Last year, child care experts predicted tens of thousands of children in Virginia would lose access to child care when federal funding that had been subsidizing care for thousands of low-income families during the COVID-19 pandemic expired in the summer of 2024.
Even though the state poured funding into averting that fiscal cliff earlier this year, the money for these subsidized slots ran out at the end of June — leaving families across the commonwealth unsure how they’re going to afford care.
In the first two months after the funding freeze took effect July 1, about 10,000 kids joined the waitlists for two different subsidized child care programs: the Child Care Subsidy Program and Mixed Delivery. Both programs provide full-day, full-year child care.
“I think it's a really important trend for Virginia that now two-thirds of your families are saying ‘This is what we need,’” Jenna Conway, Virginia’s deputy superintendent of early childhood care and education, told lawmakers in a September hearing.
As of Sept. 1, more than 7,500 children statewide are waiting for spots in the CCSP — 40% of whom are infants and toddlers, according to Conway.
Conway said the waitlists represent “unmet parental demand.”
“Many of them have already found a spot,” she said. “They just can’t afford it without the child care subsidy, without the voucher.”
Del. Carrie Coyner (R–Chesterfield) said it’s important to remember that those on the waitlist are “real kids” from “actual working families in Virginia who have a need and qualify, they just don’t have an opportunity right now.”
She’s on a state-led early childhood commission that plans to release a report next month with recommendations for lawmakers to consider when they reconvene in January.
“We've got to step up again,” said Del. Rodney Willett (D–Henrico) after the hearing. “I know that's a heavy lift, but it's a trickle-down thing. If families don't have child care, they can't work. If they can't work, that's an economic impact.”
A catch-22 situation
Since there’s no additional funding for child care subsidies in the current state budget, the only way a child on the waitlists will now receive a subsidized slot is if another child vacates one.
The freeze on new subsidized slots put a crunch on families as well as child care providers — including those with expansions planned, like the Peake Childhood Center in Hampton. Peake is planning to open a second center in Newport News early next year as part of a partnership with the city and Virginia Peninsula Community College.
But with the freeze on state-subsidized slots, Peake executive director Jennifer Parish said the center may not be able to open as many classrooms as it would like. Peake’s goal is for 75% of child care slots to be filled by low-income kids.
“We want to get more slots out there for families — and greater access — but it's hard on places that as part of their business model include subsidy funds as a strong portion of that,” Parish said.
In Southwest Virginia, Ballad Health is in a similar situation. The company recently invested $8 million to open three new child care centers — and had planned to open additional centers in Lee and Smyth counties in the coming months.
But according to Todd Norris, Ballad Health’s senior vice president of community and system advancement, those planned projects are now on hold because of the funding situation.
“We have built this additional capacity, and we're prepared to invest more to build more capacity, but we know that our families need the subsidy support,” Norris said.
Ballad’s business model accounts for about half of the slots in its centers going to kids from low-income families in the community. And Norris expects many of these community members would qualify for a child care subsidy that would cover some of the cost. But now there isn’t enough public funding for additional subsidized slots.
“The feedback that we're getting from families,” Norris said, “is that they either can't go into the workforce, that they're dropping out of the workforce when they have a child, or that they have to settle for less than the quality options that they would really want for their children.”
Travis Staton, president and CEO of EO Companies — an Abingdon-based nonprofit that works on educational initiatives in Southwest Virginia — has worked with Ballad on its child care expansion. He said the region is in a particularly difficult situation now when it comes to child care access.
During the pandemic, providers like Ballad stepped up to address the child care deserts that have existed across the region for years. For example, there are no licensed child care providers providing all-day care in Scott County.
But Staton said Southwest Virginia is stuck in a catch-22 situation: The needed expansions can’t be sustained without funding for more subsidized child care slots, but localities won’t be allocated more slots without expanded capacity.
“We’re making tremendous investments here,” Staton said. “There’s just not funds available for growth in the deserts where we’re finally starting to address the access problem.”
