July 2022 — MHCE Newsletter

16 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us JULY 2022 EDITION
Thousands of San Diego Military Children on Day
Care Waitlist as Navy Scrambles to Address Need
San Diego Navy officials are scrambling to alleviate the shortfall
of child care providers for the more than 4,000 military children
waiting for spots in its base day care centers, according to Navy
Region Southwest officials.
Staffing shortages brought on by the pandemic have impacted
a military child care system that was already strained before
COVID-19 hit, according to Janet Hooten, the child and youth
program manager at Navy Region Southwest in San Diego.
Before the pandemic, military families in San Diego could expect
to wait more than a year to have a child placed in a Navy Child
Development Center for care, Hooten told the Union-Tribune.
Hooten declined to say how long military families might wait
today for a spot. She said the tiered-priority system means not
everyone will wait in the same line. However, she said any
military member up for orders that could send them to San Diego
should get on the waiting list now.
"We encourage every family to put their child on the waitlist as
soon as you know you will be leaving (the current duty station),"
Hooten said. "You don't have to wait until you have orders in
hand."
In 2020, the Navy signed a deal with Coronado Unified School
District to lease an under-utilized preschool for Navy child care.
While that opened about 200 spots for kids, it only made a dent
in the waitlist.
Military child care is subsidized by the Defense Department.
There are day care facilities on military bases as well as in-home
day care providers. But with spots full, service members have to
seek costlier alternatives elsewhere — and the situation outside
the military system is also strained, according to a University of
San Diego study published in April.
The military offers a fee assistance program for these families,
but it does not cover the full cost, Hooten said.
Navy Region Southwest, which also manages the child care
centers on local Marine bases, is short about 400 providers —
including the staff needed for two new centers yet to open at
Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
Another new center at Naval Base Point Loma is due to open in
2023, and increased pay for military child care workers is part of
next year's proposed Pentagon budget.
In San Diego, the Navy is offering financial incentives to address
its staffing shortfall. Accreditation fees for new hires are covered
by the Navy, as are sign-on, referral and retention bonuses.
The Navy is holding a hiring fair at the Scottish Rite Center
in Mission Valley on Friday, where it will screen, interview
and make offers to candidates for both its base child care and
recreation centers.
Military families needing assistance with child care, or to get on
the wait list, can do so at militarychildcare.com.
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