CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Parents from across the state are urging lawmakers to solve the issue of funding for childcare providers.
On Sunday, the first day of the August interim legislative session, mothers, fathers, and their children made their way to the Capitol lawn in Charleston to make their voices heard in the Solutions to State’s Child Care Crisis rally. The rally spoke on the potential lack of funds to provide statewide child care workers at the end of the year.
Child care workers in the state have been paid based off enrollment rather than attendance since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The funding came from a combination of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds through the West Virginia Department of Human Services (DoHS).
The West Virginia DoHS has come out and said that there is enough TANF funds to continue paying child care providers until the end of 2024, but if those funds should be exhausted by the end of the year, other contingency plans would have to be put in place.
Parents and agencies used the Capitol lawn to share their stories, backgrounds, and experiences with trying to provide for their families, and not being able to do so without the aid of a child care provider, in an effort to get the urgency of child care workers in West Virginia across to lawmakers.
Kristy Ritz, executive director of West Virginia Association for Young Children, says these stories should spark the attention of lawmakers.
We believe that their stories are going to hopefully flip a switch in some of our lawmakers to make them understand that this is a very important subject and they need to pay attention,” Ritz said Sunday.
Ritz says there is support of the effort in the legislature, but the issue needs more discussion.
“We do have a lot of child care champions in the legislature, so it’s a very bipartisan issue,” Ritz said. ” A lot of them are on board with funding child care, it’s just, where’s the money going to come from and how much is needed?”
Amy Jo Hutchison, West Virginia Campaign Director for Mom’s Rising, says she has heard from three providers that their child care centers in Morgantown will be closing and likely more across the state. Meanwhile, Governor Jim Justice says there has been a misconception about the current child care situation.
“Everybody is running around all over the place saying we’ve got child care centers that are folding up right and left and we’re not going to have child care and this and that, and a lot of it is unfounded, but with all that being said, we’ve got funding, we can do it,” Justice said.
Hutchison says they have, in fact, seen alarming numbers and something does to be done.
“We’ve already lost 720 slots this year and with more coming,” Hutchison said. “We’re kind of at a tipping point to be honest. Either we do this, or it’s going to be a total child care collapse.”
Hutchison says child care workers often mean much more to families than just being an employee.
“Child care providers, they usually become a part of your family,” Hutchison said. “Your kids rely on them and love them, so it’s not just for their own kids, but it’s for the thousands of kids across the state.”
Hutchison says she knows what it’s like to try to raise kids without much support in this state.
“I was the only parent of two girls in West Virginia, so I know what it’s like to be in the margins and try to raise your kids in those margins without a lot of resources, without a lot of support,” Hutchison said. “We’re never going to be able to be self-sustaining if we don’t have someone that we trust to take good care of our kids.”
Allison Holstein, a mother from Kanawha County, says she hopes people will see this rally and understand what kind of burden families have without proper, fully funded child care options.
“Hopefully out of this, we just get some understanding and awareness of how important child care is and what a financial strain that child care can put on some families,” Holstein said.