Funding and Flexibility Needs for Child Care Due to Hurricane Helene

Despite pleas from early childhood leaders, the Legislature’s Hurricane Helene relief package announced Wednesday did not include funding for child care programs in the storm-ravaged western region of the state.

“Child care is an essential part of keeping Western North Carolina moving,” said Charles Hodges, director of the NC Licensed Child Care Association. “We would urge the state to take another look at this.”

The association requested funding and regulatory relief in a letter to lawmakers on Monday. The North Carolina Partnership for Children also requested funding for local Smart Start partnerships to support families and child care programs, but these were also not included in the bill.

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The package gave the Department of Health and Human Services the authority to waive or change child care licensing requirements in affected counties. DHHS has not specified what all of these flexibilities will look like.

“The child care industry is already fragile and Hurricane Helene had a devastating impact on many facilities,” a DHHS spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “We are currently assessing needs and will work with the General Assembly on what is needed to restore. Child care funding has been repeatedly included in the Governor’s budget.”

Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said lawmakers will provide additional relief beyond this bill.

“The General Assembly is fully active in its efforts to provide relief for Western North Carolina,” Berger said in a news release. “This package is just the first round and additional funding will follow as we categorize and assess the extent of the damage. In the coming months we will do everything we can to rebuild the region and help those who desperately need it.”

Local needs

Funding is needed for capital costs, repairs to facilities, equipment and materials, and continued teacher pay, according to child care leaders and Smart Start staff who spoke with EdNC.

According to the state Department of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE), 55 licensed programs have been confirmed to have defects that would prevent them from opening on October 9th. Forty-two other programs were still unavailable, 138 were operating but closed, and 577 were open in the 25 counties originally listed on the federal disaster declaration. Swain and Mecklenburg counties have since been added to that list.

Amy Barry, executive director of the Buncombe Partnership for Children, said she is still trying to connect with programs and is concerned about children having access to food and basic needs. As of Tuesday, there were 25 programs in Buncombe County that were prevented from opening by damage and 28 that were unavailable, according to DCDEE figures.

Beyond capital needs for damaged facilities, Barry said financial support is also needed to pay teachers while facilities are closed. As of Tuesday, 46 facilities were operating but not open in Buncombe.

“As far as the early childhood education workforce, we hadn’t even recovered from COVID yet,” Barry said. “If we are to have anything close to a system of child care available, we need to maintain the existing workforce, and that means financial support to keep paying people is a huge need.”

Two programs were irreparably damaged by flooding in Burke County: Creative Beginnings Day Care in Morganton, a private day care center, and Quaker Meadows Generation, a Head Start program run by Blue Ridge Community Action. Kathy Smith, executive director of Burke County Smart Start, said those programs serve about 250 children. Both operated NC Pre-K classrooms.

“You have to get down to the tunnels,” Smith said of the programs’ buildings. Other programs still require internet access to communicate with families, she said.

Jennifer Simpson, executive director of the Blue Ridge Partnership for Children, said no facilities were open Tuesday in Yancey, Mitchell and Avery counties. The programs’ needs range from debris removal to flood repair.

Simpson said equipment and supplies will be needed at some point, although providers are not yet prepared.

“They have to clear everything out and those types of items before they can accept a delivery,” she said.

Flexibility is required in regulations regarding enrollment capacity, teacher-child ratios, and building requirements. Expansions are needed to allow programs to function in temporary environments, Smith said.

Smith said she is working with the local school system to reopen child care classes in public school buildings. Requirements should be waived, especially for infants and small children, while ensuring the safety of the environment, she said.

“It is not stabilized, but still very necessary”

Child care support is needed to keep children safe and give families the opportunity to recover and eventually return to work, said Halee Hartley, owner and director of Kid Cove, a private child care program with three locations in the Watauga County.

“We want to keep child care open, but right now that’s not feasible,” Hartley said. “It’s not stabilized, but it’s still very necessary.”

Hartley is keeping her program’s doors open while losing between 30% and 40% of October revenue, she said. It was able to reopen for the month of October in part because of the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce’s allocation to cover tuition for some child care programs.

Two of their three facilities were temporarily damaged, Hartley said. The program serves 110 children under age 5 (approximately 85% of their regular enrollment) and 60 to 70 school-age children for free while schools are closed.

“Families are currently only using child care to clean their flooded homes,” Hartley said.

Two of the families her program serves have lost their homes, Hartley said. Many more have experienced traumatic events since the storm hit the region.

“We strive to create a stable environment for these children and families and also to create some kind of normality for the children,” she said.

Hartley said she knew October would be over quickly and the chamber’s funds would run out. Aside from the current tragedy, she said the programs are struggling to survive given reduced state funding after federal relief money runs out this summer.

“We’ve had issues before, and this will likely be critical now for many facilities, if they are open at all.”

Liz Bell

Liz Bell is an early childhood reporter for EducationNC.