PLACENTIA : $10,000 Committed to Child-Care Study

The city has committed $10,000 to study ways to provide better child care in the area.

The study, which was approved by a 3-2 City Council vote last week, comes at the request of the Yorba Linda/Placentia Child Care Task Force, a group of parents and civic leaders who have studied the issue for more than a year. The study will identify the types of child care needed and will present options for creating and financing new programs.

“We found that what we needed was basically some information and a starting point,” said Councilwoman Carol Downey, who is also a member of the task force. “It was really very difficult for us to find the expertise within our task force to do that.”

The study will be conducted by Child Care Planning Associates of Irvine and could cost as much as $28,000. The Task Force plans to ask the Yorba Linda City Council to contribute $10,000 and raise an additional $6,000 from individuals and businesses.

The Placentia Unified School District has agreed to contribute $2,000 to the study. The money contributed by cities and school districts will not be spent until at least $28,000 has been committed to the study.

Connie Haddad, a member of the Task Force, said child care is particularly needed in Yorba Linda and Placentia, where high housing costs often force both parents in a household to work.

“It’s very difficult to live here and live on one income,” she said.

The study also is expected to suggest ways to address the shortage of child care for toddlers and infants. Such programs are limited at both public and private facilities because of high costs, Haddad said. For example, a Placentia Unified School District infant- and toddler-care program is expected to close this summer after several years of operating in the red.

State guidelines require that every four infants and toddlers be watched by at least one employee, whereas only one adult is required for every group of 12 older children.

Mayor Arthur G. Newton and Mayor Pro Tem John O. Tynes opposed the contribution. Tynes said the City Council already knows the area needs better child care.

“I have trouble because it’s pretty well established by our staff that the need exists,” he said. “I do hate to give $10,000 to say, ‘Yes, we need (a child care center).’ I hate to give money for some . . . deal that may not fly.”

But Haddad said the study will be helpful because, in addition to analyzing the problem, it will require the involvement of both the public and private sectors.

“It builds bridges between organizations so that something larger than facts and figures results from this,” she said.