With child care costing $25,000 a year, how are Denver parents affording families?

Against all odds and with an assist from beloved children s plan Ms Rachel Christina Galliani doubles as a stay-at-home mom to her toddler and a full-time employee at an information-technology company During working hours Galliani tends to emails and Zoom calls from her house in Parker while wrangling her -year-old boy It feels like I m doing double the work for one income she explained The arrangement was a last resort for Galliani and her husband who were overcome with sticker shock when they shopped around for child care The couple estimated they would need to spend to annually to put their baby in day care a cost that didn t seem feasible on their combined salary of after rent and basic living expenses Child care is not only expensive in Colorado but scarce experts and parents described The Denver Post The state is ranked among the the majority expensive in the nation to find someone to watch your child while you re at work Last year the U S Department of Labor acknowledged that the cost of child care in this country an almost prohibitive expense And as those high costs lead families to restrict spending and alter their ideas about the number of children they d like to bring into the world state lawmakers notably a slew of women have proposed bills to tackle the issue Waitlists at different metro Denver day cares sometimes years-long reign prompting parents to wonder how soon they need to get in line to be considered for care Before their kid is a glint in their father s eye Galliani stated she and her husband were quoted a non-refundable fee just to get waitlisted at one day care This means couples could drop hundreds of dollars or more trying their luck on waitlists that may never pan out We were like Screw this it s not worth it Galliani mentioned Now what Galliani saves on day care she pays for with her sanity I am frazzled and tired she noted I am irritated that it costs the same as rent to send a child to day care and I don t understand how other families manage child care financially The U S Department of Vitality and Human Services considers child care affordable when families spend no more than of their income on it Yet families in the U S at this time spend between and of their median income on day care for a single child according to statistics from the Department of Labor The median annual price of infant child care in Denver is nearly with toddler care surpassing according to the most of latest records provided by the Department of Labor Colorado is ranked fifth out of the states and the District of Columbia for the bulk expensive infant care according to the nonprofit Economic Procedures Institute Nearly people responded when The Post sought Coloradans to share their experiences finding and affording child care Of the respondents who were still paying for day care several ascertained it more cost-effective for one parent to drop out of the workforce and become a stay-at-home parent the average annual cost was more than The highest price tag was a year for a private nanny in Thornton while the lowest was a year with the help of the Colorado Child Care Assistance Plan for low-income families RELATED Soaring costs could force cut in Colorado child care campaign Multiple parents reported they spent more on child care than their rent or mortgage payments Several located their family planning to be at the mercy of day care costs forcing them to abandon dreams of having more kids All but one content stay-at-home mom respondent wondered how a system like this was sustainable It breaks your brain how hard it is to find affordable high-quality and reliable care declared Alison Friedman Phillips child care expert and director of programs program and advocacy at the Women s Foundation of Colorado The child care infrastructure in our state is a vital part of our market system and locality Unfortunately it has not been sustained or supported or valued in the way that s really needed Child care waitlists boggle the mind Rose Schuchat and her husband consider themselves privileged They bought a house in Denver s Mayfair neighborhood where they live with their two kids each parent netting a six-figure income You would think that would be plenty but we re pretty much paycheck-to-paycheck between mortgage and day care and we re not extravagant spenders Schuchat revealed The couple moved to Denver from Chicago in with two young kids in tow They heard how tricky it was nabbing day care spots so Schuchat started the search before they eve moved to Colorado She was confronted with years-long waitlists requiring non-refundable fees to secure a place So I have to get on a waitlist before I conceive Shuchat disclosed Toys are ready for children to play with at Lil People Learning Center a child care center in Green Valley Ranch in Denver on Nov Photo by RJ Sangosti The Denver Post While the family waited out the waitlists they hired a nanny for their kids now and The eldest secured a day care spot first increasing her sibling s chance of coming off the waitlist sooner After a scant months the Schuchat family managed to get both into day care Now they re paying about annually for their youngest s day care while the older child has graduated into Denver Community Schools kindergarten Our oldest is the baby of her grade and it was intriguing because there wasn t even an option financially to consider if she was ready for kindergarten or not Schuchat stated I do think she was ready but what if she hadn t been It should be about their advance not about whether you can afford to hold them back or not Discussions about whether they want more kids or not constantly come back to the cost of putting another one through day care she explained We are looking around like How are people doing this Schuchat mentioned It all feels very piecemeal and the best deposit I have unveiled for everything is moms talking about day care in Facebook groups The state offers a website called Colorado Shines to help families find a child care undertaking Users can search for options near their work or home filter the results by the place s rating and view complaints Sarah Dawson division director for the Colorado Department of Early Childhood s Child Care Assistance Initiative commented the Colorado Shines search tool was a lifesaver as she navigated finding care for her now- -year-old RELATED How to choose a child care undertaking in Colorado She admitted waitlists are long the ones she got on white pregnant exceeded nine months but advised signing up as early as realizable Don t get discouraged Dawson revealed Continue to look at the providers that you re interested in even if they have a waitlist longer than you think you need As kids get older the state does provide more opportunities for free child care All Colorado children can register for up to hours of free preschool in their year before kindergarten through the state s Universal Preschool Colorado operation although it has navigated a rocky rollout as demand exceeded expectations Colorado has children under age with all parents in the workforce but the state only has enough quota to put kids in licensed child care facilities according to a summary from the Denver-based Bell Plan Center That means children did not have an available seat with a licensed child care provider That gap has decreased over the last minimal years because of a drop in the number of children and an increase in child care spots the Bell Program Center record stated The state does not regulate or track child care facility waitlists or the average duration of time that families may be on a waitlist It also does not have information on the average child care prices across Colorado What is known The future of child care in Colorado particularly for