Michigan’s child care system was strained prior to the pandemic and over the past 11 months, child care providers and families have been faced with more challenges due to COVID-19. When it comes to child care in the pandemic, a new survey released by the Michigan Women’s Commission (MWC) provides insights on the perspectives of Michigan families with young children. 

Early findings of the survey show a shift in child care with 37.5% of respondents reporting they are providing care inside of the home due to health and safety concerns related to the pandemic. When asked about the future of their child care plans post-pandemic, nearly half of the respondents reported a desire to send their children to licensed child care centers.

Respondents said that in order for them to feel comfortable sending their children to out-of-home child care centers they would want the following:

•    Rapid testing at center-based and home-based child care.

•    Implementation of safety protocols.

•    Reduced cost of child-care.

•    Widespread vaccine implementation. 

•    Reduced the spread of COVID-19.

•    Increased communication from the school and government about COVID-19 cases. 

Although the survey did not ask specifically, approximately 2.2% of respondents indicated that they had to leave the workforce to take care of their children and approximately 1.7% of respondents indicated that their partner had to leave the workforce to care for their children.

The latest data from Early Childhood Investment Corporation (ECIC) shows that over 6,200 child care providers throughout Michigan remain open or have reopened and they have the licensed capacity to serve more than 265,000 children, though social distancing precautions may mean fewer slots are available. Of providers who have responded to ECIC, fewer than 350 licensed child care providers report that they remain closed or temporarily closed.

This is a significant change from last July when CMF reported more than 3,000 centers were closed at that time due to the pandemic.

For child care centers that have been operating during the pandemic many have faced higher costs associated with the technological and health and safety changes needed to support young children’s attendance. 

At the state level, the Michigan Department of Education has administered the Child Care Relief Fund to support child care providers and Michigan families. The fund deployed $215 million in federal funds to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic on the child care system. Six rounds of grants were available to providers, which included funds to make care more affordable for families through tuition credits. 

Governor Gretchen Whitmer has outlined how the state can best support Michigan’s young children and their families moving forward through recommendations in her budget proposal.

“High-quality, affordable child-care is critical to the success of Michigan’s children, families and economy,” Whitmer said. “To give working parents a much-needed boost, my executive budget recommendation invests $370 million to significantly lower childcare costs, in some cases down to zero. This game-changing investment in early learning will provide access to quality, affordable childcare for 150,000 additional families. It immediately and directly helps parents continue working while giving them the peace of mind to know that their kids can continue to grow and learn.”

The Office of Foundation Liaison (OFL) recently provided CMF members exclusive briefings on the governor’s state budget. The Early Education State Budget Briefing highlighted budget changes that would expand opportunities for high-quality and accessible child care through a $370 million investment by the state:

•    Temporarily increasing the income eligibility threshold from 150% to 200% through 2022.

•    Temporarily waiving out-of-pocket co-pays through 2022.

•    10% increase in hourly rates for child-care providers.

The Southeast Michigan Early Childhood Funders Collaborative (SEMI-ECFC) which is composed of several CMF members and whose goal is to strengthen early care and education in Detroit, across Southeast Michigan and statewide, sent a letter last week to Governor Whitmer. The collaborative expressed gratitude for her administration’s efforts to support Michigan’s early childhood system and outlined immediate and long-term needs that will be necessary to support Michigan families.

The collaborative highlighted the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act and the $292 million it allocates for Michigan’s child care system, suggesting the flexibility of the act can offer immediate short-term relief to parents/guardians and providers while setting up the system for long-term success. The recommendations outlined by the collaborative are based on their experiences working with providers in their communities and lessons learned from the allocation of the early care and education funding appropriated through the CARES Act. 

Recommendations for Immediate Relief

•    Offset the cost of child care for families who have lower incomes with income and racial equity in mind. 

•    Target the providers most in need of funding and ensure that the calculation used to determine the grant amount covers the fixed cost of care. 

•    Focus funding dedicated to providers not in the child care subsidy system to providers in high-need zip codes and home-based providers.

•    Consider using flexible funding from other parts of the act to support the early care and education system.

Recommendations for Long-term Innovations

•    Decentralize distribution of child care funds through local, neighborhood-based hubs with a better understanding of the local context, coordinate shared services and provide targeted technical assistance to operators.

•    Leverage flexibilities in federal funding to model Head Start and Early Head Start Child Care Partnership (EHS-CCP) models of funding, using a contract funding that will guarantee a specified number of reimbursed seats for operators.

•    Create a state early childhood infrastructure fund to address the dire need of Michigan’s early childhood facilities.

•    Provide behavioral health funding directly to early childhood operators, school districts and community organizations, who can then contract with behavioral health providers to provide services.

In the letter, the collaborative offered to serve as a resource to the governor’s office in this work.

The governor’s budget is now with the Legislature for consideration. 

Want more?

Read the MWC Survey.

Watch OFL’s Budget Briefing.

The Southeast Michigan Early Childhood Funders Collaborative is comprised of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, The Skillman Foundation, Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation, The Ballmer Group, Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, the Michigan Health Endowment Fund, The Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation and the PNC Foundation.