This spring, the state of Missouri owed Kimberly Luong Nichols $5,000 in backlogged payments for children at her Kansas City daycare who were part of a state subsidy program.

For four years, she鈥檚 operated a licensed daycare inside her home, where she currently serves 10 children. Luong Nichols stopped drawing a salary last summer to pay for improvements to her center and two new hires, expecting to draw down a salary again this year.

When the full subsidy she was owed stopped arriving, she laid off those staff.

And as they鈥檝e done for the past year, her family of six relies solely on her husband鈥檚 $53,000 salary.

They鈥檝e given up little luxuries like going out to dinner and buying fancier shampoo. And they鈥檝e given up bigger luxuries, like vacations.

When bill collectors started calling, her husband considered getting a second job. On several occasions, she considered doing away with the daycare entirely. But she didn鈥檛, not wanting to leave the families 鈥� many of whom have children with developmental disabilities, or who are in the foster care system 鈥� with the stress of searching for a new day care.

Luong Nichols is among thousands of child care providers across Missouri who rely on a state child care subsidy program to keep their daycares afloat.

The subsidy, part of a federal block grant program that is state-administered, helps cover the cost of serving low-income and foster children.

But since late last year, a series of changes created a major headache for many providers and families, as parents were unable to register their children and providers in the most dire circumstances were left without money to pay their staff.

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, which oversees the program, has largely blamed a contracted vendor for the months-long backlogs. The system, which launched in December, is still not fully operational.

鈥� 鈥� There have been a number of unforeseen challenges during the transition, which involves loading family and provider data from the existing state systems into the new (Child Care Data System),鈥� Mallory McGowin, a spokesperson with the department of education said in a statement Wednesday. 鈥淭he (Office of Childhood) is working hard to mitigate these issues and sincerely apologizes to the child care providers and families affected.鈥�

But similar backlogs plagued the system three years ago, as parents struggled to enroll children and providers had to make serious budget cuts.

The latest problems have forced some daycares to close. Others have shifted from serving vulnerable children who qualify for the state subsidy to only admitting families who can afford to pay on their own.

Many providers, like Luong Nichols, have weeks where they鈥檙e barely hanging on.

Payment backlogs not new

In Missouri, child care providers can be registered to get a government stipend for every child on subsidy, meaning they receive a partial amount of tuition directly from families, and then the government covers the rest after care has been provided.

The child care subsidy is a federal program administered by states through the Child Care and Development Block Grant. Families apply for the state to directly pay a child care provider for part of the cost of care.

Only very low-income families along with foster kids and children with special needs. The maximum income a family can make to qualify is 150% of the federal poverty line, or

The average cost of full-time, center-based care for an infant in Missouri was as of 2022, according to

There were about as of November, the last publicly available state data. The program shifted from being administered by Missouri鈥檚 Department of Social Services to the education department in December. McGowin said the current number is closer to 23,000 children.

Roughly 1,800 of Missouri鈥檚 2,800 licensed and license-exempt providers, including school districts, are contracted to take children on subsidy, Pam Thomas, assistant commissioner for Missouri鈥檚 Office of Childhood, said at a State Board of Education meeting last month.

鈥淲e do continue to struggle a bit with our vendor and meeting what our expectations are for an efficient and effective system and making clear what鈥檚 needed,鈥� Thomas told the board. 鈥淎nd quite frankly the vendor is not delivering on those results to what I would say are our expectations as a department.鈥�

The vendor contracted to develop and implement the new system for the subsidy program is World Wide Technology, McGowin said, a large technology services provider headquartered in St. Louis.

Board members expressed concerns with how to move forward as Thomas reassured them that her department was working 鈥渁round the clock鈥� to urge the vendor to fix the bugs in the system, which spans about nine steps between a family鈥檚 application for subsidy and payment to the provider.

鈥淲e have to be cautious about how many more changes we add into the system right now,鈥� she said. 鈥� 鈥� We can bend it, but we certainly can鈥檛 break it, and I think we鈥檙e on the verge of that right now.鈥�

Yet this isn鈥檛 the first time the state鈥檚 handling of the subsidy program has caused widespread problems for providers and families.

In 2021, the state blamed the COVID-19 pandemic and the rollout of a new system used to track attendance, called KinderConnect, for a

In spring 2023, to be approved for the state assistance, leaving them struggling to juggle work and child care.

State Sen. Lauren Arthur, a Democrat from Kansas City, said she was notified of the current spate of issues a few months ago by legislative staff who鈥檇 started hearing concerns from constituents.

鈥淚t feels like way too much time has passed,鈥� Arthur said. 鈥淚 suspect that child care providers across the state have already closed as a result of these mistakes and it鈥檚 totally unacceptable when already providers are struggling. There are already not enough seats available for children who need them.鈥�

Asked last month if she was looking at alternative vendors ahead of the current multi-million dollar contract running out in December, Thomas, with the education department, said she wasn鈥檛 opposed.

