A child works on spelling "safety." A new state report logged a sharp rise in the Oregon's child care capacity for preschoolers, but found far less of an infrastructure available for infants and toddlers.(Alex Baumhardt/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
Two years ago, state analysts said half of Oregon’s 36 counties lacked sufficient infrastructure and capacity to care for preschool children in the area.
Now that number has been cut in half to one in four, according to a report on Oregon’s 2024 child care system commissioned by Oregon’s Department of Early Learning and Care and published last month by researchers at Oregon State University.
But the findings also note little improvement in access over the past two years when it comes to infant and toddler child care. Only two counties reported enough capacity for families with children 2 and younger.
Northeast Oregon and western wine country remain most vulnerable to a lack of child care access for preschool children, aged 3 to 5. Only Multnomah and Gilliam counties qualify as “non-deserts” for toddlers and infants.
The state has requested such snapshots of Oregon’s child care system every two years since 2018. This year, researchers found that nine counties in the state are “child care deserts” for preschool children, down from a finding of 18 counties in a similar 2022 report. Their report also found that the capacity for care in small family homes increased for the first time since 2016, bolstering an overall increase in available licensed child care providers.
“This report shows that there is a supply recovery in process,” said Megan Pratt, the lead author and an associate professor of practice in the OSU College of Health and the Extension Family and Community Health Program. “There’s more child care available than there has been in the recent past.”
Researchers’ 27-page analysis found that public investments in early education programs like Head Start for low-income families, kindergarteners and pregnant women have made significant inroads in stemming the state’s historic shortage of child care. The state’s report does not factor in non-licensed programs supported by local school districts and counties, nor does it consider employer-provided day care.
But analysts note that without public funding for programs like Head Start, more than three in four Oregon counties would be considered shortage zones for preschool children’s child care, a figure that includes all counties when infants and toddlers are accounted for as well. Those programs have been at the center of legal challenges amid disputes over restrictions on immigration status and eligibility implemented by the Trump administration in early July.
Historically, Oregon has struggled to address its shortage of available child care, a problem that researchers say can ripple into the economy when families don’t have time to work or leave their kids alone. A 2022 report for the state’s early learning department found that most families in the state struggle “just to find an arrangement” when it comes to education and care.
“It’s incredibly encouraging to see state investments delivering real results for Oregon families,” said Alyssa Chatterjee, director of the Department of Early Learning and Care. “The fact that more communities are no longer child care deserts for preschoolers means more children are accessing the early learning experiences they deserve, and that’s a win for our entire state.”
Access for thousands of children and families regardless of immigration status to Head Start programs in Oregon has been in limbo for the past two months. The Trump administration announced rules in July that would ban access to community-based benefits like Head Start for immigrants without permanent legal status. But child care advocates and state officials say the restrictions would require their programs to close until a new mechanism to collect information about immigration status is developed.
In the wake of those concerns, the federal government in late July agreed to pause enforcement of the restrictions until September in Democrat-led states like Oregon who are litigating the policy. In another suit led by Head Start providers and advocates against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a federal judge in Washington heard arguments Tuesday on whether to grant a more expansive temporary restraining order halting the policy and postponing its implementation.
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