COVINGTON, Ky. — A new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation finds Kentucky ranks in the bottom half nationally with overall child well-being, coming in at No. 40 on the list. The data from this research is further broken down into factors that impact a child’s wellbeing, things like economics and education.
For economic well-being, Kentucky is 41st in the U.S..Kentucky ranks 29th in education, 40th in health, and 42nd in the list’s family and community category.
According to the report, the child care system is broken, which could put children and families at a disadvantage.
Child care and medical professionals share child care and early education play a big role in a child’s development and growth. Safe Haven Learning Center in northern Kentucky has been open for a couple of months and is committed to reversing those trends in the state.
Director and owner Alisha Brown has been with the center since its opening but has been working in childcare for over 13 years.
“I’ve been doing childcare for a while. Even before that, when I was pregnant, I just had kids that would flock to me for some reason,” shared Brown.
Brown spends her days within the quaint walls of the Learning Center helping kids. She says it’s more than just a babysitting job. She and others at the center help educate young children and prepare them for the future.
“It’s kind of a priority on my list—I don’t want anyone here saying my kid don’t know anything. I want your child to know everything,” Brown explained.
But she says it’s a different world now, with many children and parents navigating the COVID-19 pandemic the best they can. In some ways, navigating a post-pandemic world may prove just as difficult as resources the help centers like hers start to fade.
“Because now it’s just like everything’s stopping. The staffing has been hindered really bad—I can’t get staff in here. We don’t have the resources, the money, the funding,” Brown explained.
According to the Casey Foundation report, wages are currently low for those working in child care, with employees making less than 98% of the nation’s other workers.
Charles Kelly, a community pediatrician with Pediatric Care of Kentucky, says that everyone seems to be have a staffing crisis in child care. He says more funding and more attention on child care now could help children and families tremendously.
“If there’s not adequate and healthy and appropriate childcare, parents can’t work and income could be lower for the family and that affects kids,” Kelly explained.
That will impact the overall well-being of children.
Brown knows it’s all about giving kids a positive environment at home and at places like Safe Haven.
“If we all worked together for the betterment of the children—they’re our future, they’re going to hold everything that’s going on with us. We really need to spend some time getting it together and supporting the teachers,” she said.
The report from the Casey foundation recommends ways to improve child care, including investing money from the federal, state and local levels, having public and private leaders work together to improve infrastructure for home-based child care and expanding federal legislation the helps student parents.