Editor’s note: This is the first article in a multi-part series unpacking the effects of the shortage of quality, affordable childcare in Seward County on families, the local economy, employers, care providers, educators and children.
Megan Parks has spent two hours commuting to and from her job each workday for the past seven years.
Parks lives seven miles west of Milford and works in south Lincoln. For most people, the drive only takes about half an hour.
With four kids and few childcare options in Milford, Parks and her family had to explore other ways to make it all work – and extending her commute was the only way.
“The route I have to take to hit daycare on the way bumps it up to an hour,” she said.
This is the reality for many families with children in Seward County right now.
According to Communities for Kids, the county has been deemed a “childcare desert” with a shortage of 189 licensed childcare spots for children under age 6. The Communities for Kids initiative works to increase capacity and open more spots for children.
The lack of childcare availability is causing parents to give up their careers, which is negatively impacting the local business community and Seward County’s economy. It’s also causing stress for care centers already at capacity and for in-home providers looking to retire in the near future.
A wild ride
Parks’ daily commute goes something like this:
She leaves home and drives into Milford, dropping off her 3-year-old and 4-year-old preschoolers at Milford Elementary. Then, she makes her way to the high school to drop off her 13-year-old. Next comes the trek to Pleasant Dale to drop off her 1-year-old at daycare. Finally, she drives another 20 minutes to work.
Then, she does it all in reverse each afternoon.
On the days her kids have after-school activities, Parks picks them up and drives them to those locations, which often includes another trip back into Lincoln for swimming lessons, then a final journey home at the end of the day.
“Luckily, I have a very flexible employer that has allowed me to take my children to school. Had I not…my kids would be on the bus at 6:45 in the morning,” Parks said. “I’ve made this trek since 2016. I expect to make it until 2025.”
Parks left her last job to move to the employer she has now because it afforded her the flexibility to arrive to work a little later and leave a few minutes earlier.
She worries about her son starting kindergarten in the fall. After school, he’ll ride the bus for 45 minutes to get to daycare, arriving at 4:15 p.m.
“By the time I get there at 4:30, he just spent 45 minutes on a bus, then is at daycare for 15 minutes. Then I’ll pick him up and proceed to take him home for a 20-minute car ride. That’s 65 minutes in a vehicle,” Parks said.
Few options for care
The Parks family and others like it haven’t had much luck when it comes to finding care closer to home.
“There are not a lot of options in Milford and what we have, frankly, is not affordable,” she said. “There’s Little Leaps, but they’re not accepting infants right now, and I don’t want to split up my children and add yet another stop on my commute.”
Child development centers like Little Leaps of Faith and others throughout the county are experiencing similar problems when it comes to the number of children they can enroll, as they must abide by state-mandated child-to-caregiver ratios. They also must maintain a certain number of square feet per child in their classrooms.
Centers are having trouble staffing their classrooms because working in the childcare field is challenging and doesn’t pay well.
To pay caregivers better, centers would have to raise their prices, which makes childcare unaffordable for families.
That leads to parents leaving their jobs to stay home with their children, which causes an economic downturn for businesses that can’t find employees, and the cycle continues.
“The costs of daycare have gone up pretty consistently over the years,” Parks said. “In Milford specifically, they can name their price because there are no other options.”
In a 2022 study on early childhood quality and capacity, the Seward County Chamber and Development Partnership in conjunction with Communities for Kids and First Five Nebraska found that the number of children under age 6 with all available parents working totaled 799, yet only 515 licensed childcare spots were available.
Just 95 more spots were available through public preschools or programs like Head Start, leaving a gap of 189 spots for children who need care but can’t find it.
At the time of the survey, Seward County had 13 licensed in-home providers and 7 licensed childcare centers.
Of those providers, 58% said they planned to retire or exit the childcare field within the next five years.
“The first person that finds out you’re pregnant other than your husband should be your daycare provider,” Parks said, “otherwise there’s no chance of finding care.”
Jonathan Jank, president and CEO of the SCCDP, said the best place people can search for local care is the Nebraska Childcare Referral Network at NEchildcarereferral.org.
“It was a COVID innovation that a lot of different groups came together from across the state to create a database of licensed providers in the state,” Jank said.
“We can also say anecdotally, we know there are unlicensed providers in the county. We don’t know necessarily who they are and where they are. There’s nothing wrong with being unlicensed as long as you’re under those guidelines,” Jank said, referring to staffing and space ratios regulated by the state.
He encouraged all licensed providers in Seward County to update their information on the website and share whether they have openings.