However, on Wednesday, McGowin, said the department is not currently planning on finding a new vendor. The subsidy payment issues 鈥� 60% of which came from technical issues, according to the state 鈥� are expected to be resolved by the end of July.

Missouri pays providers for services after they鈥檙e performed, rather than in advance. This, coupled with the fact that providers are paid based on attendance rather than enrollment for children in the subsidy program, makes budgeting nearly impossible for providers who take low-income and foster children.

鈥淲e鈥檙e really relying on the state and DESE to really prioritize solving these system challenges so providers can be paid quickly,鈥� said Casey Hanson, director of outreach and engagement at the child advocacy nonprofit Kids Win Missouri.

Hanson has spent hundreds of hours with child care providers over the past several years. She knows what鈥檚 at stake.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e some of the most resilient people,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey care about children, they care about the future of our state more than almost anyone.鈥�

鈥極ur own personal pandemic鈥�

Tina Mosley was among the providers who made the difficult decision to stop taking children on subsidy.

For 28 years, she has owned and operated Our Daycare and Learning Center in St. Louis, which is licensed for 10 children. It sits in the Normandy school district where the median household income is less than $39,000, and more than 56% of students in public school have SNAP benefits, according to 2021 data from the

Every other provider she knows in the area accepts children on subsidy. And they鈥檙e all in the same predicament.

鈥淓very one of my colleagues and friends, the state is behind on paying them,鈥� Mosley said. 鈥淭o the right of me, to the left of me, across the street from me, behind me.鈥�

By only taking private paying families, and by ceasing to collect a salary, Mosley said she鈥檚 been able to continue employing her two staff, both of whom are young mothers. And while they no longer take children on subsidy, they still service lower income families, she said.

As a result, she鈥檚 not left waiting on payments from the state. A handful of home and center-based providers she knows in the St. Louis area already closed because of the lag.

Several months ago, when most of her children were from the subsidy program, she was helping parents sign up for state benefits as the system transitioned over. She recalls parents sharing screenshots of hold times on the phone with the state surpassing an hour before they had to hang up and return to work, unable to get the immediate help they needed.

鈥淓arly child care right now, we feel like we鈥檙e in our own personal pandemic,鈥� Mosley said.

But unlike during the COVID-19 pandemic, when government bodies and communities showed up in stride to keep child care providers in business, Mosley said it feels like most people have now turned their backs.

Luong Nichols, in Kansas City, has considered doing what Mosley has done: stop opening her services to families on subsidy.

In an April email to a staffer in Arthur鈥檚 office, she lamented her situation. The system had two of her kids on subsidy listed as private pay. A glitch wouldn鈥檛 let her submit attendance. She hadn鈥檛 heard back on her help ticket.

鈥淚 am due to renew child care subsidy next month and really considering not doing it,鈥� she wrote in an email she shared with The Independent. 鈥淧ayments are still not correct, they owe me all of February and past corrections. Now we are about to end March and that will be added.鈥�

After sending this email, Luong Nichols went on to interview at a local school district. She ultimately turned down the job offer, unable to part with the children in her care, including foster children, kids with behavioral difficulties and low-income children.

鈥淚 have single moms and foster children that have been kicked out of other daycares or gone through many placements before they landed on my door. And the kids that I take care of, they鈥檙e like family.鈥�

Instead she continued to spend hours on the phone during nap time begging anyone to make her business whole again. She called the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the governor鈥檚 office. She even called the White House.

鈥淚鈥檝e had to take on an extra load of work just to fight for something that I鈥檓 entitled to,鈥� she said.

As of Wednesday, she said her payments were caught up through May. She credited her persistence, and assistance from Arthur鈥檚 staff, for speeding up the payment.

At the same time, Luong Nichols has seen three area centers and four private daycares shutter. She directs most of the blame at the department of education.

鈥淒ESE has pushed the industry to the point of no return right now,鈥� she said. 鈥漌e鈥檙e not going to have enough child care providers in the state of Missouri by the end of this year to take care of subsidy children.鈥� She said it will move to private paying families only.

Hanson, with Kids Win Missouri, said there isn鈥檛 currently enough data to know the reality of the child care landscape.

In response to a Sunshine request submitted by The Independent last month, the education agency said they do not currently track the number of backlogged payment resolution requests.

鈥淭he reality is, yeah, there are providers that will close,鈥� Hanson said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we continue to advocate that we need more state level funding in this space to really maintain a supply.鈥�

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Now, each month, she and her husband write a check for over $3,000 to the Goddard School, a private day care center in central Pennsylvania where they live. The monthly amount is more than their mortgage 鈥� it is the single biggest expense they have. 鈥淢y husband is essentially working to pay for child care,鈥� Choi explained.

