Study Finds County Is Lacking in Child Care

Ventura County suffers from a child-care crisis, with 29,687 slots at licensed centers available for 96,810 children under 14 who need care, according to a comprehensive study to be presented today to the Board of Supervisors.

And an alarming 35% of the 31,489 children now in child care are being dropped off at unlicensed, unregulated homes, the study says.

The increasing number of low-wage jobs for care providers coupled with climbing housing costs will only exacerbate this disturbing trend, the study says.

Most of the area’s 10 fastest-growing job categories, including service and retail, offer wages that place families at or near the federal poverty level--$16,050 annually for a family of four.

In response to the increasing number of working-poor families, the county must subsidize quality child care to meet the needs of Ventura County parents, the study determined.

The 150-page study was conducted by the Child Care Planning Council in response to a state mandate requiring counties to identify gaps in their available child care and develop a plan to meet existing needs.

The council, created by county supervisors and the county superintendent of schools, is made up of providers, parents and representatives from local agencies such as the Boys & Girls Club, Head Start, Easter Seals and Oxnard College.

“Before you can actually improve the child-care system, you first have to determine what the weaknesses are and that’s what this study does,” said Carrie Murphy, a consultant to the council, which spent 18 months researching the issue.

“We hope that it changes policy and programming and becomes the foundation for a five-year child-care plan for the county,” she said. “Our intent is that it will give us leverage,” to obtain funding.

The primary source of such funding would be generated by Proposition 10 cigarette tax money, Murphy said. As a result of the November 1998 ballot initiative that added a 50-cent tax to a pack of cigarettes to pay for children’s programs, an estimated $690 million annually is being distributed to California’s counties.

Ventura County’s share is $11.7 million. The initiative leaves most spending decisions to counties.

Supervisors are expected to discuss the report today, but are not expected to immediately commit to funding, officials said.

The first of the report’s 80 recommendations calls for more subsidized child care, especially for CalWORK recipients as they move from welfare into the work force. In fiscal 1998-99, the county’s Child Development Resources agency covered most of the cost of child care for about 3,600 children in Ventura County.

By May, the agency reported 757 working-poor families--including 1,457 children--on its waiting list for subsidized child care. The greatest need is in Oxnard, where 361 families were searching for subsidized care providers. A parent of a toddler may pay up to $185 per week for care.

The county must subsidize child-care providers to keep such services affordable for all families, the study said. Currently, child-care operators are being driven out of the county by ballooning housing costs and the low wages they receive.

The study also concluded that the county fails to meet child care needs for:

* Children removed from their families by Children’s Protective Services.

* Children from migrant worker families.

* Children with special needs, such as those who suffer from mental retardation, deafness, blindness, autism, severe language impairments or severe emotional problems.