Child care center in rural Indiana relies on parents to voluntarily help out

Child care center in rural Indiana relies on parents to voluntarily help out

Transcript¹

Parents of young children in rural communities are facing tough choices between child care and their jobs — and in some cases, their homes.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

In rural communities, parents of young children are facing some tough choices made even more difficult because of the pandemic. A huge concern is properly staffing child care centers. It's nearly impossible to do. Indiana Public Broadcasting's Jeanie Lindsay reports.

JEANIE LINDSAY, BYLINE²: The scarcity³ of child care in rural places has been a huge problem for years now, from not enough people to work in child care to not enough funding to pay those who do. It's a constant challenge. Paige Schank is the chief financial officer for the local utility here in Tell City, a small Indiana town along the Kentucky border with a population of a little more than 7,000. This morning, Schank is using vacation time from her job so she can volunteer at her kids' child care center. Two staff members called in sick today, and a third is taking a pre-planned day off.

PAIGE SCHANK: We can share it. Can we share it?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #1: I don't know.

SCHANK: So I was in an 8 o'clock meeting, meeting got over, told my boss. Thankfully, he's very, very understanding. And I've been here the last three hours (laughter) in ratio.

LINDSAY: That ratio is crucial because licensing⁴ rules limit the number of kids per staff member in each room. Without Schank here, the center would have been forced to turn families away this morning. It's happened before.

SCHANK: When it was closed and we were concerned that everything was closing, I called around town. Nobody - nobody would take them.

LINDSAY: She's one of several parents volunteering hours of their time here each week to keep the county's only licensed⁵ child care center open. Erin Emerson is the center's board president. There's a sense of despair and exhaustion⁶ in her voice as she describes what it takes to staff the center.

ERIN EMERSON: COVID added an entirely⁷ new layer of difficulty to something that was already impossibly difficult.

LINDSAY: Essentially⁸, the difficulty boils down to two things - a lack of sustainable financial support and a complex web of licensing rules that aren't really designed for rural centers. Emerson says it can take at least a month to process everything for a new hire - things like fingerprinting⁹ requirements and mandatory¹⁰ training. And as the pandemic drags on, people aren't sticking around for a difficult job paying only $9 an hour.

EMERSON: There are people that are no longer willing to work for poverty-level wages. And when that's what you're paying, it really caused a fundamental shift.

LINDSAY: That shift can have big consequences for families. Unpredictable closures mean working parents have to lean on their employers or their families. Some have no choice but to quit their jobs. One family in Tell City is considering selling their house and moving to Louisville, where child care options are easier to find.

It's not just a problem here. Rasheed Malik is the director of Early Childhood Policy for the Center for American Progress. He says the structure of child care tilts¹¹ away from those with limited opportunities.

RASHEED MALIK: We have a mostly private market-based system that has only been able to cater¹² to people with the most resources.

LINDSAY: He says across the country, we've lost 1 out of every 10 child care workers during the pandemic, and those numbers aren't recovering like they are in other industries.

Back in Tell City, Paige Schank says if child care doesn't get more local buy-in, both in terms of staffing and funding, it won't just be the child care center at risk of shutting down.

SCHANK: You have to support the kids of the community if you want your community to grow, because if you're not growing, you're dying.

LINDSAY: And until relief comes with either the end of the pandemic or an increase in public funding, she says she'll do everything she can to keep this child care center open for her family and others who want to stay here.

LAURA: Bye, girls.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #2: Bye, Miss Laura (ph).

LINDSAY: For NPR News, I'm Jeanie Lindsay.

(SOUNDBITE OF TAJ MENDEL'S "TERAI-DUAR")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 scarcity   

n.缺乏，不足，萧条

参考例句：

• The scarcity of skilled workers is worrying the government.熟练工人的缺乏困扰着政府。
• The scarcity of fruit was caused by the drought.水果供不应求是由于干旱造成的。

4 licensing   

v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A large part of state regulation consists of occupational licensing. 大部分州的管理涉及行业的特许批准。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• That licensing procedures for projects would move faster. 这样的工程批准程序一定会加快。 来自辞典例句

5 licensed   

adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
• Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗？

6 exhaustion   

n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述

参考例句：

• She slept the sleep of exhaustion.她因疲劳而酣睡。
• His exhaustion was obvious when he fell asleep standing.他站着睡着了，显然是太累了。

7 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

8 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

9 fingerprinting   

v.指纹( fingerprint的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Institutions from banks to pawnshops are fingerprinting to authenticate transactions. 从银行到当铺，都在使用指纹识别对交易进行验证。 来自互联网
• In addition, a digital fingerprinting algorithm based on binary codes is described. 介绍了一种二进制指纹编码方案。 来自互联网

10 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

11 tilts   

（意欲赢得某物或战胜某人的）企图，尝试( tilt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• As the kitten touches it, it tilts at the floor. 它随着击碰倾侧，头不动，眼不动，还呆呆地注视着地上。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译
• The two writers had a number of tilts in print. 这两位作家写过一些文章互相攻击。

12 cater   

vi.(for/to)满足，迎合；(for)提供饮食及服务

参考例句：

• I expect he will be able to cater for your particular needs.我预计他能满足你的特殊需要。
• Most schools cater for children of different abilities.大多数学校能够满足具有不同天资的儿童的需要。