Child care programs affected by Hurricane Helene might be able reopen, even if they don’t have running water or can’t meet other requirements, to meet communities’ emergency needs.
Licensed child care programs in Western North Carolina should contact a licensing consultant to figure out whether and how they can reopen without meeting normal licensing requirements, according to the state Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE) under the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Consultants for the Western region can be found here on pages 4-12.
Meanwhile, families looking for child care can find assistance through the NC Child Care Hotline at 1-888-600-1685 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. It is run through DHHS and the Child Care Resource & Referral agencies to help families find child care options for children up to 12 years old.
Gov. Roy Cooper signed an executive order Friday recognizing that child care is essential for the region’s workforce, that many programs have been “damaged, destroyed or closed,” and that reopening under normal requirements “may be difficult or impossible.”
State and local agencies can provide flexibilities in the 27 counties in the federal disaster area, the order says. It allows the DHHS to waive or modify child care requirements regarding “activities, records, orientation, continuing education, nutrition, attendance, staff qualifications, training, and sanitation,” as well as requirements for subsidized child care.
As of Oct. 11, there were 55 child care programs in the original 25 disaster-declared counties with damage that prevented reopening, 40 programs the state had not been able to contact, 130 programs that were operational but closed, and 587 open programs, according to DCDEE.
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DCDEE is working with the Division of Public Health’s Environmental Health unit and the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) to figure out how to reopen each program based on its circumstances.
The legislature last week passed an initial $273 million Helene relief package that Cooper then signed. Despite requests from DCDEE and other early childhood leaders, the legislation lacked funding for child care.
In the short term, child care programs need funds to repair or replace buildings and continue to pay teachers, local leaders and early childhood educators told EdNC.
“We hope our request for funding is approved when the General Assembly reconvenes closer to the end of the month,” said Candace Witherspoon, acting director of DCDEE, in a newsletter Friday.
The legislature will meet next on Oct. 24.
Programs also need additional funds to operate in the long term, as an extension of pandemic-era relief funding runs out in December, local and statewide advocates say.
The legislature is expected to return in November to finalize its budget.
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