If you've ever looked for child care in Vermont, you know it can be tough to find openings. But it can also be a tough, and expensive, process for providers to open up and register with the state.
The organization Vermont Birth to Five is trying to help make it easier.
Walking into LouLou’s Pre-K & Family Child Care, in Morristown, you see everything you might expect to find at any busy day care center or preschool. The walls are papered with finger-painted pictures and lined with cubbies filled with toys. In one corner there's a toddler-sized toy kitchen and market stand. There’s a sleeping corner, a reading rug and a toy tool bench.
Sitting on the floor in the middle of it all is LouAnn Hess-Clewes, with two toddlers on her lap.
In the nearly a year since Hess-Clewes opened her business, these two little girls have had this space and LouLou, as everyone calls her, all to themselves.
That’s because Hess-Clewes is in the process of becoming a state-registered care provider. Until that process is complete, she’s only allowed to provide care for two families.
Hess-Clewes said it has been an in-depth process. It’s not that she’s new at providing child care — she’s worked as a director and an assistant director at local child care centers for decades.
"I’ve been working with young children in licensed centers for almost 30 years now. ... Twenty-one of those years have been in Vermont, in Stowe and Morrisville," she said.
That experience is what made her such a good candidate for Vermont Birth to Five’s first round of Make Way for Kids grants. Last spring, the program gave $455,500 to 23 child care programs around the state. Along with that money comes mentoring from early child care experts.
Jen Severance, Hess-Clewes’ mentor, explains, "[At] Make Way for Kids we provide funding and coaching to programs who are, one, starting up and need help with start-up costs; two, programs that are trying to expand their programs to offer more care; and three, to help do some coaching with programs to increase their quality."
In this case, Severance has been helping guide Hess-Clewes through the lengthy state registration process. Once she’s registered, Hess-Clewes will be able to provide care to up to 10 children at her home-based day care.
Severance said those spots are sorely needed.
"There is such a shortage of child care in Vermont." — Jen Severance, Vermont Birth To Five
"There is such a shortage of child care in Vermont. For infants and toddlers especially, there is a little over 50 percent of people with infants, toddlers who are looking for care – in any type of care – can’t find it," Severance said. "And if they’re looking in high-quality child care programs, the number goes up to about 80 percent that can’t find high-quality care."
The process of opening a registered day care has become much more complicated since Hess-Clewes decided to pursue this dream. She said the regulations used to be outlined in a 49-page pamphlet, and now the booklet is nearly 200 pages. But, Hess-Clewes said, it's worth the effort — both for her career and for her families.
"We understand the importance of each other," Hess-Clewes said of her families. "Without them, I couldn’t be home living my dream. Without me, they couldn’t be at work not worrying about their child. So it’s just such a great fit for us."
Parents Amber Carbine-March and Charity Lanpher agree.
"There isn’t a moment of the day where I don’t think that she is being cared for and loved," Carbine-March said of her daughter Bailey.
Lanpher, whose daughter Brexlee is Hess-Clewes' other charge, adds, “We got lucky with LouLou.”
If all goes as planned, LouLou’s Pre-K & Family Child Care will be registered and able to take more children in the spring. Meanwhile, Hess-Clewes has some big plans for her two toddlers.
"These are going to be my little trainers," she said. "When I have new children that actually join me, I’ll be like, 'Oh, Bailey, can you go help so-and-so, show 'em where the book is?' 'Brexlee, can you help so-and-so, show 'em how we clean up at LouLou’s?' So these are going to be my teacher-helpers. They’re in training right now.”
Vermont Birth to Five just opened up a second round of Make Way for Kids grants. The goal is to make sure every Vermont family has access to affordable, high-quality child care by 2025.
