Help offered to reopen and find childcare in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene

by Liz Bell, EducationNC
October 14, 2024

Child care programs affected by Hurricane Helene will be able to reopen, even if they do not have running water or cannot meet other requirements, to meet the emergency needs of communities.

Licensed child care programs in western North Carolina should contact a licensing consultant to find out if and how they can reopen without meeting normal licensing requirements, according to the state Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE ) of the Department of Health and Human Services. (DHHS). Consultants for the West region can be found here on pages 4-12.

In the meantime, families seeking child care can find assistance through the NC Child Care Hotline at 1-888-600-1685 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. It is administered by DHHS and child care resource and referral agencies to help families find child care options for children up to age 12.

Gov. Roy Cooper signed an executive order Friday acknowledging that child care is essential to the region’s workforce, that many programs have been “damaged, destroyed or closed” and that reopening under normal requirements “may be difficult or impossible”.

State and local agencies can offer flexibility in the 27-county federal disaster area, the order says. Allows DHHS to waive or modify child care requirements relating to “activities, records, orientation, continuing education, nutrition, attendance, staff qualifications, training, and sanitation” as well as requirements for subsidized child care.

As of October 11, there were 55 child care programs in the original 25 counties declared disasters with damage that prevented reopening, 40 programs that the state was unable to contact, 130 programs that were operational but closed, and 587 programs that were open. according to DCDEE.

DCDEE is working with the Division of Public Health’s Environmental Health unit and the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) to figure out how to reopen each program based on its circumstances.

The legislature last week approved an initial $273 million aid package for Helene, which Cooper then signed. Despite pleas from DCDEE and other early childhood leaders, the legislation lacked funding for child care.

In the short term, child care programs need funds to repair or replace buildings and continue to pay teachers, local leaders and early childhood educators told EdNC.

“We expect our funding request to be approved when the General Assembly meets closer to the end of the month,” said Candace Witherspoon, interim director of DCDEE, in a Friday newsletter.

The legislature will meet on October 24.

The programs also need additional funding to operate long-term, as an extension of pandemic-era relief funding ends in December, local and state advocates say.

The legislature is expected to return in November to finalize its budget.

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