 kids enrolled, attending in shifts, and a waiting list.

Now, she has nine, and she has lowered the prices for many of them. She also has extended her day by an hour and a half to attract families who work longer hours, which leaves her working almost 60 hours a week.

Frank knows everyone is working harder in today's economy. She doesn't whine. She simply believes her child care home – and the experience she brings to it – is valuable to her community.

"I've been doing this 18 years, and I've never seen anything like this," she said.

On a recent Thursday, Frank sat with first-grader Kyah Bickler at the day care center's kitchen table, working through flash cards. When Kyah got snagged by the "h" in school, Frank patiently helped her sound the word out.

In the next room, two other students gently rattled presents under a Christmas tree. Frank had bought each child a gift.

"Is that mine?" 6-year-old Jacob Ramirez asked. "Where's mine?" replied 3-year-old MacKenzie Holderbein.

A few miles away in Natomas, Melissa Woodworth predicted she could hold on about three more months unless things improve. Just two students remain at Busy Bee's Day Care, which she opened five years ago – making her a veteran in the once-burgeoning new community.

"I lost two families that got laid off," Woodworth said. "Then I lost two more because the mom's home got foreclosed and they had to leave town."

As nearby day care centers fold, Woodworth worries not just about herself but about how many experienced providers will be left standing when the economy improves.

The California Child Care Resource & Referral Network estimates that Sacramento County is down to roughly one child care slot for every three children of working parents.

It could take a while to bolster those ranks. To obtain a license, owners of new child care centers and family care homes must attend an orientation, become familiar with state regulations and pass a home inspection. Those who have closed their centers can maintain their licenses by paying an annual fee – from $60 for a small care home up to $2,000 for a large center.

In one encouraging sign, the number of active licenses has not dropped significantly, county figures show. But Sneeringer, the Child Action official, said many providers with active licenses are not actually providing care.

To open again, county officials said, even veterans have to prove they still meet health and safety requirements.

"Day cares," Woodworth said, "are dropping like flies."

By: christineledbetter | In: Sacramento County News | Comments: 0 | On: 01/04/2010 04:42:19