Shutdown raises profile of childcare as an issue [View all]

By Erika D. Smith / Bloomberg Opinion

Although the longest government shutdown in American history will soon be over, it will be hard to forget for the frazzled travelers stranded at airports and desperate people waiting in long lines at food banks. Though far less publicized, the same should be said for the shutdown’s impact on Head Start, the federal program that provides free daycare and preschool to low-income families.

Faced with a loss of funding, the program had no choice but to close several locations across 17 states and Puerto Rico. All told, some 65,000 kids, or 10 percent of all Head Start children, were put at risk because of the shutdown. But — at last count — only about 9,000 children, their parents and, in many cases, their employers were ultimately left in the lurch, according to the National Head Start Association.

The Head Start locations that managed to stay open did so by relying on donations and grants, and, in some cases, by taking out high-interest loans. But many have still had to lay off teachers, reduce hours and cut back on basic services. And when the government reopens, there’s no guarantee every Head Start location will reopen as well, potentially adding to what’s already a lengthy waiting list in some communities.

As the executive director of one program in upstate New York told NPR earlier this week: “We’re really kind of in a limbo and we just keep watching every day on what’s happening, so that we don’t have to shut our doors on December 1. But at this point we don’t know.”

https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comment-shutdown-raises-profile-of-childcare-as-an-issue/