Child care cost, availability can be a burden to some families

May 13--Even though the average cost of child care in Yuba-Sutter is below the state total, it still amounts to about $1,000 per month.

The cost and availability of child care here can be a burden that some families struggle to afford and manage, according to the most recent data provided by the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health.

"Trying to find a child care center families can afford is challenging," said Karen Stanis, program director for the Yuba College Child Development Center. "When your rent is $1,300, your child care is $1,000, you need to eat, you need gas to get to work. After all that, you have nothing left."

A resident of Sutter County paid an annual average of $12,000 for an infant and $8,500 for a preschooler at a child care center. A Yuba County resident paid the same average rate for infants and $400 less for a preschooler. California's average rate for infants is $13,300 and $9,100 for preschoolers.

California's average is inflated because of counties like San Mateo and San Francisco, with averages $5,000 higher per year for both infant and preschoolers.

How do economically challenged families cope?

State assistance for child care can alleviate the burden for some families, but poses its own challenges.

The Yuba College Child Development Center and other state-funded centers issue tiered rates set by the state.

A family of three can receive assistance if its income is below $42,216, which is 65 percent of the state median income. The less a family makes, the more assistance it is eligible for. A family of three with an income of under $20,160 is considered at 100 percent poverty and is eligible to pay nothing for childcare.

But wait-lists are common for families who qualify for assistance.

"Throughout the state, and our counties are no different, we have more families eligible to receive those services than we have slots available," said Tonya Byers, child care coordinator at the Child Care Planning Council of Yuba and Sutter counties.

The availability of slots for children in child care centers, subsidized or not, poses another challenge.

According to the Planning Council's Community Child Care Needs Assessment Summary 2012-2017, the age group listed as infant/toddler, is the group most impacted by an undersupply of childcare services.

Eighty-two percent of infant/toddlers were underserved in Sutter County, while Yuba County had a recorded rate of 78 percent.

The county totals were determined by combining available slots at Head Start, state Preschool Programs, private preschool centers, license-exempt care at Beale Air Force Base, the Yuba College Child Development Center and family child care homes within both counties.

Carmen Guitron, owner of Guitron Family Child Care in Yuba City, said the state of California dictates the number of infant/toddlers in daycare centers. The state mandates privately-run daycare centers keep a ratio between infant/toddlers and children over the age of two.

For every additional infant/toddler enrolled, the care center must balance the ratio by having fewer children over the age of two, said Guitron.

The demand for care of infant/toddlers is high because slots are limited. Guitron said she interviews parents when they are pregnant and requires a deposit for future child care services.

At a state-funded center like the Yuba College Child Development Center, ratios between child care providers and children are mandated by California.

Stanis said the ratio between child care provider and toddlers are 4-to-1 and 8-to-1 for preschoolers. Stanis said if needed, the ratios could be increased, but that it serves both provider and the children well to keep ratios smaller.

School-age children are the next most underserved at 71 percent for Sutter County and 66 percent for Yuba County. Preschoolers, ages 2-5, are underserved at a lower rate of about 40 percent for both counties.

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