Addressing the U.S. and Hudson Valley Child Care Crisis

As of 2026, the U.S. child care system has reached a critical tipping point. The expiration of pandemic-era stabilization funds, coupled with persistent inflation and recent federal budget freezes, has created a “trilemma” of unaffordability, inaccessibility, and workforce instability. This crisis is no longer a private family matter; it is an economic drag that costs the U.S. an estimated $122 billion annually in lost productivity and revenue.

Locally, Ulster, Columbia, and Greene counties are not immune to the impact of this crisis, but there are programs in place by Family of Woodstock that are endlessly at work to help.

The Current State: U.S. Data & Statistics

The Affordability Gap
For many American families, child care is now the single largest household expense, often exceeding mortgage or rent payments.

• Average Costs: The national average for full-time center-based care for an infant has reached $14,802 per year, with high-cost areas such as Washington D.C. ($28,356) and Massachusetts ($26,709) seeing even higher peaks.
• The 7% Benchmark: While the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) suggests child care should cost no more than 7% of a family’s income, single parents currently spend an average of 35% of their income on care, and married couples spend approximately 10%.
• Family Impact: In 2025, 70% of parents reported that raising children had become “too expensive,” a 13-point increase from the previous year.

The Supply and Workforce Crisis

The supply of care is dwindling as providers struggle to remain solvent while paying competitive wages.

• Child Care Deserts: More than 50% of Americans live in a “child care desert,” where there are more than three children for every one available slot.
• Staffing Shortages: Nearly 40% of child care providers report current staffing shortages. The median hourly wage for child care workers remains stagnant at $15, leading to a 70% difficulty rate for workers in meeting their own basic needs like food and housing.
• Federal Funding Volatility: In early 2026, several states faced freezes on Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) dollars due to federal fraud investigations, threatening subsidies for over 10 billion dollars in social services.

Economic Consequences

The lack of child care is a primary driver of workforce participation issues.

• Employment Disruption: Approximately 81% of parents who struggled to find care in 2025 reported that it directly impacted their ability to work.
• The $329 Billion Threat: Research from the Bipartisan Policy Center suggests that if current gaps persist, the cumulative 10-year cost to the U.S. economy could reach $329.4 billion due to lost earnings and business revenue.

The Local Impact

Lack of Child Care Impacts Family Budgets

In regard to accessibility and affordability, Michael Berg, executive director of Family of Woodstock, said starting before COVID, and exploding as a result of it, “there is a serious lack of child care programs. In fact, each of the three counties that the Child Care Connections is responsible for has lost over 50% of its programs over the last decade. There are a number of child care deserts, and parents have trouble finding care, even when they can afford it.”

Berg said the cost of care is a huge issue for even middle-class families. In order to help, New York State has expanded its assistance program so that a family of two, making less than $77,226 per year, will only have to pay $20 per week for care or less. Berg also noted that a serious problem facing child care providers is the state commitment to provide Universal Pre -K, which has significantly cut into providers’ income.

Kerry Wolfeil, team leader of Family of Woodstock’s Child Care Connections program, said the unaffordability of child care and inaccessibility of programs (either with vacancies or offering the nontraditional hours needed for families) are the major challenges for families in need of child care. “We struggle to assist families looking for care due to the lack of programs with vacancies,” Wolfeil said. “Currently, we have a scarce number of slots for toddlers, almost none for infants.”

Social and Behavioral Factors

There are other factors as well. Wolfeil noted that families and child care providers said the decline of child care programs includes the loss of Child Care Assistance funding in Columbia and Greene Counties in 2025 along with “increased and continually changing regulations and directives; children being sent home from school/child care for any mild illness causing parents to jeopardize employment; children being expelled due to behavior issues; parents finding other alternative care; the need for non-traditional business hours; and parents not returning to the workforce.”

Wolfeil also noticed “that fewer people are interested in opening an in-home child care business. We believe this could have something to do with adult children remaining in their parents’ homes for a much longer duration, and that many people are renting homes.”

