Finding affordable child care a struggle for essential workers

County stepping in to assist with YMCA

Maui parents, especially essential workers, are having a tough time finding affordable child care for their young children without the usual summer child care options due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This week, nurse Lindsey Mitchell was forced to take some hours off from her private clinic job to care for her 7-year-old daughter, Maya.

Mitchell said she is sharing child care duties with her 21-year old eldest son and her sister, a nurse at Maui Memorial Medical Center, who is struggling to find child care of her own.

As coronavirus cases were rising along with unemployment in March, Mitchell said her husband was home, so he could care for their daughter. Maya later attended Maui Family YMCA, which set up an emergency child care program for hospital employees, first responders and other essential workers. She said she paid $90 a week.

But Mitchell is now running out of options. Her husband went back to work; the subsidized YMCA emergency program ended and older family members are trying to social distance.

She would normally send her daughter to the county's Summer PALS program -- but it is not running. With the ending of its Small Business Administration loan, the YMCA has transitioned to a limited summer camp, which is now too expensive for her. She does not qualify for financial assistance.

Mitchell is stuck in a quandary. Being employed, she doesn't qualify for child care aid. If she were unemployed, she would qualify for aid but would not need child care because she would be home.

Maui Family YMCA said in an email sent to members Friday that the cost for the summer program is doubling from last year because of new social distancing requirements. Staff-member-to-child ratios have been reduced, meaning more workers are needed, and space limitations trim the number of children that can be accommodated.

"I realize our families need help, and I'm struggling on how to help," said Mike Morris, president and CEO of Maui Family YMCA, in the email last week. "If the Y could provide the service at a lesser rate and stay in business, I promise you, I would."

By Tuesday, Morris had received some relief. Weekly costs that had been $250 were trimmed to $120, close to what was charged last year.

In an email Tuesday afternoon, Morris explained that the recommended ratios by the Health Department had changed from one leader for nine children to one leader for 20 children.

"That made all the difference in the pricing," he said.

Maui County spokesman Chris Sugidono confirmed Tuesday afternoon that more help was on the way. The county will be partnering with the YMCA to expand its summer program in the absence of Summer PALS.

"We also plan to provide additional county sites for YMCA's program on Maui and Molokai," Sugidono said.

The county program is targeting a July 1 start date and will be open for children ages 6 to 11. Space will be limited due to health and safety guidelines, with YMCA staff following sanitation, temperature checks, physical distancing and other requirements ordered by the state Health Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Sugidono did not have information on costs Tuesday afternoon. He did say that the YMCA will have online registration available in the near future with financial assistance available at each site.

The YMCA is recruiting employees for the program. Those interested should contact Brian Kawamoto at Brian@mauiymca.org.

The county also is working with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Maui, youth centers and others groups through existing grant programs to support additional child care options for families, Sugidono said.

Since March, the county Early Childhood Resource Center has been coordinating child care service for essential workers and those returning to the workforce through PATCH (People Attentive to Children) Maui. Those in need of child care for youths under the age of 6 may contact PATCH Maui at 242-9232 or email mfelicilda@patch-hawaii.org. Other options may be found by calling the county at 242-1608 or email mauiecrc@gmail.com.

Mitchell's sister, Laren Norman, who works at Maui Memorial, sent her 8-year-old daughter, Lola Kupihea, to the YMCA's emergency program. She said the organization "was amazing" but the summer option at $250 a week was too costly. She understood why the cost had to rise.

"I usually send my daughter to Summer PALS every summer break. Myself and many others have been left juggling work and kids and feeling stressed and overwhelmed every week trying to figure out safe options for our children," said the Wailuku resident in a text.

Norman's friend, Kate Carson, a single mother of three from Wailuku, is facing a similar dilemma. She has received a scholarship from the Maui Family YMCA, allowing her children, ages 10, 6 and 5, to continue in the summer camp. Carson, also a nurse for a private clinic, would have sent her children to Summer PALS if it was available.

She said her office stayed open during the pandemic and was working full time.

"I had nowhere to send my children. No help, no resources," said Carson in a text. "The YMCA was so generous with the emergency child care, but their funding ran out. We are putting ourselves and our family at risk daily seeing patients, and now we have to pay over $1,000 a month for child care.

"It's been so hard to find help, and I can't afford to stay home with them and at one point, someone like me with three might have to pay $2,800 a month for care."

A random check of a handful of traditional summer programs for children revealed many are operating virtually, including Maui Academy of Performing Arts, Pacific Whale Foundation and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Maui.

Kama'aina Kids is offering a summer program, which as of Tuesday morning still had 15 spots available at its Maui Mall location in Kahului, said spokesperson Kelsea Lickert in an email from Oahu.

The program accepts youths in grades kindergarten to 5th grade, its website says.

Lickert said the cost is "generally the same" as past years. For this month, the cost is $680, but with a subsidy from the state Department of Human Services, parents only pay $330, she said.

Kama'aina Kids also has a Piilani Children Center program, which has six openings for new students, ages 2 to 9 years old, said Stacy Clark, regional manager and center director.

For more information on the programs, see kamaainakids.com/intersessions-summer/maui.

* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.