Once viewed as the tool of ambitious couples who wanted to have it all, day care is increasingly becoming a necessity for those who want just enough to get by.
Like many newly divorced women, Joanne Manton didn`t know how she would manage to live and take care of her two children. ”It`s very hard going from seven years of living comfortably on $38,000 down to $17,500,” said the 28-year-old Carol Stream woman. ”You`re thrust out into the world and you have to make it work.
”I think there`s a need for more day care and more options economically for single parents.”
Manton isn`t alone in her belief.
The Census Bureau reported last month that 50.8 percent of new mothers stay in the workforce, up from 31 percent in 1976. Nationwide, more than 60 percent of women with school-age children work, and 68 percent of all single mothers work outside the home.
Child care is a fast-growing concern in Du Page County, where there were 9,426 single-parent homes as long ago as 1980, the last year for which statistics are available. And as the cost of living rises, fewer two-parent families can afford to have one spouse stay home to take care of the children. But whether parents work for necessity or not, all have a common need:
child care.
”The No. 1 need in this area is for infant and toddler care,” said Elsie Mills, director of the YWCA-Du Page Child Care Resource Center. ”It`s in high demand, it`s expensive, and the quality isn`t always what parents want.”
Of the nearly 200 licensed day-care centers in the county, Mills said that only half offer full-time care, the rest being part-time nursery schools. Only 35 of the full-time centers will care for infants, those children in the 6-week-to-15-month age group.
Mills said most infants and toddlers are taken care of in day-care homes, because they can provide more attention than larger facilities. Day-care homes may care for no more than eight children, of which only four may be under age 5 and only three under age 2.
In a move to meet the growing need for day care in Du Page, the village of Addison last year approved an ordinance officially permitting the establishment of day-care homes. There are 370 licensed day-care homes in the county, according to the state Department of Children and Family Services, but all the infant and toddler spaces are full.
”The majority of kids are not taken care of in centers (or homes),”
Mills said. Parents work split shifts, or enlist relatives to help, or illegal unlicensed babysitters are used.
Manton tried using a babysitter for $65 a week for Jessica and Jeffrey, then aged 4 months and 7 years. ”She sloughed all day and my chidren were unattended,” Manton said. ”They were in the same clothes all day, and they were rarely fed their lunch.”
After she dismissed the babysitter, Manton`s mother took care of them for a few months, but it proved to be too much of a strain.
Manton`s children for almost a year have been in a day-care center run by the YWCA in Du Page and partially funded by the federal government under Title 20. Parents pay what they can afford, and Manton says that for most parents, this is only a temporary arrangement until they can pay more.
”If it wasn`t for the day-care center, I honestly don`t know what would happen to a lot of these children,” Manton said. ”That`s why people are on public aid.”
Mills said the four Title 20 centers in the county are north of Roosevelt Road, however, and none take children under 2 years old.
Many times, the cost of day care is so high that a low-income single parent can`t even afford to work outside the home. Average weekly infant care runs about $100 to $150 a week, and pre-schooler care costs $80. Day care for a 1-year-old and a 4-year-old could cost up to $11,500 a year, a large chunk of a typical $15,000 annual clerical salary.
More and more, businesses in Du Page County that want to attract low-income workers to the high-cost area are finding out that they have to offer greater financial incentives, and day-care programs are an attractive one.
Mills` resource and referral service is just one of the firms with which local businesses can contract to help them start some kind of day-care program. Business involvement in the day-care process can range from providing referral lists of qualified centers to subsidies to establishment of on-site child care facilities.
As a way to assist its employees without spending large amounts of taxpayers` money, Du Page County Board President Jack Knuepfer said the board will probably institute a flexible benefits program including a day-care option. The flexible benefit program will allow employees to pick and choose what benefits they want.
”Certainly a lot of people have day-care expenses these days,” Knuepfer said. ”I don`t have any problem with day care. It`s an additional benefit, but it would be substituted (for another employee benefit).”
