“On a Saturday morning last May, Julia Sachdev, a mother of a 2-year-old and 4-year-old, woke up to an email from her children’s preschool. The school — which her children adored and had been in operation for over 50 years — announced that it would be closing in a month.
“In the following days, she and her husband scrambled to find an alternative that was a reasonable driving distance from their home. Most of the places they reached out to had long waiting lists. Some said their waiting lists were full. Some never even called them back.
“ ‘It was so stressful,’ reflected Ms. Sachdev. ‘There was this suffocating anxiety that ruled my day. I couldn’t concentrate on other things. It kept me up at night.’
“The Sachdevs’ experience is far from unique. For years, American parents — regardless of family roles, paid work status, geography or income — have struggled to find and maintain stable child care. Research shows that roughly half of Americans live in child care deserts, meaning that they have limited or no access to care.
“In September, federal relief funding put in place to support more than 220,000 child care programs during the pandemic abruptly expired. This steep drop-off in investment, which has been termed a child-care cliff, is projected to lead to the closing of thousands of preschools and child care centers around the country. Some families are already feeling the impact, and many more may soon find themselves in situations like the Sachdevs’.â€
— “What the Child Care Crisis Does to Parents,†Guest Essay by Molly Dickens and Lucy Hutner, The New York Times, January 16, 2024