Child Day Care: Growing Pains
Before they even have a chance to write thank-you notes for all those lovely toasters and tablecloths, a few Orange County newlyweds take care of a more pressing matter: They sign up on the waiting list for an infant day-care program, just in case they need it by the time their name gets to the top. Others wait until they conceive.
Such farsightedness might seem a little odd, but it works. And in Orange County, where there are roughly three children in need of care for every space in a licensed facility, what works is what counts.
For the last couple of weeks, Family Life has explored child-care woes with Orange County parents. For many families in a county where working mothers outnumber those who stay at home and two incomes are often an economic necessity, there are only Band-Aid solutions and plenty of anxiety.
Typical of many working mothers is Sandy, a postal worker who lives in Westminster and says she wishes she could stay home with her three children, ages 10, 8 and 4.
“My mom stayed home when I was growing up,” Sandy said. “She was there every day when I came home. To me, that’s the way it’s supposed to be. But when we had to face buying a home, the only way we could afford it was to have two incomes. So I went back to work. But it goes against my heart. The guilt is tremendous.”
A few weeks ago when her oldest son was sick, Sandy had to leave him home alone. “That just killed me,” she said. “He did fine, except that so many people called to check up on him that he didn’t get much rest.”
In many parts of the county, there are efforts to help parents like Sandy. Family Life looked at some of the more innovative programs.
Irvine officials were thinking ahead in 1982 when the city set up its child-care office, the only one of its kind in the county and one of a handful nationwide.
Staff member Sandy Litzie said child-care solutions come in two forms: individual and community. And neither, she said, can exist without the other.
“Your (child-care) problem for this week may go away, but then next week there’s a problem again. You have to deal with the bigger issue so it won’t keep coming back.”
So in addition to referring parents to child-care providers, the Irvine staff also works on the community level, encouraging companies to set up child-care programs for their employees, coordinating a job bank for child-care workers, even lobbying for legislation favorable to child care.
Lately, the four people on staff have also been answering inquiries from other cities in the county and elsewhere that are considering setting up similar programs. “A lot of places seem to be getting started now,” Litzie said.
Although the child-care staff tries to come up with a solution for each of about 400 parents who call each month, sometimes that can’t be done.
“I remember one case in particular, a single father with four children. His oldest was in fifth grade, but she had to stay home from school to take care of the youngest, a preschooler, because he couldn’t afford child care,” Litzie said. “We didn’t have anything to offer, so we referred him to the Children’s Home Society.”
The Irvine office’s phone might as well belong to the lonely Maytag repairman in comparison with the Children’s Home Society’s Kid-Care hot line. Lately, it has been ringing about 2,000 times a month, and the staff there has put out a call for volunteers to help handle the load, program supervisor Kristen Keith said.
Kid-Care provides referrals to licensed child-care in centers and family homes throughout Orange County, Keith said. She emphasized that those are referrals, not recommendations, and acknowledged that sometimes, especially with subsidized care for low-income families, the referral may lead only to a waiting list.
“We try to give people as many choices as possible,” she said, “and we also give them a brochure on choosing child care so that they know what to look for.”
Next time one of her sons gets sick, Sandy, the Westminster mother, may have another option. In January, a Rainbow Retreat center is scheduled to open in nearby Huntington Beach, the first expansion of a center for mildly ill children that began two years ago in Newport Beach.
An Anaheim Hills branch is scheduled to open in February, and other locations are planned, according to Sherry Senter, executive director of Rainbow’s parent company, National Pediatric Support Services.
Rainbow Retreat accepts only mildly ill children from 2 months to 12 years old, Senter said. Again, planning ahead is important: parents must pre-register before the need arises. Then when the child becomes ill, they must call and reserve a space on a first-come, first-served basis. Before the reservation is accepted, Senter said, “we go over a check list of about 20 things to determine whether the child qualifies. If they have an undiagnosed rash, or a fever out of control, for example, we can’t take them.”
A nurse supervises care for the children at Rainbow Retreat. Parents pay $5 per hour. But if the children are regular students at the affiliated Step By Step Early Learning Enrichment Center, or if the parent’s employer chips in, the cost is reduced to $3.50 per hour.
Pacific Mutual Insurance Corporation, headquartered in Newport Beach, helps pay employees’ costs not only for Rainbow Retreat but for regular child care, one of a handful of Orange County companies that do, Litzie said.
“We take pride in trying to be on the leading edge of offering employee benefits,” Pacific Mutual spokesman Geno Effler said. “Our involvement in child care came about because of that and because we had a lot of employee inquiries. This is something the employer can do that benefits the employee without taking away from production. If people have to use their sick days and vacation time to stay home with their children, it’s not good from the standpoint of morale.”
Litzie and Keith both say the number of inquiries they are receiving from companies interested in helping their employees with child care is increasing.
Sandy’s two older sons spend their after-school hours at the local Boys Club, which provides transportation to the club for boys whose parents work. Her youngest attends a church-sponsored preschool.
Both options are included in the more than 700 child-care listings in the recently published “Parents Guide to Orange County” by Glenda Riddick, associate professor of human development at Orange Coast College. The book is available by mail for $12.61 from Parents Guide, 1038 N. Tustin Ave., Suite 241, Orange 92667.
At least 14 Orange County school districts have stepped in to provide some kind of care for children of working parents, either all day or after school, according to a survey Litzie conducted in 1986. Several others are considering such programs. In the Yorba Linda School District, for example, what began as a small facility has expanded to include preschool and infant care because of the growing need. It is now one of the largest school-sponsored child-care programs in the county.
Perhaps one day there will be acceptable child-care alternatives for all Orange County families. In the meantime, parents like Sandy will continue to make the necessary tradeoffs.
“If I’d known it would be this hard, that we would have to sacrifice as much as we do, I don’t know if we would have (had children). But then we look at their little faces, and it all goes away. Our life would be much easier without them, but we’d miss out on a lot.”
Caught in the Middle--Your children aren’t babies any longer, but they still demand a great deal of your attention. And now, a couple of other people need your parenting skills: your own aging mother and father. When you’re caught in the middle between two generations, how do you keep your sanity?
Are lies ever white?--Tell the truth, now. We’ve all done it. When is it OK to lie to your children, your parents, your spouse? Or is it ever the right thing to do? Tell us about the times you’ve lied or been lied to by your family.
Calling all Santas--’Tis the season for sneaking around, all for the sake of Christmas surprises, of course. Let us know where and how you stash the presents until the big day. As for those of you who can’t help but snoop, tell us how you find them all anyway.
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