Updated guidance from the Oregon Department of Education says that school districts will only be required to provide emergency child care if currently available care options have been exhausted. They are directed to continue operating district-run sites that are already open and to be ready with plans to open new sites if the ODE requests it.
That’s as demand for child care has continued to drop in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as parents work from home or aren’t working at all due to widespread layoffs. Private providers like KinderCare and the YMCA have reported steep declines in enrollment and many smaller and home-based care settings are struggling to stay in business.
A recent survey of early care and education providers in Oregon reported that just over 20 percent of programs could survive a sustained closure without public support to cover the losses sustained by COVID-19 related issues. Oregon was already struggling to provide adequate levels of affordable care before the COVID-19 pandemic reached the state.
The Early Learning Division reports that it has received 2,000 applications from providers who are registering to provide emergency care for the children of first responders and other essential workers working in industries like health care, transportation, and food and agriculture. It says there are approximately 9,500 vacant child care slots available throughout the state.
Families who unable to find child care or who are having difficulties affording care should call 211 for help. The Employment Related Day Care subsidy program has increased its income eligibility limits to about $70,000 for a family of four to receive subsidized child care, with co-pays currently waived.
The complete updated guidance and more information from ODE is available here.