Whidbey child care crisis at breaking point

Whidbey Island is in the midst of a child care crisis that has been forcing some parents to renounce their jobs and child care providers to reluctantly turn away begging families.

In Island County, the number of child care providers dropped from 41 with capacity for 1,435 children in 2019 to 30 providers with capacity for 772 children in December 2023, according to data from Child Care Aware of Washington.

In hopes to better understand the issue and identify potential solutions, the Island County Opportunity Council and the Center for Retention and Expansion of Child Care will be hosting a “child care world cafe,” an event where people from all over the county can discuss child care and help identify gaps and possible reasons behind this problem.

The event will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 4, at the Oak Harbor Library and will include beverages and food — as well as vegan options. To RSVP, community members are invited to reach out to jen_marzocca@oppco.org or sandra_lopez@oppco.org.

The world cafe event will also bring awareness to available funding that can give child care centers the opportunity to expand and be able to accept more children, or help people who are interested in starting their own child care business, according to Jennifer Marzocca from the Island County Opportunity Council.

Marzocca, who works as the Economic Security for All specialist at the local Opportunity Council Resource Center, says the issue has been exacerbated by the decline in child care providers and the rising cost of living that hinders access for low-income families — particularly those living in rural areas.

By connecting them with the appropriate resources, the Opportunity Council helps low-income people who are at risk of homelessness or who have already lost their home and are unable to find employment because they can’t secure child care for their kids.

This statewide problem doesn’t only affect low-income families, Marzocca said. Even middle-income families are at risk of experiencing poverty as they have to deal with the costs of housing and child care, on top of other costly necessities.

The average cost of child care for babies, Marzocca said, is $1,275 per month.

While some families might not be able to afford sending their child to a center, some providers are struggling to keep prices low enough while trying to keep good staff members with decent wages. Though it can be a rewarding and fun job, provider burnout is not uncommon.

In 2019, Alyssa Newman used to work at a child care center on Whidbey while pregnant with her first child. Realizing she couldn’t afford child care for her newborn by making minimum wage, she realized “it was cheaper to just be a stay at home mom,” as she wrote in an email to the Whidbey News-Times.

It isn’t easy for parents who work from home, either. In Camano, Samantha Wagner and her husband struggle to focus with a newborn and toddler at home. Wagner worries her oldest son already spends too much time with the TV and tablet, but once his preschool closes for the summer, it will be even harder to keep him entertained.

As Marzocca said, the more time children spend at home, the more they eat. As a result, families need to spend more money for groceries. With the high cost of living in the county, it can be hard to make ends meet for families that have to rely exclusively on one parent’s income while the other takes care of the kid.

The younger the child, the greater the challenges, Marzocca said, as babies can’t participate in sports or clubs in school to keep them busy and safe while parents work.

At Ebey Academy in Coupeville, the majority of the children on the center’s waitlist are babies aged up to 2 years old.

Before Owner Jennifer Heaton purchased the business, she believes there were about 50 children on the waitlist. Two years later, the list has doubled, counting 101 children waiting to get into the historic building that has a maximum capacity of 53 children.

The South Whidbey Children’s Center in Langley counts over 100 children on its waitlist and is currently taking care of 53 children. According to Executive Director Caitlin Voss, it might take an average of two years for a child to finally be admitted.

Different child care providers around the island told the Whidbey News-Times that many of those children age out by the time there is an opening for them.

Ashley Bailon, who lives in Oak Harbor, said she has been on several waitlists since she was pregnant back in 2023, but has yet to hear back for her child, who is now 10 months old.

Bailon and her husband, who is active duty Navy, were able to afford a nanny, which can be expensive even considering both their salaries combined. Additionally, if the nanny gets sick, Bailon has to take time off work to take care of her children, which could cost her her job.

The Little Oaks Preschool in Oak Harbor has a total of 87 children on its waitlist and 51 children in its care. Director Elizabeth Falls said more Navy families have been moving to the island, but there are not enough resources in place to ensure all of the military children have child care.

Falls has known military spouses who have had to quit their jobs as they could not find a place that could take their child, as the NAS Whidbey Island Child Development Centers is full.

Another challenge for military families, she said, is the fact they often move into the area without having a support system — like extended family — that they can rely on.

At Whidbey Montessori in Oak Harbor, half of the families seeking support are from the Navy, according to Owner and Director Madison Robinson. To make things more complicated, many staff members tend to be military spouses who stay on the island for limited periods of time, meaning there is also the challenge of finding long-term teachers.

Robinson believes the long list of requirements to open a child care facility might discourage new businesses from sprouting.

While she believes the Washington Administrative Code needs to be followed to ensure the safety of children and staff, she proposed that the government could help prospective child care centers meet those requirements.

Heaton, from Ebey Academy, said she would like to see the government do more to help families and child care centers pay teachers livable wages,and highly encourages new centers to be built as she believes Whidbey would benefit from “at least” three more facilities.

She asks the community to be patient and invites community leaders to visit child care centers and to speak with families, as she believes the need will continue to grow.

“Child care centers are doing the best they can,” she said.