More than 400 childcare facilities in Oklahoma have closed since November, according to the Licensed Childcare Association.
“At LCA, we get calls almost on the daily for about the last six to nine months. They’re just broken heart stories,” said Janell Wheat, Licensed Childcare Association Board Member.
The LCA said it advocates for childcare providers across the state, including Moore daycare owner Destiny Bivins, who is taking extreme cost-cutting measures to stay afloat.
“The cost of living has gone up. The cost of food has gone up. The cost of electricity has gone up, and we have those things too and pay — even pay over the last five years. So, for them to take $5 a day off every single child, or even cut down the family incomes at the beginning of July is a big hit to us,” Bivins said.
Bivins, who owns East Moore Child Development Center, said she will lose $4,000 a month by the time the COVID era add-ons end in April.
If taking away the $5 per day, per child benefit isn’t the nail in the coffin for some facilities, Wheat said, “then in July, the first, they are reducing eligibility on the family side from 85% of the state median income to 55%, and that’s a blind spot for providers. We can’t forecast that because we don’t know at what percentage level our clients qualify at.”
She predicted some families will suddenly lose subsidies and subsequent childcare services come July.
“If all the daycares continue to close down in the state of Oklahoma, then it’s not just kids displaced. Those parents have to make a decision. Are those kids home alone? Can they find somebody to watch?” Bivins posed.
She added that if she has to close her center, she will leave childcare altogether.
Bivins and Wheat both urged parents and providers to reach out to legislators, the governor, and the Department of Human Services.
