Pandemic, labor shortage worsens childcare crisis

Patten addressed the issue before the Wasco County Board of Commissioners May 18. She said at least one caregiver with a bachelor’s degree is required to run the program, and the certified teacher left the program. The remaining teacher is not certified.

“They can’t reopen until they have a qualified teacher,” Patten said. “Until then, they are working on a home-based model.” Because parents are directly involved and present, a certified teacher is not required for the home-based program.

“They will be back up and running when the have a teacher,” Patton said.

Maupin City Manager Kevin Lewis described the situation as a vicious circle, especially for family-based childcare providers who are making only $12 an hour. “That is terrible,” he said of the low wage opportunity.

“This is more than a business model issue, this is sustaining our future,” he said. Lewis said that as a volunteer Emergency Medical Service first responder (EMS), he has seen a lack of volunteers in the area because young adults leave to find work elsewhere. “We can’t maintain our rural communities, if people don’t stay in our community and volunteer. Infrastructure is no good if we don’t have people staying around,” he said.  

Jordan Belozer, a former coordinator with Head Start in Tygh Valley, told the board via Zoom his own experience was exactly as Lewis described. “I had to leave my position once I had kids, because I couldn’t find childcare for my own kids,” said.

Workforce shortage

Finding a new certified teacher for the Maupin Head Start program could take awhile. The Gorge region — like most of the state and nation — is currently facing a critical workforce shortage in childcare.

“The real crisis is the workforce,” Patten explained, noting there are currently 75 to 80 unfilled childcare job openings in the region just among existing programs.

The lack of qualified staff has limited the number of children that can be served in existing programs as well as the number of new providers available in the region.

Substitute teachers are also hard to find, forcing providers to shut down when a staff member is unable to work.

Caregivers at all levels are impacted, she said. “This workforce shortage also impacts ability to find a family-level childcare provider,” she said. “They are self employed, but it’s hard to do, with no health insurance, no retirement ... it’s a home business.”

With the exception of government-funded programs like Head Start, most childcare providers “live under the poverty level,” Patten said. The average wage for home-based childcare is $12 an hour. “They are not getting rich doing this.”

Patten said providers could charge more, but parents can’t afford to pay more. “Childcare costs more than a college education, and parents just can’t afford it,” she said. Over half of the providers in the region are giving families a break, or accepting delayed payment. “But all that effects their bottom line as well.”

In a home care setting, which can handle up to 10 kids of mixed ages, providers charge $4-$5 an hour. “That has to cover wages, food, materials, repair, liability insurance ... the cost of childcare is significantly more than that,” Patten said.

The lack of childcare effects every aspect of a community, Patten said, and solutions were needed everywhere, and especially in the south end of Wasco County, she said.

Funding supports

Patten said the time may be right for changing the childcare picture.

“Everyone is talking about the importance of childcare,” she said. “This is a prime opportunity to support childcare in our communities, raising awareness and building support.

“We need more space,” she added.

Patten noted that during the pandemic, state and federal grants were available to help childcare providers, including reopening grants and stabilization grants.

About 98% of the childcare providers in Wasco County received emergency stabilization grants during the COVID-19 pandemic closures. Grants were also received to help Child Care Partners provide more specialized business training to help support childcare providers with the business skills they need to succeed, Patten said.

Nevertheless, 18 providers have closed in the county in the past few years, five due to the pandemic. Others closed due to retirement, health issues, moving, changing careers, doing foster care or providing care for family members.

Barriers

In addition to workforce issues, Wasco County has additional barriers to expanding childcare services, chief among them the total lack of usable, publicly accessible space in which to house a care center.

“No usable space currently exists” in the county, Patten said. “The empty buildings we have aren’t appropriate.” In addition, there is a lack of funding for remodeling and getting such a facility up and running.

“It’s going to take a community effort to support a new childcare center in our region,” Patten told the Wasco County board. “We only have specific criteria childcare centers (like Head Start). The only other options (in the county) are family childcare centers.”

Regionally, some private childcare providers are finding success, Patten noted. “Some programs are doing very well, but they are serving our upper-income families and charge more,” she explained.

In Hood River County, for example, there are more large family-certified childcare homes. “There has been a lot of work done over the past couple of years,” Patten said. “Some large operations have closed, but another provider has stepped in and that has really helped.”

Hood River has 20 providers, compared to seven in The Dalles, she said.

Moving forward

“We’ve got to engage on this,” said Commissioner Steve Kramer. “We have the data. We need to get that data to those who could potentially help us with this issue,” he said. Expressing his frustration in trying to deal with childcare and similar pressing issues impacting the county, Kramer said, “We don’t have money for mental health, for law enforcement, for childcare, for so many things. It’s across the board. The economics of all of this needs to be taken into consideration.”

Commissioner Kathy Schwartz also expressed frustration, noting that the state’s decision to create a new department related to childcare didn’t solve the problem. “We need subsidized care, not a new state department. That doesn’t trickle down to the need,” she said. “It’s frustrating.”

Dan Spatz, executive director for institutional advancement at Columbia Gorge Community College, said the college was looking at building a small facility, with 2 or 3,000 square feet of space for an infants and toddlers childcare program, to be operated in conjunction with the childcare workforce training programs at the college.

Patten, whose office is affiliated with the college, noted caring for infants and toddlers is the most expensive type of care.

“We are starting with the hardest one,” Spatz said, noting they had to be careful not to start out too large, and didn’t have a working model to work with.

“If we can resolve the greatest need on a small scale, then we can grow it,” Spatz said. “There is no successful model of rural childcare in Oregon.”