NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Federal funding to help child care centers survive the pandemic is expected to end soon, and experts predict more than 70,000 child care centers could close across the United States, meaning more than 3 million children will lose their care.
This is coming from a study done by the liberal think tank, the Century Foundation. Federal funding from the American Rescue Plan is expected to end September 30, and that money was the only thing keeping many child care centers afloat.
The study even breaks it down by state. Almost 90,000 children are expected to lose their care in Tennessee with almost 12 hundred child care programs expected to close.
In Kentucky, this could affect 41, 000 children, with more than 500 programs at risk of closing.
The child care industry was already in crisis before the pandemic, with low wages and high turnover. It also costs parents on average over $10,000 dollars annually.
Losing this funding is expected to have a ripple effect of care centers needing to cut employees or closing down all together. This will then mean parents will have to leave the workforce or reduce their hours to care for their kids, which translates to more than $10 billion of lost economic activity for states.
Experts said there is still an urgent need for long-term support at the federal and state levels, and for more affordable child care options to be made available for families.
