Parents still waiting for word on child care

Danette Goulet

COSTA MESA -- Parents with children enrolled in the county day-care

program scheduled to end in December continue to prepare for the worst

while state and local officials search for child-care providers to absorb

the needed services.

“I’m really worried,” said Silvia Nava, whose children are among the

350 currently enrolled at the Costa Mesa center, which also employs 60

people who will be out of work when the doors shut. “I hope they do not

close it because I don’t know what I’ll do. I’m a single mother with

three kids.”

Nava was one of many fearful parents who at a meeting Thursday

received assurances from the Orange County Department of Education that

all efforts were being made to solve the problem.

“Parents are concerned and they are not understanding that their

children’s care will be continuous,” said Ellin Chariton, director of

child development services for the county.

Chariton said she expects an announcement within weeks from the state

Department of Education about who will take over the programs.

“We will continue to operate through Dec. 15, so the plan would be to

have the other agencies ready to open the next day,” Chariton said. “It

will be a smooth transition.”

The hope is to find a school district or private nonprofit day-care

program that already receives funds from the state to expand their

operation to include the low-income children.

Since the county announced the closure of the state-funded day-care

program -- which serves 900 children and employs 200 people at 13

locations in Orange County -- state and local officials have been working

frantically to find such a savior, Chariton said.

In fact, since the distress call was made, several agencies have

expressed interest; some have even visited day-care sites, making

Chariton more optimistic each day.

“We always knew the California Department of Education had to work it

out -- it’s their responsibility,” she said. “But to see other agencies

step up and express interest has really been great.”

But for the low-income families and single mothers of Costa Mesa, the

solution may not be the savior the county is saying it is.

“They are saying we’ll probably have to pay more than at least 50% of

[child-care costs],” said Karen Rivera, a Costa Mesa resident with two

children in the county program. “All of us here are low-income.”

That will leave mothers like her faced with the option of getting

financial assistance to pay for at-home child-care providers, she said.

And she doesn’t have trust them.

In one case, she said, a home child-care provider kept her sister’s

child in a closet all day.

“We’re hoping someone will help us,” Rivera said. “The government says

they’re so concerned about kids’ education, but it starts in day care.”