Low pay for day care workers leads to a worker shortage and long waitlists - GBH
By Craig Lemont
Jenia Toney of Dorchester worked at a home for the elderly until two days before her son Levi was born. Now he’s 11 months old, and Toney’s ready to return to her job.
“I’m a single mother,” she said. “You know, I got to get back to work.”
So she’s trying to find Levi a spot in day care. But the private options she looked into were too expensive.
“Five hundred, six hundred dollars a week,” she said. “I can’t afford that.”
So she’s on a waitlist to get Levi a state-subsidized spot in day care. Toney worries that, if one doesn’t open up soon, her work might stop holding a job for her.
Levi isn’t alone. He’s one of 15,000 Massachusetts children currently on the waitlist for a state-subsidized day care spot.