They’re considered essential, but child-care centers say state hasn’t done much to help
The day at Children Paradise Academy, one of few child-care centers in Miami-Dade that have remained open through the COVID-19 pandemic, now starts with soap, water and a thermometer.
The few kids who are dropped off every day have to say goodbye to their parents outside the facility. Children are screened for a fever or other cold-like symptoms. Their parents, most of whom are nurses or police officers, fill out a form every Monday to confirm they have not been exposed to anyone who has tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
But Evelyn Abreu, who co-owns another west Miami-Dade center that is now closed, still worries the federal safety guidelines are not enough to protect her business and the families they serve. The state has not provided them with masks and they have had to make do with the disinfecting materials they already have.
“We take all these precautions and we believe that they’re enough, but well,” she said, “you never know.”
While Florida has mandated that child-care centers are “essential” businesses, owners of child-care centers feel they have been left behind.
In interviews with the Miami Herald, South Florida child-care providers said the Florida Department of Children and Families has not provided any protective equipment or sanitation supplies and they have been left to scramble. Owners said that DCF, which oversees the early learning centers, has also not performed in-person visits to verify that open centers are complying with guidelines stipulated by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
“Child-care workers ... they are considered an essential service. They haven’t been part, when these masks and gloves have been distributed, they have not been included in that group,” said Evelio Torres, president of the Early Learning Coalition, a non-profit child-care coalition that serves Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. “And I think that’s a big oversight.”
Private child-care centers fall into a unique crack of essential businesses. Unlike public schools, private child care is an industry that has no financial safety net to ensure they can continue to operate, but whose labor is heavily relied on by the state to serve crucial front-line workers fighting the spread of COVID-19.
Most centers are closed
Out of 1,343 early learning programs in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties that contract with the Coalition, only 185 remain open, or about 14 percent, a smaller share of the percentage of centers that are still operating statewide. And yet Miami-Dade leads the state in coronavirus cases, with 9,657 confirmed cases as of Monday evening, according to the Florida Department of Health.
To keep child-care centers open, the state has mandated that every center keeps children 6 feet apart from each other, allows only nine children per caretaker, and frequently sanitizes work stations. Florida is also trying to entice child-care centers with a $500 stipend for every child of a first responder they take in, and up to $12,000 over a three-month period.
But since last month, as the number of children they served began to fall, most child-care centers in South Florida, about 80%, decided it was not worth the financial and health risk to keep their business running.
“Our teachers are not teachers who sit behind a desk and teach and write on the board all day,” said Caridad Valdes, who owns two now-closed Carousel Learning Centers. “We’re more interactive, we have to carry the kids, we have to bottle-feed them, there’s diaper changes... For all those reasons, 6 feet is unrealistic to follow.”
Florida’s DCF did not respond to questions from the Herald about protocols the state is considering to support child-care centers that remain open. The governor’s office directed questions to a DCF spokeswoman.
Absence of a system
Florida is far from alone in this child-care dilemma. Throughout the country, states are reconsidering their approach to emergency child care. In Oregon, only those child-care centers that fulfill a certain number of requirements are allowed to open. In Rhode Island, the state has partnered with Care.com to provide access to nannies and babysitters to frontline workers free of charge for the next 90 days.
“The truth is that child care is not a system. People often say, ‘the system of early care and education.’ It’s not a system,” said Samuel Meisels, an early childhood expert at the University of Nebraska. “It is multiple groups of private businesses, some in a home, some licensed, some unlicensed, some in centers, some in public schools where there is more of a structure and regulation perhaps.”
And during the coronavirus crisis, Meisels said, “The absence of a system tends to make this fall apart.”
Can’t pay their staffs
Like other non-essential businesses, private child-care centers are also facing hurdles to continue paying teachers and caretakers. While some closed centers continue to pay their staff for now, at Children Paradise Academy, Abreu said only three of her 14 employees are still receiving their pay. The center was forced to lay off the rest.
“We’re offering this service for parents who need to work. The work itself, we’re doing it more for them because we’re not making money out of this,” Abreu said. “We’ve already applied for aid and everything; we’re just waiting to get it. But in the meantime, we can’t do anything else because we just don’t have the funds.”
Adding to the burden is that some federal aid programs that child-care center owners have applied to, like the Paycheck Protection Program, aimed at small businesses, have run out of funds. The state’s dysfunctional unemployment system has only processed about 3% of claims submitted since mid-March. Florida announced last week free child care for first responders and health workers, with a state paying child-care centers a $500 stipend for every child of a first responder.
Rep. Vance Aloupis, a Republican Florida House member whose district includes parts of western Miami-Dade County, is one of the lawmakers helping child-care owners communicate with state authorities. Aloupis, who said he had reached out to other industries to pool together masks for child-care centers, said he believes Florida should be doing more to protect caretakers.
“My recommendation would be that DCF ramp up the inspections of centers to ensure that they’re adhering to the guidelines. That they’re not done virtually, which I’ve heard has been done, that they need to be done in person,” Aloupis said. “There’s always an opportunity to do more ... to make sure their staff is safe.”
On the other end, Meisels, the University of Nebraska expert, is a strong believer that child-care centers should be closed, just like restaurants or bars. In his view, there is no guaranteed way to keep children apart from each other.
“They’re not going to be 6 feet apart... That’s not what childhood is. Childhood is exploring, it’s experimenting, it’s tasting, feeling, touching,” Meisels said. “And all those things are outlawed in our COVID-19 rules. It doesn’t work.”
Concerned about surviving
Torres of the Early Learning Coalition said Miami-Dade still has the capacity to take in children of first responders who might not be able to make other family arrangements.
But some centers that have had to close are concerned the state is not doing enough for them to survive long-term closures.
“Nobody has responded to me ... Usually child-care workers, we’re always the unsung heroes, we never get the recognition that we need,” said Maria Elena Delgado, who owns two Victoria’s Playhouse child-care centers in Kendall. “We’re not seen as teachers; we’re seen as babysitters, and we’re not.
“We’re educators, a lot of us. And we’re taking care of people’s children.”
This story has been updated to clarify Care.com is partnering with the state of Rhode Island to provide free access to child care to frontline workers.
This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
