Emma Pringle, right, leads her class of children in singing “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” at A Child’s Heart Learning Center & Nursery in Boise on Wednesday.
Lisa Araiza, left, and Emma Pringle, right, pass out drinks and snacks to children on the playground at A Child’s Heart Learning Center & Nursery in Boise.
Emma Pringle, right, leads her class of children in singing “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” at A Child’s Heart Learning Center & Nursery in Boise on Wednesday.
Jake King/For The Idaho Press
Lisa Araiza, left, and Emma Pringle, right, pass out drinks and snacks to children on the playground at A Child’s Heart Learning Center & Nursery in Boise.
Jake King/For The Idaho Press
Betty Ackley, left, cares for infants during the day at A Child's Heart Learning Center & Nursery in Boise on Wednesday.
Parents looking for daycare for their kids often find themselves on several waitlists before getting care, which most providers attribute to a staffing shortage, Idaho Press reporter Emily White writes.
Over the past couple of years, daycare owners like Mia Barron, who owns A Child’s Heart Learning Center in Boise, frequently get calls from “frantic” parents whose daycares have recently closed because of a worker shortage. Barron ultimately has to turn many parents away, because she doesn’t have enough staff to take more kids.
“I’ve been in the childcare business since 2008 and I’ve never experienced such difficulty getting staff,” Barron said.
Daycare facilities have to maintain a ratio of kids to adults: one adult can care for five infants, six 2-year-olds, 10 3- to 4-year-olds or 12 kids age 5 and up. When a daycare doesn’t have the staff to care for more kids, they have to turn parents away. Barron currently has 28 employees servicing 80 children.
Read White's full story online here or find it in today's paper.
