Bay Area parents of young children still struggle to find childcare amid pandemic, inflation
SAN FRANCISCO – Amid the pandemic and inflation, many Bay Area families with young children are still struggling to find childcare. The lack of available spots, along with the cost, has prompted many working women to quit their jobs.
Meet Lily Marquez and her kids - 5-year-old Mia and 6-year-old Jeremiah. These San Franciscans are among the many faces in the Bay Area of child care troubles.
For Marquez and a lot of other folks, it's the one-two punch of high cost and no access.
Lily was a financial aid counselor at a local university -- emphasis on was.
"I had to quit my job when Mia was born. I had to sell my home and move in with in-laws because I had to pick. I couldn't afford working and then paying for childcare. The expense of childcare was probably $4,500 a month," she told KPIX 5.
Even without a mortgage payment to contend with Lily never actually found room in a preschool for Jeremiah.
"I was on a childcare waitlist for a very long time with him. He never got childcare," Marquez recalled.
Amie Latterman is the Chief Advancement Officer with the Children's Council in San Francisco. The organization helps 20,000 families a year find and fund childcare.
Latterman said Marquez's story is not unique.
"It can take more of your income to have two kids under five in childcare and preschool than it does to pay your mortgage or your rent. It's actually more expensive than housing," Latterman told KPIX 5.
She said the shortage of childcare during the pandemic forced many mothers out of the workforce.
"We haven't seen all those people come back to the workforce yet, because the solution is not there yet. Childcare is not back," Latterman said.
Things are a bit better for Marquez and her family these days. Mia and Jeremiah are in school, but she worries about what social and learning skills they missed out on staying home with her.
"I really wish there would be some legislation to help parents, families, single mothers, single fathers, grandparents — whoever has children. Childcare shouldn't be a burden," she said.