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Press Release: New Analysis Reveals Urgent Need to Address Missouri’s Child Care Deserts

Kids Win Missouri released the following statement on the new report from Child Care Aware of Missouri highlighting Missouri’s ongoing child care crisis. The report designated 78 Missouri counties as child care deserts where families lack access to affordable child care options.

“Child care deserts are creating impossible situations for Missouri’s working parents,” said Brian Schmidt, Executive Director of Kids Win Missouri. “When families can’t access quality child care, parents are forced to make difficult choices between work and caring for their children.”

The analysis defines child care deserts as areas with more than 50 children (under age 6 with working parents) that contain either no child care providers or so few options that there are more than 3X as many children as licensed child care slots. This definition aligns with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s official Targeted Needs Assessment methodology.

Key findings show that child care deserts can manifest in multiple ways:

  • Geographic barriers where no providers exist within reasonable distance

  • Capacity shortages where existing facilities have lengthy waitlists
  • Affordability gaps where available care is priced out of families’ reach
  • Quality concerns where high-standard care options are limited

Child Care Aware of Missouri is expanding its research to examine specific challenges facing families with infants and toddlers, who often face even more acute shortages of care options. The organization expects to release the research next month.

“Understanding where and why child care deserts exist is crucial for developing effective policy solutions,” added Schmidt. “This isn’t just about child care – it’s about Missouri’s economic future and the wellbeing of our working families.

The organization emphasizes that addressing child care deserts requires a multi-faceted approach considering distance, capacity, affordability, and quality measures to ensure all Missouri families have access to the care they need.