A Bridge Without Gaps: Coming Together for Butte County Care

Child care concerns and considerations start during pregnancy, sometimes even earlier during pregnancy planning. Who can I entrust with my infant, toddler or child as he grows while I return to work or school? And what about children of different ages? Families, like bridges, need strong foundations. The Butte County Local Child Care Planning Council (LPC) aims to make sure a strong foundation of child care options is available to meet the needs of Butte County families. They are also working to provide families with a bridge to those options, one of the rare groups advocating for families accessing quality care for children from birth to age 12.

Michelle Lucero, Senior Director of Butte County’s Early Education Programs and Services, affirms that bridge is critical for families navigating children into quality care that supports their development right from the start. She says, “Learning happens in all types of care settings, not just in K-12. We want all the supports in place from infancy through school, increasing the success of the child and family.”

Butte County needs assessments provides roadmap, helps target funding

The 2024 Universal Pre-Kindergarten Mixed Delivery Survey of Butte County parents/caregivers revealed 28% are spending over $1,000 a month on early care and education. It also highlighted gaps in services for infants and for after school care. The survey identified affordability, hours available and ineligibility for free or reduced care as significant barriers to families accessing care. Sound familiar?

This caregiver survey reinforced the findings of the LPC’s five-year Child Care Needs Assessment. Christina Iftiger, Butte LPC coordinator, says, “The five-year needs assessment identifies gaps and barriers. It helps form the LPC’s strategic plan and priorities for strategic efforts.” Both assessments validate the LPC’s focus on efforts to expand access to affordable, high-quality early care and education.

The needs assessment also generates crucial data used by the State of California Department of Social Services for an ongoing targeted investment in early care and education. Candid parent/caregiver survey input is golden, revealing the good and the bad of child care options as well as what might improve access and attract providers in a rural area with a few scattered cities. Butte County parents indicate they are looking for attentive, responsive providers, with teachers and staff providing a safe, clean environment that helps children learn and thrive. Parents are keenly interested in quality and, often, a little help with the cost.

Diverse community representation through Butte County LPC

In California, each county is state mandated to have an LPC funded by the California Department of Social Services. The county LPC builds on the strengths of its unique community, planning for child care and development based on the needs of families. The Butte County LPC serves the County board of supervisors, the Superintendent of Schools, the First 5 Butte County Children and Families Commission and, ultimately, families. A diverse representation of voices and perspectives come together through the Butte County LPC, providing knowledge and details necessary for a big picture look at early care and education. LPC members represent organizations including First 5 Butte County, Far Northern Regional Center, Butte County Department of Employment Services, Meechoopda tribal representatives after school and preschool providers and consumers.

Butte County LPC addresses low-cost child care services, variety of options

The Butte County LPC understands cost and addressing gaps in service options are key issues. As families search for care options that are the best fit for their child and family, cost can be a troubling hurdle and the LPC and its partners are intent on creating more access to low or no cost options. That includes subsidized voucher payments to help with child care, state preschool or Head Start. They want parents to be informed about care options as well as community programs and encourage them to get connected through Valley Oak Children’s Services and Butte County Resource & Referral.

“The LPC wants to promote knowledge of all available options,” says Michelle. “Families still have a choice in where they send their child, whether it’s a family provider, a private provider, state preschool, Head Start or transitional kindergarten. Our efforts are elevating the mixed delivery options for families. It’s not one size fits all, and it’s important to build awareness for families.”

Building a hub of family services in Butte County

One of the long-term LPC goals that the Council is most passionate about is the creation of an integrative hub of services. “We are trying to build access points so that families don’t have a gap in the information they need. To support the whole child, the whole family, you cannot separate the service from the quality, and we are working to build the bridge together so that families don’t have to seek out services individually.”

Michelle believes that “The return on investment in early care and education isn’t often seen as a priority. But if a community invests in its youngest, it will see significant long-term outcomes. How we care for children impacts everyone, not just families.”

From the time a new baby is just a wish to a child’s journey through school, the Butte County LPC wants to provide parents and caregivers with a strong bridge to help them cross into early care and education options. Bridges shouldn’t have gaps and they are working diligently to close gaps in meeting child care needs and reduce barriers that families have been facing.