Choi is in her 20s and identifies as Generation Z, and believes that child care is one of the most important benefits an employer can provide, just as much or even more so than health care benefits. She has contemplated making a job switch if it would make child care more affordable. She and her husband even looked into changing their work situation to stagger their hours, or have her work part time in the evenings, but both situations meant a significant stress on their life and the drop in earnings she would face offset any potential savings from not having to pay for child care.

But Choi and other members of Generation Z, who are born between 1997 and 2012 and are now beginning to have families of their own, represent a shift in the way child care is considered important. Notably, they are also shifting how they view an employer鈥檚 role to provide such care 鈥� either through direct subsidies or more generous benefits connected to young children, including paid family leave for both parents for the arrival of a new baby (and of course, paid sick days for when such babies and young children fall ill).

finds that Generation Z, more so than Millennials or Generation X, rated child care benefits as more important than health insurance in terms of workplace benefits. More than half of Generation Z parents polled said they would consider switching their jobs for on-site child care, and a third said they accepted a job that paid less in order to have more flexibility around child care. The Gen Z respondents of the study only included people who were 18 years or older and had at least one child (i.e., the younger subset of Generation Z wouldn’t have been included), but the results diverge widely enough from the older generations to show a difference.

Morgan Rentko, a research manager at the The Harris Poll Thought Leadership Practice, who facilitated the poll, says such results showing the shifting attitudes around work and child care were not surprising, given Covid and the rise of hybrid work. 鈥淐hild care needs changed dramatically within that time,鈥� she said. 鈥淒ata shows that hybrid work is becoming an increasing reality for folks. It’s a preferred method of work, including for Generation Z, so it also follows that there are expectations for employers to provide child care benefits as well.鈥�

This echoes , in which 81% of Millennials and Gen Zers identified access to affordable high-quality child care as an important issue, and 72% of respondents identified the lack of high-quality child care programs and their cost as a barrier to achieving their professional goals. : 鈥淭he bottom line is that affordable child care is top of mind for young people in the United States and the lack of it is having a negative impact on their lives.鈥�

Part of the evolving attitudes on child care can be attributed to the change in labor force demographics, explains Misty Heggeness, associate professor of public affairs and economics, University of Kansas. “When we look at Gen Z mothers today, those aged 18 to 26, we see a larger percentage of them in the labor force than past cohorts.鈥� She points out that 60% of Gen Z moms work for pay 鈥� a larger percentage than Millennial mothers and Gen X mothers doing the same 鈥� at 58% and 54%, respectively.

鈥淚t would make sense that Gen Z might be more vocal today about, and supportive of, issues related to child care since not only are more of them working, 鈥� making it even more impossible to access,鈥� Heggeness said.

Heggeness references a point articulated by Claudia Goldin in her 2022 book, Career and Family: the change in child care dynamics and pricing is coming at a point for Generation Z when they are engaging in building their careers, and they may be more incentivized to prioritize taking advantage of their university education and laying the groundwork for future career success and opportunities. This can be why Choi and her husband, who may have been able to save a few dollars by giving up one of their positions, may still opt to work to reap career gains and higher future incomes by paying for child care now.

Though with the demographic shift comes a change in expectations which could be the impetus needed to create the kind of child care infrastructure required so that parents are not overburdened, and providers and educators can make a living wage for their skilled work. In Brigid Schulte鈥檚 book, Overwhelmed: Work, Love and Play When No One Has the Time, an entire chapter is dedicated to the Comprehensive Child Development Act, a high-quality, national child care system that passed in the U.S. Congress with bipartisan support, only to die at the hands of a veto by President Nixon. The veto efforts were led by Pat Buchanan, a conservative politician who鈥檇 served in various Republican administrations. When Schulte went to interview him and asked if he and his wife divided their own child care responsibilities, he shrugged the question off 鈥� they鈥檇 never had kids. This was, in essence, a problem about which they knew nothing.

When then-state Sen., now U.S. Rep. Becca Balint into the Vermont State Legislature for the first time as a young mother, she recalls the surprise in hearing from her much older and predominantly male colleagues that child care was an issue affecting the workforce. It took that generation shift to create the mindset that child care was a priority 鈥� and now Vermont has .

Changing attitudes alone will not create the impetus for national change, but it鈥檚 a start. Rentko anticipates conducting more studies this year on changing parental attitudes surrounding school and child care. 鈥淎s we enter an election time period, regardless of political affiliation 鈥� parents want the government to step up and provide some sort of support for child care,鈥� Rentko said. 鈥淪eventy percent of people believe child care is at a crisis point, and 67% believe that our country cannot have a functional economy without child care, so most people are already there.鈥