Regarding the latter, Wolfeil said landlords generally “do not want the added liability, inconsistent income, or wear and tear on their homes by allowing a child care business to be run out of a rental.” There are other dimensions to the issue centered on time and money. “The income, responsibility, and hours worked also play a part in the lack of programs,” Wolfeil explained. “Most in-home child care workers work alone for an average of 60 hours a week in the program and additional hours preparing the program and completing necessary paperwork. Child care center workers often make less than $20 per hour and often do not have any employee benefits offered.”

Advocating for Child Care Assistance

To address the childcare shortage, Wolfeil said Family of Woodstock’s Child Care Connections focuses on financial accessibility and aggressive community outreach. The agency actively advocates for the expansion of the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), helping eligible families secure care for less than $20 a week so they can pursue work or education. To ensure these resources reach the public, the organization maintains a robust media presence across social platforms and local radio, while tabling at community events to educate the public on legal childcare options.

A major pillar of Family of Woodstock’s strategy involves expanding the local workforce through the Family Child Care Training Program. In partnership with local community colleges and workforce investment boards, the organization offers quarterly training courses for individuals interested in launching their own home-based childcare businesses. These partnerships often provide funding to help prospective providers cover the startup costs and regulatory expenses required to meet compliance standards.

Furthermore, Family of Woodstock exerts influence through strategic leadership and regional networking. By holding positions on the Early Care and Learning Council Board of Directors and acting as the CDC’s Act Early Ambassador for the Mid-Hudson Valley, the team works to improve the visibility of the childcare crisis. Through active membership in local Chambers of Commerce, Family of Woodstock continuously engages with business leaders and policymakers to advocate for a more sustainable and accessible childcare infrastructure.

Help Is Available

Child Care Connections provides essential support to families and the local workforce by streamlining the search for quality child care. They assist parents in developing personalized child care plans, offer referrals to legal providers, and host parent groups. Beyond family support, the organization drives community wellness through specialized infant/toddler resources and initiatives like “Creating Healthy Schools and Communities,” which focuses on improving nutrition and physical activity standards.

For child care providers and entrepreneurs, the agency offers a robust suite of regulatory and professional services. They oversee the licensing and monitoring of Family Day Care, School-Age, and Legally Exempt programs, while also managing federal food programs (CACFP and SFSP) to ensure nutritional compliance. Additionally, they empower local businesses through professional development, technical assistance, and specialized toolkits — including the Empire State Family Child Care Collaborative — to help new and existing programs thrive.

Berg explained that Family of Woodstock’s role through the Child Care Connections program has changed over time. Initially, Family sponsored a child care center called the Seedling Child Care Center. “As we took on more responsibilities to train help license and inspect programs, it felt like a conflict of interest to both supervise and compete with programs,” Berg said. “However, because the area has lost so many of its programs, the agency has rethought its position and committed to open centers where are no slots available.”

Towards that end, Berg said Family of Woodstock is about to open a two-shift center as part of the Golden Hill complex while also studying the feasibility of opening a center in the agency’s Family of Ellenville office.

The Future of Child Care 

The 2026 child care landscape is in a perilous state, one that is characterized by a market failure that requires immediate intervention. However, by treating child care as a public good — similar to roads or public schools — the U.S. can unlock billions in economic productivity and ensure the developmental success of the next generation.

When asked what policy changes are needed to address the child care crisis in the region, Wolfeil said, “We need to create a permanent state fund to increase child care worker compensation sufficient to offer all members of the child care workforce a significant boost in income. The income for Birth-5 care should be comparable to that of those working in the public school system.”

Wolfeil also said CCAP must be fully funded, “and the funding must be ongoing, not one-time, because demand for CCAP is steadily growing. Counties need to be confident they can accept new CCAP families, and families must be able to rely on ongoing support to balance their family budgets.”

 “Universal child care needs to be invested in and made available to all working families,” Wolfeil explained. “Two models the Empire State Campaign for Child Care recommends are: Community eligibility projects, making child care fully free and available to all families with children in communities where a significant number of families with low incomes reside.” The other would be capped-fee projects, where all families in a project community “could access child care through this project for $100 a week ($20/day). Under both models, participating families would not be subject to income, work, or immigration status tests.”

It’s clear that there is a lot of work to be done, and on all levels, from Albany to Washington, D.C. There are no quick fixes, but we need to try — for the sake of our children and their future.

To learn more about Family’s child care program, CLICK HERE. 

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