BUFFALO, N.Y. — The struggle to find available and quality child care is still very much real for many working parents with small kids, especially given how hard the COVID pandemic has hit child care centers over the past two plus years.
The workforce shortage has bad it increasingly difficult for some centers to keep their doors open.
Tanya Calloway owns Puddle Jumpers, a daycare center on Delaware Avenue in Buffalo, and has been in the industry for 27 years. Calloway says she never thought she would have to prepare for the daily challenges she's now facing.
"I am fighting for the parents and the children. I am fighting as much as I can I try to make sure that my staff is healthy," Calloway says. "I'm fighting, because the children, but I'm also drowning at the same time."
As are many child care centers, and the Omicron variant has made things even tougher.
"I'm licensed to have 69 children. And at this moment, we're at 47. But give or take, we can we can go down to 22 within a week. It depends on, you know, if the parent lost a job, or if someone has COVID, so it's up and down. It's a day to day struggle," Calloway explained.
Trying to keep up with state regulations and mandates, juggling child to staff ratios, and trying to keep up with rent are just a few of the daily challenges Calloway and her team face.
Calloway told 2 On Your Side, "I can't compete with the other companies that pay $27, $28 an hour. I want them to be happy, so I give them a sense of you know appreciation. Paid days off, I pay for trainings and things like that."
New data from a child care study funded by the CARES Act was recently unveiled by representatives from Erie County, Cornell University and other stakeholders and highlights just how serious the labor shortage is. Between 2019 and 2020, there was an 11 percent drop in child care workers.
"I have to have a floater that's around that will come in, because someone just randomly you know calls in and says, Oh, I can't come in or I have COVID I was exposed to someone with COVID," Calloway says.
And while the state has offered assistance, it's clear that if things continue the way they're going, at least in New York State, a lot more centers could be closing sooner than later.
"One minute we could have 25 kids and the next minute we have seven kids. So, it's just like the consistency of the income coming in that's really challenging," Calloway emphasized.
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