Connecticut is in need of more day care facilities, and a recent study explored ways to strengthen at-home day care facilities and give providers the support they need to overcome barriers to improving and expanding services.
The Connecticut office of the national nonprofit, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), conducted the study of the state’s day care system. The report considered problems with center-based and at-home child care facilities.
“Connecticut had not been regularly investing in facilities for quite some time,” Kasey LaFlam, a program director with LISC, said.
As part of the report, LISC surveyed nearly 600 early childhood day care providers across Connecticut.
Eighty percent of at-home day care providers and 71% of centers said that they were not confident that they had the funding reserved to address an emergency facility issue, according to the report.
“The result is, you know, providers are putting off making repairs, which can then down the road, turn into more costly problems that could also jeopardize their ability to remain open and serving children,” LaFlam said. “Seventy-one percent of all the providers we surveyed really identified the need for health and safety upgrades.”
While many of the state’s child care centers need updates, Connecticut is also in need of more centers to accommodate about 17,000 infants and toddlers who have no place to go as centers fill quickly, LaFlam said.
LaFlam and her team used the report to identify ways to make grant funding available to at-home day care providers who are renters.
“How do we support them in making minor changes internally through furniture, fixtures and equipment, or maybe some critical health and safety changes?” LaFlam said.
With grant funding, LISC was able to help about 80 at-home providers.
Grants can be used to help upgrade child care spaces, LaFlam said. The funding could be used to assist providers in finding and affording contractors who have experience servicing child care locations.
LISC also aims to guide state lawmakers on changes in language to include at-home providers.
An additional $10 million that’s currently appropriated to support day care facilities across the state will be used to create a technical assistance program to help providers identify ways to improve their spaces and make the business more viable, among other uses, LaFlam said.
Cost also prevents many at-home providers can’t afford to have a designated space for the children in their care, according to Liz Fraser, who runs LISC’s Early Childhood Facilities and Renovation Project.
“Fifty-two percent of family providers operate their programs right in their main living spaces, and don't have a dedicated space for children, which can make it difficult for families to live in the same space as an early childhood space,” Fraser said.
The cost barrier has prevented providers from creating a child care-specific space in their homes, such as a four-season porch, or a finished basement, Fraser said.
The topic of child care upgrades and system changes is particularly relevant as child care funding is part of the governor’s budget which the legislature will vote on in the coming weeks, Fraser said.
“The income providers receive doesn't provide enough funding to pay even staff with wages compensatory to their education and experience,” Fraser said. “Yet parents can't afford the early care expense, so the inability to afford care impacts the ability to work, especially for women. Facilities, improvements and expansions are just a part of how we sustain and grow that system of care.”
