Many child-care centers in the Brazosport area are at capacity when it comes to infants, including some with a year-long wait-list.
Some parents will come to the center saying they just found out they’re pregnant and want to put their child on the list, which can have a wait time of up to a year, Assistant Director Cindy Ward said.
The wait-list is long enough to fill a whole other child-care center, Ward said.
“There’s a huge need,” Ward said. “It’s really disheartening to say, ‘I’m sorry there’s no room.’ We’re in need of new centers in the area.”
Donna Kenney, director of the Big Kids site for Children’s Garden in Lake Jackson, said the biggest need is for infants and toddlers.
The state’s Department of Family and Protective Services also requires a specific number of caregivers per age group. There can only be four infants to one teacher, for instance, but there can be up to nine 1-year-olds per teacher, DeLaGarza said.
Infants require more care than an older child, she said.
“Most everyone here that I have came from another day care, and that says a lot too because it’s like they didn’t have options,” she said. “It’s pretty sad because these people have to work, and if they’re going to work everyday not happy, that makes for a miserable day for them.”
While major industries, such as, Dow Chemical Co., BASF Corp. and Freeport LNG have grown, Ward believes the need for child care isn’t any worse than when she started working at the center nine years ago.
The center also is the only facility in the area to be accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. The accredited center means the ratio of children to teachers is lower compared to other child-care facilities, Ward said.
The center caters to a mixture of college students, faculty and residents. It has about 80 children between the ages of 6 weeks and 6 years.
