Child care shortage prevents parents from returning to work

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WICS/WRSP) — Governor JB Pritzker announced Wednesday hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to improve credentials and education of child care providers throughout the state.

This being the latest attempt from Illinois to help child care so people can get back to the workforce.

Unemployment has yet to return to normal levels and one of the reasons is the lack of child care providers in the state.

Mother of three-year-old twin girls Tiffany Lufkin said it has been a rough year and she is nearly out of options.

"Basically, I just cannot find day care for my girls,” Lufkin said. "Yes. That is the only reason I'm not working right now."

Tiffany Lufkin worked in the hospitality industry before COVID-19 hit.

But, when hotels closed and day cares shut down, she was out of work and the sole caretaker for her twin girls.

"It's already a job, raising children, but I have no job right now I have no income except for what the government is giving us,” Lufkin said.

Unemployment benefits and the child tax credits are how Lufkin has survived this long.

She said suitable day care that will take twins is the only way she can get back to work out that that is hard to find.

"We lost 9% of the workforce in child care during COVID,” University of Illinois-Springfield pubic administration professor Richard Funderburg.

Pritzker has made child care more affordable for low income families and is increasing education for providers.

But Funderburg said that is only part of the problem.

"Subsidizing child care for low income households addresses some of the demand side problems, but it does not address the shortage of workers that are willing and able to supply child care services to the community,” He said.

Lufkin said whatever the solution is it needs to happen fast.

"It's ridiculous. It's getting ridiculous,” Lufkin said.

Funderburg said providing incentives for child care workers to come back to work is the next step for pritzker.

But, just like economics, both the supply and demand of child care have to be there for everything to work.

Business officials say as soon as the child care crisis is handled in the nation and in Illinois unemployment will officially begin to rebound.