Licensed child-care options drying up for Oklahoma parents

OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — Child-care options are becoming harder to find in Oklahoma. This has some parents scrambling ahead of the upcoming school year.

In the last month, two highly-rated Oklahoma City child-care centers announced they would be closing their doors.

Oklahoma City Community College closed its child development center in late June. Around that same time, OSU-OKC announced its center would be closing Aug. 10.

Paula Koos, executive director of the Oklahoma Child Care Resource and Referral Association, says the number of licensed facilities has been on the decline for quite some time.

"You have facilities that are just getting by that finally give up the struggle because it's just not possible to do,” said Koos.

The number of licensed facilities have dropped 23 percent since 2012.

Fortunately, new federal funds could help curb closures. A panel with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services voted Friday to use those funds to increase the state's child-care subsidy from 38 to 65 percent. It's the first such increase in nearly a decade. Revisions to the state’s income and co-payment thresholds for qualifying parents are also expected.

In the meantime, parents looking for child care can call the association and speak to a child care specialist.

"We have child care specialists that basically that's pretty much all they do is answer the phone,” Koos said. “They're going to take information from the parent; you know, what kind of facility are they looking for, do they want their child in a home, do they want their child in a center, do they think they're going to qualify for subsidy assistance."

The specialist will then provide a list of options that meet the parents needs. It's then up to the parent to decide what facility best suits their child.

"You want to look at what's the interaction between the teachers and the parents; what's the facility look like; what kinds of toys and things to they have,” advised Koos.

Parents can also vet facilities on the DHS website.