IREDELL COUNTY, N.C. — In 2024, five child care facilities closed in Iredell County, resulting in a loss of 120 spaces for children, but it doesn’t even begin to to touch the surface of the growing emergency.
“About 63% of our children, birth to age 5, in Iredell County, whose parents work or are in the workforce are in need of child care, but only about 19% of our children are enrolled in licensed child care,” Lisa Familo, executive director for the Iredell County Partnership for Young Children, said.
The nonprofit assists parents with child care placement, but Familo told Channel 9’s Almiya White that this work is harder than ever.
“Parents can’t afford to pay more,” Familo said. “Child care centers can’t afford to pay their teachers more, and teachers can’t afford to live on such low wages.”
Demand in the area far outweighs the supply. Iredell County has nearly 11,000 residents under the age of 5 and only 80 licensed child care programs.
“There are wait lists that are over two years long for infant care in Iredell County,” Familo said.
Mallory Renegar is also on staff with the Partnership for Young Children. She said she gets at least 10 calls a day from frantic families.
“Nine times out of 10, people are calling for infant care,” she said. “They don’t realize how bad it is and how early you need to act.”
Renegar thought child care would be the least of her worries once she became a mom. Even she thought she acted early enough.
“We found out we were pregnant and joined wait lists immediately in the county, and did not know that we had care 100% locked in until two weeks before I was supposed to come back to work,” she said.
Working alongside Renegar is Sydney Taylor who said she found out her child care had fallen through as she was in labor.
Luckily, things worked out eventually, but Taylor says for so many other families, that’s not always the case.
“It’s hard when you’re talking to a parent and you know that they need an answer, and their livelihood depends on it, and you don’t have an answer to give to them about where they could take their child for care,” she said.
Even when parents do secure child care, the problems don’t stop there. In Iredell County, the average cost of child care is more than $11,000 a year, which Renegar adds doesn’t even include diapers or formula.
“They’re forced to make hard choices between paying their rent or paying for child care,” Familo said.
Familo worries this is a long-term crisis and that young people will be impacted the most.
“All of the future learning and development of a child is built upon that foundation that happens in those first five years,” she said. “If we don’t get that right, we’re going to pay the price later.”
Familo says it will take public investment, employer-support, and policy reforms to make child care more accessible and affordable.
In the meantime, she encourages parents to act sooner than they think is necessary.
Experts say parents should start the search process when they’re thinking about having a baby.
For more information on regulated facilities including their sanitation scores and any complaint investigations, see these resources from the North Carolina Division of Child Development and Early Education.
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