Forum Editorial: Working parents need an answer
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What are working parents supposed to do with their children?
It’s a question that has been roiling under the surface — and not so under-the-surface — as businesses have struggled to fill jobs that were lost at the beginning of the pandemic, and it has risen to the forefront over the past few weeks as parents in two local school districts have grappled with the idea of a four-day school week.
They aren’t the only ones who should be concerned with finding an answer. Adequate child care is essential to every part of our community, and we won’t be able to grow without it. Period.
When the Mosaic Child Care and Education Center closed in 2020, it was serving 109 children from 87 families, with parents working at 82 different employers. Forty of those 109 were under the age of 2, and many more were on a waiting list from that age group.
Since Mosaic made the decision to close the center, Northwest Missouri State University’s Phyllis and Richard Leet Center for Children and Families expanded its capacity for ages up to 3, but could take only 20 infants and toddlers on top of its existing preschool program. It is the only accredited, licensed child care provider for that age group in a 45-mile radius from Maryville.
Everyone is aware of the problem. The school board meetings at West Nodaway and Nodaway-Holt over the past few weeks have shown how acutely child care sticks out in the minds of parents.
And when Gov. Mike Parson came to town to tout economic growth and job creation, industry leaders, looking for ways to bring workers back, asked him only one question: What about child care?
It doesn’t matter how many schools we have or how many job openings there are, no one will want to move here or stay here if they can’t raise a family.
It’s one of those issues that cuts across all walks of life. Care about education? We need child care. Care about economic growth? We need child care. Care about our community’s future? We need child care.
Getting behind another, communitywide solution will take a concerted, monumental effort, made all the more difficult because it comes on the heels of one just a few short years ago meant to address this very problem.
But we don’t get to choose our challenges, just our solutions.
Leaders from every sector have a stake in finding the right solution to offer affordable, quality child care in our county, and leaders from every sector should be ready and eager to share their insights, influence and resources to accomplish what needs to be a shared top priority.
Progress begins from ideas, and with an influx of federal and — the governor has promised — state money available for forward-thinking projects, the time is now for our leaders to take the initiative and work with their peers to build a sustainable future by giving working parents the answer they need and deserve.
