The Department of Health and Senior Services has announced it was dedicating $10 million in CARES Act funds to offer additional relief for Licensed, License-Exempt and Registered child care providers throughout Missouri.

A report released by Kids Win Missouri in June details the additional costs child care providers have taken on as they work to maintain healthy and safe environments through the pandemic, abiding by CDC guidelines and local health orders or restrictions. Additional costs include purchasing PPE, sanitation supplies, additional staff to accommodate health and safety requirements as well as lower teacher-to-student ratios and group sizes, and other equipment to modify spaces to help meet requirements.

Costs for providers have continued to increase, while in most cases enrollment and revenues are down, due to restrictions on capacity and group size, parents losing jobs and leaving the workforce, and parental anxiety about sending their children back to child care, according to Casey Hanson, Director of Outreach and Engagement for Kids Win Missouri. He says childcare providers have been essential throughout this pandemic in supporting working parents and keeping our economy moving, and they need resources to continue to operate as our economy rebuilds and recovers.

According to an August landscape report released by Child Care Aware of Missouri, 95 of Missouri’s 114 counties are now considered child care deserts, growing from 63 counties with the designation prior to the pandemic.

To date, pandemic relief for childcare has been included in negotiations around a new federal stimulus package. Kids Win Missouri and organizations throughout the country have been advocating for a federal investment of $50 billion to stabilize child care providers’ operations and maintain the supply of child care at pre-pandemic levels.