KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – There may be another crisis brewing in the community. Local advocates, parents and workers say that child care has become a serious problem.
They say finding it, affording it and financing it have all gotten out of hand.
They addressed Kalamazoo County commissioners this week during public comment, being told cuts and closures have resulted in “an increased number of families looking for care yet not enough providers to fill the need,” and another saying “our childcare system is broken.”
Jake Young with the Michigan Transformation Collective says parents can’t make enough working to pay for child care, so they can’t work.
“The people we trust with our children’s earliest development can’t afford to live in the community that they serve,” he says.
Drew Van Robinson, who works at a child care center on Kalamazoo’s east side, proposed the county allocate money to help parents with young children.
“Tonight I’m asking the board to consider a early childhood voucher program that will provide predictable equitable support for infants and toddlers.”
Beth Berglin says for many families, childcare isn’t affordable. A family with an infant and a toddler could pay $36,000 a year.
“And that’s for a high quality program. For a lower quality program you’re paying about $11,000 a year for an infant,” says Berglin.
The high cost of childcare may be one of the reasons why the birth rate in the U.S. has just hit a record low.
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