20 Better Beginnings
Seeking solutions for on-site care
Photos courtesy Melissa Nelson The Children’s School, located at Sonoma State University, provides child care for student parents as well as university staff and faculty.
Finding child care solutions can be a struggle for many parents who are either working or in school. During the pandemic, this issue was amplified as many parents had to work from home and simultaneously take care of their children. Given that preschools and child care centers have become more expensive and offer limited hours, child care being interrupted is a common problem for working parents. Finding a preschool or daycare that is affordable and easily accessible is challenging, according to local family therapist and mother, Maria Daverede. Child care costs have nearly tripled what they were in 1990, surpassing the rate of inflation. This is a problem because when families don’t have access to full-time child care, it limits the parents’ ability to find or keep a full-time job as their child care is disrupted on a daily basis. One institution in Sonoma County that provides child care for not just its employees but also its students is Sonoma State University (SSU). SSU has a child care center for children ages 1 through 5, available for incomeeligible students and employees in need of child care and who want their children to receive an early education. Melissa Nelson, interim director at SSU’s The Children’s School, said that the child care program “greatly benefits students as they are able to create a child care schedule based on the classes they are taking.” Nelson said that the number of children attending whose parents are university staff or faculty varies depending on the year, since The Children’s School prioritizes income-eligible students before moving on to staff and faculty. The site’s maximum capacity is 60 kids, but it was cut down due to COVID-19 restrictions and is slowly building back up. The center provides meals and the children receive a nationally accredited early childhood
education; this institution helps many people involved in Sonoma State and is a solution to the parents’ struggle to find child care. The Children’s School has contracts with the California Department of Education, Nelson said, which allows the program to provide subsidized services for income-eligible families to qualify for a tuition-free base. “Child care and early education is hard to afford, so that lessens their stress and they can take classes without having to worry about also working or working enough to pay for it,” Nelson said. If parents don’t qualify for a fully subsidized space, Nelson said that they offer partially subsidized and that, for students
“It’s a good connection to have and it’s a great way to make relationships with families.” who don’t qualify for any subsidies, the school also offers a student rate for child care that differs from the faculty rate. “We try and make it affordable for student families,” she said. “Obviously that doesn’t mean we’re raising the price for staff and faculty, but it’s a different rate.” Nelson said that having on-site child care for students, faculty and staff also means that parents can be closer to their kids — in some cases, they may see the cohort from The Children’s School walking around campus on breaks and interacting with the environment around them. “It’s a good connection to have and it’s a great way to make relationships with families. I think when you work or go to school in the same place, we all have a common theme,” she said. — Sofia Nordvedt
