Child Care in Connecticut: Unaffordable to Offer, Hard to Find
ROCKY HILL, CT — New data released by 211 Child Care shows that Connecticut’s child care programs (licensed family child care homes and centers) are operating at only an estimated 74% of their legally authorized capacity. This helps to answer a question plaguing many Connecticut families, “Why can’t I find child care?”
One in four child care slots in Connecticut – more than 40,000 legally authorized slots – exist only on paper and are not available for children and their parents. United Way of Connecticut/211 Child Care just released the 2024 point-in-time data through an interactive online map to allow stakeholders to see a snapshot of estimated actual child care capacity, enrollment and open slots in their local communities.
“This new map provides an important tool to better understand where families have the least access to care. The data can help inform decision-making on investments needed to create an early care and education system responsive to Connecticut’s needs,” said Emily Byrne, Executive Director of CT Voices for Children, publisher of the 2023 State of Early Childhood report.
Sherri Sutera, Senior Vice President of Child Care Services, United Way of Connecticut, said, “The data underscores that, as a first step to increase actual child care availability, there is an opportunity to work with providers to get them up to fully licensed capacity. Partnering with child care providers to fix problems that limit capacity – like increasing wages for staff or making improvements to existing facilities – can help a community to increase the number of child care slots more cost-effectively and quickly than building new brick-and-mortar centers.”
“This additional data provides a new opportunity to think strategically about how and where local and state leaders, parents, philanthropy and providers can work together to address this urgent need,” said Lisa Tepper Bates, President & CEO, United Way of Connecticut.
Why the shortage?
The actual costs of providing child care, particularly quality care, often exceeds the fees that providers can charge in Connecticut. Child care providers face a significant challenge because many parents can barely afford what they pay now.
The 2023 ALICE Report on Connecticut households who are Asset Limited, Income Constrained, and Employed measures the true cost of living in our state. The bare-bones ALICE survival budget accounts only for necessities (housing, food, transportation, child care and similar costs). 39% of families in our state fall at or below the survival budget line – just making ends meet paycheck-to-paycheck or falling behind. The survival budget shows that an ALICE family of two parents, a baby and a toddler must pay one quarter or more of their monthly income on child care alone (nearly two times as much as the housing costs for these families). Child care providers hear from parents every day that they simply cannot afford to spend more of their income on child care.
As a result, child care workers’ wages (the single biggest cost driver for a child care provider) remain low: the Blue Ribbon Panel report indicated that the median wage for child care workers in our state is $15.34 per hour – less than a cook, a stocker or a truck driver make. Higher pay offered for other jobs, combined with the demanding nature of child care work, creates fierce competition for employees.
The Blue Ribbon Panel on Child Care Report noted, “Capacity is different than enrollment, and hundreds of classrooms across the state cannot open or add enrollment due to chronic workforce shortages.”
Heather Larocque, owner and director of Nurturing Kids Child Care Center in Jewett City, corroborates this problem: “We’re not operating at full licensed capacity due to staffing.” A 2024 snapshot shows that while the state of Connecticut has authorized 155,684 child care slots at programs across the state, those programs actually offer only an estimated 115,462 slots: 40,222 slots that should be available to parents may not exist when parents go to look for child care.
In 211 Child Care’s recent opening and enrollment survey, child care providers from across the state consistently lamented this situation. One commented: “We currently have 51 children registered part time. We have been struggling for the past six months to hire staff and do not have sufficient staff to fill the openings that we should have.” Capacity for infants and toddlers is a particular area of need.
Creating the opportunity for a family child care home provider to afford to hire an assistant could create additional capacity to serve that group. Other issues, like a lack of funds to improve facilities, can also limit capacity. A provider who is fortunate enough to have sufficient labor might lack the funds needed for upgrades, for example to create a diaper-changing space that meets state health and safety regulations – also necessary to expand service for infants and toddlers.
United Way of Connecticut/211 Child Care collected data for this report through surveys of child care providers and also used data provided by the Office of Early Childhood further to routine licensing inspection visits. Data extrapolation methodology was developed in consultation with DataHaven. Click here to explore the new interactive online map. Please note: the map data currently represents an estimated snapshot in time and will not reflect ongoing fluctuations in capacity and enrollment.
ABOUT UNITED WAY OF CONNECTICUT
The mission of United Way of Connecticut is to help Connecticut residents thrive by providing information, education and connection to services. United Way of Connecticut is recognized by the Hartford Business Journal as a 2023 Best Workplace in Connecticut. Visit our media center for media requests and inquiries. For more information, visit ctunitedway.org
ABOUT 211 CHILD CARE
211 Child Care helps families find childcare to best meet their needs and maintains current listings of licensed and license exempt childcare programs in Connecticut. The team provides early care professionals with training, technical assistance and resources.