Local daycares share concerns after federal child care funding is to come to a halt

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — “It’s very, very scary for these families. I have an employee that works here right now. We started talking about it this morning, and she’s just very, very afraid that she’s going to have to leave her job because she couldn’t afford to be coming here if there wasn’t assistance,” said Stephanie Berg, Director at Learn and Move Child Care Center.

Early this week, the Trump administration announced they will be freezing federal child care funds to all the states. The move comes days after a video created by youtuber Nick Shirley alleges nearly a dozen daycare centers in Minnesota have committed fraud. Now the administration is requiring all the states to provide more verification.

“People are on assistance, because they need it. If they’re on assistance because they can’t afford it and now they’re not going to be able to have that, those funds don’t become available to them somehow. They aren’t going to be able to afford it,” said Alexis, Employee Relations at Sheyenne Learning Academy.

At Sheyenne Learning Academy, sixty percent of their families rely on the use of child care assistance. While at Learn and Move Child Care Center, about forty-four percent of families rely on the assistance. Both daycares say that with the loss of funds, it not only affects them, but for everybody.

“If the parents don’t have, if they feel like they can’t work then who’s going to take those jobs that don’t pay the sixty, seventy, eighty, a hundred thousand dollars a year. Whose going to take all those. I mean everybody’s going to feel it,” said Stephanie Berg, Director at Learn and Move Child Care Center.

While there are still questions up in the air about what will happen with funds, both say they hope the kids will be able to come to their centers.

“These kids are my life. I wake up every morning ready to see these kids and be their parent. And the thought that, if we don’t get the funding and the kids don’t show up, the kids that I see every day, I may never ever see again. That’s heartbreaking,” said Mackenzie Wika, Lead Teacher at Learn and Move Child Care Center.

Currently, it’s not known how much additional verification the daycare centers will need to provide beyond their current requirements.