Recession squeezes daycare from both sides

[katty]

more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29882470/

Budgets being cut at same time laid-off parents pull children from facilities


Lindy Franca used to have a waiting list of parents who wanted to put their children into the day care center she owns in Honolulu, Hawaii. Sometimes, she would get 10 calls in a single day from families hoping for an opening.

“Constant calls, people begging you,” Franca said. “You’re full. You can’t take children. You’re at your max.”

But nowadays, “there’s hardly any calls,” she said. “Sometimes I’ll go a whole week and I’ll be lucky to get one.”


These are the toughest times in Franca’s 27-year career. Business at Lindy’s Day Care has dropped by about half since the beginning of 2008, a casualty of the stumbling economy, which is leaving fewer families able to afford day care.

Franca has lowered her fees to $575 a month, far lower than the average of $900 a month that the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies estimates many parents pay.

So Franca monitors her expenses like a hawk, barely getting by day to day.