Latest news with #FrederickCountyChildCareMarketStudy
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
County launches workforce development, informational initiative to increase child care
Frederick County's Workforce Services and Division of Families Services are launching a child care initiative — including several training and certification programs — to help available child care services catch up with the demand from residents. The initiative will provide training and resources to up to 70 residents enabling them to get child care certifications, as well as operate their own licensed, family-owned child care businesses. The initiative's main components include: * A family-owned child care training program * Child care certification training * A multilingual campaign to spread awareness of child care resources Micha Hagans, employee and training manager with the county's Workforce Services, wrote in an email Thursday that the initiative will continue through May 1, 2026, or until funding for the initiative is all used. The county has also started the process to create a new child care study, building off a study released in 2024, that focuses on families with children ranging from infants to 12-year-olds. In Frederick County, the number of licensed child care slots available can't keep up with the demand for services, according to the Frederick County Child Care Market Study released last year. This study only focused on families with young children. The study said that if these trends continued, the ratio of children per spot could increase to 2.6 per slot by 2035. A ratio of three children per spot is considered a 'child care desert,' according to the Center for American Progress. The study said that southeastern Frederick County, which includes the municipalities of New Market and Mount Airy, is already a child care desert with 3.3 children per slot. Northern Frederick County, which includes Emmitsburg, Woodsboro and Thurmont, is approaching desert status at 2.8 children per slot. Additionally, 74% of the providers who participated in the study had a waitlist, each with an average of nine families, and families spent about six months on waitlists overall. The average wait times for home-based providers were about a month longer than the wait times for child care centers. At the end of January, Frederick Community College announced to parents and staff its plans to permanently close its child care center in May due to financial constraints. That center's total capacity is 83 children, but the center has never operated at full capacity, FCC said in a statement. The child care initiative's family-owned child care program will train people interested in opening licensed, family-owned child care businesses in their homes. This program is in partnership with Child Care Choices, a program at the Mental Health Association of Frederick County. The county's workforce services are partnering with The Child Care Company, which specializes in Maryland State Department of Education-approved training, to provide self-paced 45-hour and 90-hour online trainings. There are trainings available for people who are new to the child care field, as well as current child care providers who want to advance in their profession. An in-person 90-hour child care certification program, in partnership with FCC, is also part of the child care initiative, but it has already started. People can sign up for available programs at and the county will also post updates on the in-person certification program there. 'We built on the long-standing success of the Child Care Choices program and designed this initiative to respond to those needs,' Hagans wrote. 'Our hope is to grow both the childcare workforce and the number of family childcare providers in the county.' To be eligible, people must be a county resident, at least 18 years old and authorized to work in the U.S. Men born after 1959 must be registered for selective services. The county's Division of Family Services will partner with Child Care Choices to also create a family engagement campaign in multiple languages to build awareness of child care resources, such as Maryland's Child Care Scholarship Program.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
County launching new child care study to address additional child care needs
Frederick County has started creating a new child care study — building on a study released last year — to evaluate the accessibility, affordability and quality of child care for children ranging from infants to 12-year-olds. In 2024, the Frederick County Child Care Market Study revealed that the number of available licensed child care slots within the county couldn't keep up with the demand. This study also specifically focused on families with young children, compared to the new study, which will focus on newborns and young adolescents. The shortage of care was predicted to reach crisis levels within the next 10 years, if those trends continued, and some parts of Frederick County were already approaching crisis levels. Just at the end of January, Frederick Community College told parents and staff it planned to permanently close its child care center in May due to financial constraints. That center's total capacity is 83 children and provides year-round services for children ages 6 weeks to 5 years old. The center has never operated at full capacity, and its revenues can't cover its expenses, FCC said in a statement. This new study aims to 'gather additional information on families with children from birth through age 12 and identify viable solutions for expanding child care services to better support underserved communities,' according to a county news release. The study's findings will be compiled into a final report and include recommendations for Frederick County to review and consider. The study will look at the possibility of county-sponsored child care services. Its focus areas will include: • Analyzing geographic disparities in child care availability, especially in underserved areas • Assessing how financially and operationally feasible it is to establish new child care centers • Determining the most strategic locations to create child care services • Talking to stakeholders like parents, care providers and community organizations to incorporate several perspectives into the study's recommendations People can complete a survey and share their child care experiences at The county will also post further information about focus groups and public engagement opportunities on the same website.