low-income families is uncertain Latest state and federal changes coupled with waning stimulus money and a billion state budget deficit have endangered the future of the Colorado Child Care Assistance Campaign which helps low-income families pay for child care so parents can work or go to school State agents project about fewer families will be able to access the project without a sudden injection of cash About children receive day care through the plan annually We are really struggling to patronage our low-income families due to CCAP fiscal issues right now Dawson reported It s something that keeps us up at night because those families deserve to have their children in safe affordable care as well A broken system When Kara Wyers was pregnant she had ideas about the child care setup that would work best for their family She and her partner both work from home for the bulk part but on days her partner leaves for work Wyers envisioned hiring someone to come to their Castle Rock home part-time to help out Maybe the person would be bilingual They would hopefully have experience in early childhood evolution They d have great references and be calm with dogs Wyers and her partner were in for a rude awakening Now it s to the point of who is qualified that is available Wyers revealed It s like the minimum viable option which is horrible because this is the preponderance significant thing in the world Wyers first daughter was born in November During her pregnancy the -year-old noted she was warned by a friend that the hardest thing after birth would be finding child care She thought that was surely an exaggeration Now she wholeheartedly agrees Kara Wyers works from home while caring for her -month-old baby in Castle Rock Colorado on Wednesday March After the boy was born in November Kara and her partner Cassie Wyers have had a complex time finding affordable and high-quality child care Photo by Hyoung Chang The Denver Post It was truly harder to figure this out than for me to recover physically post-partum Wyers reported It has taken up a lot of my time and mental force when I would rather be focusing that on recovery and spending time with my daughter Wyers heard she should start looking for child care as soon as she uncovered out she was expecting but she explained it didn t feel right putting down a day care waitlist deposit for a baby who wasn t even born yet Instead the couple started looking in earnest when the baby was a month old and the clock on parental leave started ticking Not only could Wyers not find a part-time nanny she liked she couldn t even find one within her budget and scheduling demands As a saving grace Wyers discovered a new Denver day care center opening in June and secured a spot The couple who originally hoped to avoid a day care center now exposed themselves grateful and relieved Until June Wyers and her partner cobbled together a temporary fix A neighbor who is a stay-at-home mom is watching the baby for an hour when Wyers partner is out working If they re both working from home they do their best to juggle the baby and their jobs The cost of child care is so high that we have had to reevaluate our current career trajectories revealed Wyers who works in system sales while her partner works in IT Several people look at one person being a stay-at-home parent as more cost-effective If one of us quit our jobs that would be a huge financial change for us even considering the cost of day care So it s kind of trying to figure out where you draw the line Friedman Phillips with the Women s Foundation of Colorado declared the bottom line is that the state necessities more citizens stake in child care to best help its citizens and workforce That sentiment is shared by certain Colorado legislators who proposed bills related to child care this session Senate Bill sponsored by four Democratic women was signed into law by Gov Jared Polis in March It mandates child care waitlist application or deposit fees be refunded if the child is not enrolled within six months of paying the fee The prospective family must submit a written request to the child care venture to receive the refund Another bill still under consideration House Bill also sponsored by four Democratic women would require child care centers owned by private equity firms meet certain requirements to receive state funding For example those centers could charge waitlist fees of no more than and would need to post and update accurate pricing on their website The centers would also need to be allowed to maintain ownership of their property under the bill And if private equity acquired a child care center the center would need to provide at least a -day notice to all employees and families with children enrolled at the center if the new owner intended to lay off employees or change enrollment or eligibility requirements for the child care center According to the bill large for-profit child care centers backed by institutional investors have proliferated in Colorado with a profit maximization motive Everyone depends on someone who depends on child care Friedman Phillips disclosed It gives women and families a choice to keep working It helps our state s market It also provides amazing educational opportunities for our state s children It s such an key part of our society and state but it really is a broken system People need more assistance Galliani is up at a m tackling early-morning chores and savoring a moment s peace Come a m her toddler wakes and her job in the financial department of an IT firm begins Off to the races The -year-old crams as much work as she can into the time it takes for her toddler to go from sleepy-eyed to fully charged Then she dedicates a half hour of one-on-one time to him before his breakfast inquiries commence Galliani capitalizes on her hungry boy s high-chair-induced immobility by cleaning up the kitchen and maybe tossing in a load of laundry A post-breakfast Ms Rachel break buys Galliani another hour of work Sometimes her boy plays independently Sometimes he s more clingy Holding the little one during client video calls is out of the question but sometimes he makes appearances on video meetings with colleagues My boss knows I m taking care of my child at home Galliani declared He ll check in asking how it s going every once in a while Related Articles Colorado campaign that helps the the majority vulnerable families with child care faces freezes amid rising costs Colorado daycare website was offline for months As private equity invests in child care Colorado lawmakers seek guardrails Denver is short nearly child care spots as industry struggles to recruit retain workers Colorado s child care gaps laid bare by pandemic with never-ending wait lists exorbitant costs During the baby s lunchtime Galliani cleans up what she can around the house The mother uses her one-hour lunch to play with her son often choosing a walk outside to break up the day Naptime is at p m Galliani spends the next two hours with her head down plowing through her work to-do list Thankfully my kid is pretty chill and reasonable Galliani revealed It s hard and it s very busy but it generally works out I recognize that the bulk people don t have this set up and we re lucky Like a multitude of of the people who responded to The Post s survey Galliani announced that regardless of how lucky she feels she still looks around and wonders how anyone else is making this work The financial burden it s placing on parents who are also expected to buy a house and save money for their kids college and have safe cars and keep up with everything else it s an unreasonable expectation she noted If this country wants people to keep having kids people need more assistance for accessible child care Get more Colorado news by signing up for our daily Your Morning Dozen email newsletter