Are Daycare Facilities Regarded As Necessary?

Child care is crucial for the economy, enabling parents to work or attend school. During the pandemic, child care centers closed and employees in essential industries were unable to work. Families need consistent, quality child care that meets their unique needs. Essential workers may be faced with the need to find a safe child care arrangement while continuing to work. This document provides resources to assist individuals in identifying child care options during this unprecedented time.

At least 12 states have shuttered all child care except for essential workers, according to The Hunt Institute, an education nonprofit. In California, the decision is up to each state. The Child Care Is Essential Act would provide grant funding to child care providers to stabilize the sector and support providers to safely reopen. Healthy practice requirements keep children physically active and support rest, including infant safe-sleep practices. Children’s health requirements include physicals, immunizations, and how the program must handle the situation.

The U.S. child care system has long been at a breaking point, and the coronavirus could mean providers stay closed forever, which would be a crisis for working parents. Child care centers provide care for groups of children, often placed in classrooms by age. Some states have designated child care providers as “essential workers” so they are eligible for any supports or services offered by the state.

Childcare needs are particularly great among workers in frontline health care occupations, including registered nurses (776,000 need). They are being asked to serve children of other essential workers without the appropriate pay, health care, and personal protective equipment (PPE). Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis has deemed child care an essential business, with child care centers currently operating at only half-capacity in North Florida.