Closings put daycare on endangered list in Southwest Florida

Alisa Ashford knows about the difficulty of finding child care in Southwest Florida. She knows because she works at one.

“I see kids turned down because of the lack of space. I see parents who cannot communicate with the staff because they speak Spanish. Kids are being left behind. It scares me,” the 29-year-old single mother said.

Her friend Karina Ramirez also knows about the difficulties of finding quality day care. When she tried to find a voluntary prekindergarten program for her 5-year-old son all she found were waiting lists.

“I take him to a baby-sitter, but because we couldn’t find a program, he is already behind,” said Ramirez, 28. “You hear about day cares closing every day. It is unbelievable.”

As two day-care centers prepare to close their doors in Naples, finding affordable, available child care is as frustrating to parents in Collier County as finding affordable housing. Rising costs, the need for more educated staff and finding affordable space are the reasons day-care providers are getting out of the business.

“Centers need more time, more hands and money,” said Patty McIntyre, director of Precious Cargo Academy on Crayton Road. “It’s not just one thing. Help is nearly impossible to find. It’s not just us, it is all over Collier County. Restaurants have this problem. Unfortunately, it is going to get worse before it gets better.”

McIntyre said part of the problem is that new requirements from the state to further the education of employees, while good, are extremely costly. Employees have to take a 40-hour class and take a test to work in most centers.

“Day care used to be mommies who wanted to work part-time and still be with their kids. It has become more technical and more difficult. The education (training) part costs. And when they earn their CDA (Child Development Associate), they earn more money. Some centers just say it’s not worth it,” she said.

Expenses was the reason Youth Haven announced this past week that it would close the day care’s doors Aug. 31.

In a letter to parents, Youth Haven Interim Executive Director C. Ronald McSwiney wrote that increasing costs and significant losses incurred year after year left the Board of Trustees with no choice but to downsize the child-care program to only provide service to the children living in Youth Haven’s emergency shelter.

“Our board and staff have spent months exploring all available restructuring options so as not to jeopardize the level of service provided,” McSwiney wrote. “In spite of these efforts, our research concluded that these actions would not substantially support the continuation of the program as it is currently structured.”

But as about 60 families began scrambling to find another child-care center, the Redlands Christian Migrant Association has stepped forward to look at taking over the center.

“We are excited about this collaboration. What a win-win if we can provide quality child care and their staff can provide intensive help for parents. We’re all excited. I don’t know any reason why we would not do this,” said Barbara Mainster, executive director of RCMA, which has offices in Immokalee.

Mainster said the takeover, which has to be approved by Youth Haven’s board, would mean some changes once RCMA took over.

“The staff would have to reapply to us and our salary scales are not as high as Youth Haven, which was part of the reason they were operating a deficit. You can’t keep a center open with all full-time people. We would have to use part-timers,” she said.

Mainster said RCMA would like to start a full-day program that would include a half day of prekindegarten and a half day of child care. She said RCMA also would like to do an afterschool program for young students.

“If we can get some afterschool kids in, it is a group that is less costly. When you have a program with infants and toddlers, it can be expensive,” she said.

Infants and toddlers have to have a smaller teacher/child ratio than children who are older, Mainster said.

Cost is one of the problems facing day-care centers in Southwest Florida, Mainster said.

“Affordability is an issue in terms of what people can pay. All child care needs subsidies. There is no way to do high-quality child care without some help. When Youth Haven showed us their financials, they were laying out more in salaries than they were taking in basic costs,” she said.

But will parents keep their children at Youth Haven when and if it is turned over to RCMA?

Mainster said that, while RCMA is close to a deal to take over the East Naples center, she would advise parents to keep looking for day care for their children.

Pam Moran, whose son attended day care at Youth Haven, said she has already found a new place for child care.

“I’ve put a deposit on another place so we are not stuck come August,” she said. “I’d have to see what the program was like and how this all plays out. At this point, he already has another place to go.”

Youth Haven was not the only child-care center in the Naples area that announced it would end its child-care operations. Kiddie Korral Play School on Goodlette-Frank Road in Naples will close its doors Friday, June 16.

Owner Rebecca Wallace said after 38 years in the business, she is ready to retire.

“I was hoping to go out quietly. I feel bad for the families. But I have been at this a long time and I am ready to retire,” she said.

Donna Philp, Collier services director of Child Care of Southwest Florida, called the closings “a crisis.”

“We have been trying to promote the opening of more child care here. It is a big problem. We need more day-care facilities in Collier County,” she said.

Philp cited real estate and construction costs, the low pay for child-care workers and the expansion of the state’s voluntary prekindergarten program as some of the reasons that day-care centers are needed.

“It is a community issue. Day care affects you whether you have children or not because if a parent cannot find child care, they can’t work,” she said.

Those who still need to find voluntary prekindergarten are in luck. The Collier County School District still has slots available at several locations for students, according to Beth Thompson, head of elementary programs for Collier County schools.

“We had 280 kids sign up and 210 were here on Day 1,” she said. “We are wide open.”

But, Thompson warned, only certain schools are being used this year for voluntary prekindergarten and parents might not get their first choice.