July 2022 — M2CC Newsletter

20 | M2CC - News www.m2cc.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.