Demand Down For Local Child Care Services
Beverly Lessard, owner and director of Boxboro Children Center, a 23-year-old child care center, has a better window than most into what’s going on in the economy.
“My husband actually refers to my business as the ‘BCC Index,’” she said.
That’s because the Children Center, like other child care facilities, sees the impact of layoffs firsthand. And lately, like other economic measures, the child care index has been way down.
Lessard said that in the past two months she’s had three children, out of about 45 in her center, pulled out because their parents lost their jobs.
Down 50 Percent
At A Home Away From Home Child Care in Ashburnham, owner Chrystal Maguire said the change has been even more dramatic.
She said she’s had a few parents take their children out of her center specifically because they lost their jobs, but she’s also simply had fewer enrollments.
Maguire said her center opened about a year and a half ago and was at its full capacity of 24 children before its first anniversary. Now it’s down to between 12 and 15.
Providers say it can be a challenge for parents to figure out how to handle their child care arrangements when they lose their jobs.
At First Steps Children’s Center of Southborough, director Barbara Tessier said she’s seen little drop-off due to the recession so far but since many of the children’s parents work at large companies like Bose Corp. that have announced layoffs, it may be just a matter of time.
“I know parents have voiced concern that they might be changing, they might need to cut their days back,” she said.
Since the Southborough center, which is licensed for 75, often has a waiting list, Tessier said parents who lose their jobs face a dilemma.
They hope to find new jobs soon and want to make sure their children still have child care to return to, but their budget has take a sudden dive.
Tessier said the center allows them to cut their children’s hours back from full- to part-time, which also gives them time to work on their job searches.
Besides the difficulties it creates for parents, pulling children out of child care entirely can also disrupt their routines and separate them from friends.
Maguire said the transition was particularly hard for one child with special needs who recently left her center after her father lost his job.
“That was a big deal for her to have to leave child care, her normal routine,” Maguire said.
By The Numbers
Of course, losing a significant part of their customer base is also a challenge for the child care centers themselves.
Lessard said her center has reduced its numbers over the past few years due not only to the economy but also to factors like local demographics and competition.
That has means she’s had to lay off her part-time staff, paring down to a full-time core.
Maguire said she’s also had to reduce her staff and is no longer able to keep her teacher-student ratio above the government-mandated level, as she has in the past. The business is still stable at about half-full, she said, but it’s not bringing in much money for her.
“Me personally, as the owner, I have to struggle,” she said. “I’m struggling with bills at home and car payments.”
Locally and nationally day care is a significant part of the economy. According to the most recent U.S. Census data available, there are approximately 2.6 million children under the age of 5 in day care.
And according to the Massachusetts Economic Census for 2002, there are 1,911 day care establishments in the Bay State that account for 25,000 employees.
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