Lack of child care access in SC threatens economy, mental health, survey finds

A lack of child care access in South Carolina threatens parents’ ability to return to work, adversely affects family mental health and more, according to a newly released survey.

The survey of more than 2,400 S.C. parents of children under 6 years old found 47% of parents are working fewer hours; 47% are alternating hours with another parent or caregiver and 12% had taken unpaid leave since schools closed in mid-March, according to the survey results.

“Parents are important components of our state’s economy and child care is the invisible engine that helps it run,” United Way Association of South Carolina President and CEO Naomi Lett said during a Tuesday virtual press conference. “What happens now will have long-term effects.”

Child care has become more difficult during the pandemic because many child care centers have closed, either temporarily or permanently, because of the COVID 19 pandemic. As a result, 62% of South Carolina is considered to be a part of a “child care desert,” according to the survey.

Improving child care primarily starts at the state and federal government level, Lett said. The most ambitious federal proposal would allocate $50 billion in grants to the child care industry to hire and train employees, sanitize surfaces for coronavirus and more, according to CNBC.

The effects of child care cascade into personal issues, the survey found. For example, 59% of parents and caregivers worry their children are missing out on socialization and learning opportunities; 54% said they worry about their children’s mental health; 51% worry about their own mental health and 49% are worried they will not be able to meet the basic needs of their families, according to survey results.

The survey, published Tuesday, was conducted by the South Carolina Early Childhood Advisory Council, the United Way Association of South Carolina, South Carolina First Steps and Alliance for Early Success.

During the virtual press conference, several parents spoke about how a lack of child care access had impacted them.

One of those was Shakilya Khalif, a nurse practitioner and mother of two who lives in Columbia.

Khalif was pregnant when she was furloughed in April, and by the time she had returned to work, she had a newborn but her employer had not reopened day care because of coronavirus, she said.

Instead, Khalif did what many families have done since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, lean on family members to help take care of their children while services were closed or not accessible, she said.

“I didn’t lose my job. I was...furloughed. But either way that was money out of my pocket,” Khalif said during the press conference. “I’m just thankful to be working again.”

Georgia Mjartan, the executive director of First Steps South Carolina, which helped produce the survey, said she was in a similar situation, and that she wouldn’t be able to work if it weren’t for family members being able to take care of her children, she said.

“What you’re experiencing is real,” Mjartan said. “We’ve heard the mantra throughout this pandemic that we’re all in this together...this feels very different if you’re a parent of a young child.”