In the years since she started raising two grandchildren, Diana Sigmon has needed help caring for kids who have experienced some hard knocks.
Her grandkids, now entering their teens, have attended A Place to Grow child care center for years. One of them is still enrolled in the center’s after-school and summer programs.
“I know I can make a phone call and any of those ladies will step up and help me,” Sigmon said.
But centers like A Place to Grow are closing around West Virginia as they try to operate with low wages and resulting worker shortages. West Virginia lawmakers aren’t planning to pass legislation that would provide immediate help. And a top state official has proposed ways to serve fewer families.
Child care is expensive. The average annual cost of care at a licensed child care center in West Virginia is more than $6,000 per child.
Federal and state governments subsidize the cost by contributing a large percent of child care fees for lower-income families. For those without the subsidy, A Place to Grow costs about $800 a month.
The federal government has mandated states to pay child care assistance based on enrollment, instead of attendance. This means centers still receive income even if a child misses days.
The mandate is meant to help centers keep their doors open, even on days parents and guardians don’t need child care, because centers still have to pay workers and overhead costs.
But rather than budget additional funding to cover the expense, West Virginia has been meeting that mandate using unused Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funding.
And that money will run out.
Because of the state child care subsidy, Sigmon has only had to pay $12 a day. At 57, she is a busy woman. She squeezed in an interview while waiting at the orthodontist. She also works, regularly attends the kids’ sporting events and keeps a tight budget.
“I would love to be able to retire and be able to be more of a full-time mom, but it’s just not an option for us,” she said.
As the youth mental health crisis continues, in a state with few mental health professionals, child care workers are trained to support kids with a range of challenges. Child disability rates are also rising, while child care workers who could help leave due to inadequate pay.
“If we don’t have the staff, we can’t stay open,” said Tena Gee, A Place to Grow assistant director.
Both kids Sigmon is raising have ADHD. Workers like Gee know that if one of the kids shows symptoms, like an aggravated outburst, they can soothe or distract the child by taking them to another room to calm down or focus on another task.
“Tena’s the child whisperer,” Sigmon said. “She can take the most unruly child and have them eating out of the palm of her hand.”
Single parents like Sara Gilkey need the extra support. Her son, who has ADHD, also attends A Place to Grow.
“I don’t have anybody else that could keep him,” she said.
Gilkey’s son is close to Gee.
“She knows his behavior because he’s been going there since he was a baby,” she said.
Proposals could mean financial help for fewer families
Kids like Gilkey’s son are the lucky ones. They are able to get care. An estimated 25,000 kids under 6 can’t get child care.
But in a meeting before lawmakers earlier this legislative session, new Department of Human Services Secretary Alex Mayer, appointed by Gov. Patrick Morrisey, proposed ways to reduce the population eligible for child care financial assistance, including making only poorer families eligible.
He offered the suggestions as part of a presentation before the House Finance Committee.
But Kristy Ritz, executive director of the West Virginia Association for Young Children, had hoped to see the state invest in child care instead.
Ritz saw one child care bill this year, that would ensure child care workers’ children were eligible for the child care subsidy, as most likely to create the change she believes is urgently needed.
She said that child care workers make about $10-12 an hour. Some leave to make more at gas stations or retail stores.
But even though the bill passed the House Committee on Health and Human Resources earlier this week and was sent to the House Committee on Finance, the bill is unlikely to pass. Committee leadership didn’t put it on the agenda.
“It’s the money,” said Del. Vernon Criss, R- Wood and chair of the committee. He added that there wasn’t an appetite to run child care bills among other lawmakers.
Mayer has said state officials are in discussions about child care, and officials have also met with providers.
“The Department of Human Service (DoHS) must work within the parameters of the funding allocated for this purpose by Congress and the WV Legislature,” a spokesperson for the department said. “Our focus remains on meeting the needs of as many West Virginia working families and businesses as possible.”
Last week, Sen. Mike Oliverio, R-Monongalia and a member of the Senate Finance Committee, asked Mayer when the TANF pool of money would run out. He wanted to ensure that it would last at least for the next fiscal year, and Mayer said it would.
Melissa Colagrosso, owner of A Place to Grow, was sitting in the audience, with an oversized child care advocacy button on her shirt.
She noted that child care workers receive regular training in supporting kids with challenges like abusive or neglectful upbringings.
“It’s also just about developing a relationship of, ‘I love you no matter what has happened to you, and you can trust me,’ and that is everything to a human,” she said.
Staff members joke that they’re like social workers.
Sometimes, a stressed mom will arrive in tears, so they offer concern and a sounding board.
And instead of simply giving families the names and numbers of places they can find medical treatment or financial help, Gee facilitates the calls or drives them there if it makes them more comfortable.
Sigmon’s family has built such strong relationships with the workers that they’ve driven the kids to their practices, attended their games and even baby-sat for them.
The grandfamily recently met with their doctor about whether they needed to make any changes to her grandson’s treatment plan, and the doctor asked them to name some people who support them.
She gave a couple names, then her grandson piped up, giving the names of A Place to Grow teachers.
“It’s family,” Gee said. “It’s a community. It’s a village.”
Correction, March 28, 2025: This story has been updated to correct the cost of child care at A Place to Grow.