How childcare shortages undermine rural communities
Data collected prior to the pandemic shows that more than half of Americans lived in neighborhoods classified as childcare deserts, areas that have no childcare providers or where there are more than three children in the community for every available licensed care slot. Other research shows that parents and childcare providers in rural areas face unique barriers. Access to quality childcare programs and early education is linked to better educational and behavioral outcomes for kids and can also help link families and children to immunizations, health screenings, and greater food security by providing meals and snacks.
Policymakers and researchers now fear that inequitable childcare access threatens the sustainability and longevity of rural communities.
“If we want to keep rural parts of this country alive and thriving, we need to address this,” said Linda Smith, director of the Early Childhood Initiative at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
According to an October report that Smith co-authored, there is a 35% gap between the need for and availability of childcare programs in rural areas, compared with 29% in urban areas, based on data from 35 states.
The report echoed concerns local, state, and national experts have raised for a number of years.
A report published last year by the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services found that, per capita, more parents rely on family members or friends for childcare in rural areas than in urban areas. This isn’t sustainable for parents, said Cara James, CEO and president of Grantmakers in Health, a nonprofit that helps guide health philanthropy.
“Right now, we have a system that’s very expensive for people who can afford it and for people who can access it, not necessarily available to all those who need it,” James said. “That’s leading us to rely on other workarounds that are not ideal or ones that are giving the children the best support that they need to grow into healthy adults.”
For example, according to a state report, Montana’s total childcare capacity met 44% of the estimated demand in 2021, and infant care capacity met only 34% of the estimated demand. Garfield County met only 23% of the potential demand for children under 6. Nationally, the rural health advisory committee has found, childcare deserts are most likely to be located in “low-income rural census tracts.”
The dearth of childcare in many rural communities exacerbates workforce shortages by forcing parents, including those who work in health care locally, to stay home as full-time caregivers, and by preventing younger workers and families from putting down roots there.
Eighty-six percent of parents in rural areas who are not working or whose partner is not working said in a 2021 Bipartisan Policy Center survey that childcare responsibilities were a reason why, while 45% said they or their spouse cared for at least their youngest child. Staying home to care for children is a responsibility that disproportionately falls on women, affecting their ability to participate in the workforce and make an independent living.
A report from the rural health advisory committee shows that when center-based care is readily available in a community, the percentage of mothers who use that type of care and are employed doubles from 11% to 22%.