L.A. fires upend fragile child-care industry, sending providers, families scrambling
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- More than 300 child-care facilities remain closed as a result of the L.A. fires.
- The closures are jolting an already fragile industry.
- Scores of families are scrambling for care.
Hundreds of child-care providers affected by the L.A. fires have been forced to shut their facilities and dozens of sites were destroyed, leaving scores of working families scrambling for care and dealing a blow to an already fragile sector in the region.
As of Thursday, 37 child-care facilities were reported destroyed in the fires; 21 were child-care centers, and 16 were family child-care homes. An additional 284 were non-operational because of ash, debris, power outages or a lack of potable water, according the California Department of Social Services.
Day-care owners, teachers and parents at many closed facilities near Pacific Palisades and Altadena are working to reopen. Some have hired professional remediation firms while others are throwing out damaged toys and furniture, scrubbing walls and hosing down playground equipment themselves in the hopes of being able to welcome children back. But given the extent of the damage, it’s unclear when these facilities will reopen.
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The state licensing department does not require any kind of health or safety inspection before they reopen. Providers can start accepting children again once they can “operate safely” and meet all state health and safety requirements, the California Department of Social Services said in an email.
L.A. County is offering ongoing guidance to providers on how to clean facilities near the burn areas. In a webinar held by the L.A. Department of Public Health, officials said providers should be able to do the clean up themselves without professional help. Recommendations included using mild soap and detergent to remove soot and smoke from the walls, throwing out burned items, and laundering all fabric items that children interact with.
Another hit to the industry
The fires come at a particularly difficult time for child-care operators. During the pandemic, California lost about 12% of its licensed child-care capacity. The industry already struggles with such low profit margins — despite high prices for families — that any additional costs can destabilize providers and lead to closures.
Los Angeles’ child-care system is “still pretty fragile, and so this kind of devastation can rock it,” said Paul Pulver, chief executive of Options for Learning, a nonprofit that helps connect families in the San Gabriel Valley with child care and subsidies, including Altadena. “There can be some providers that just can’t reestablish, who don’t have the luxury, who don’t have the money.”
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With such large-scale displacement, it is not known what the ripple effect will be, said Cristina Alvarado, executive director of the Child Care Alliance Los Angeles, which is assessing the impact on providers.
Child-care centers in non-affected areas will also need to evolve. “Are they going to be able to take on additional folks that are moving into their community?” Alvarado said.
The state Social Services department, which licenses day-care operations, did not respond to requests about the number of children enrolled in burned and closed facilities.
Pulver said Options for Learning heard from 120 families seeking new sources of care in the first week alone; Connections for Children in Santa Monica, which works with families in the Palisades, saw a 65% increase in calls for child-care referrals.
The biggest concern is families with children under 2 who are in need of care, said Bruce Fuller, a professor of education at UC Berkeley. Spaces for the age range were already scarce because of the high cost it takes to care for infants.
“It was difficult to find, and now you’ve just literally burnt up a big slice of supply,” Fuller said.
The state is providing 30 days of payments to providers for children with government subsidies, but the Child Care Providers United, the union representing family child-care providers, says more is needed. In a letter sent to the California Department of Human Resources on Thursday, the union demanded additional supports, including payments to impacted providers until they are able to reopen, additional funds for clean-up efforts, and mental health services.
Preschool face a daunting checklist
As soon as the evacuation orders were lifted last week, Danielle Svihovec went back to assess damage at her Woodbury Preschool Village in Altadena, a cluster of cottages she opened 37 years ago.
The school was still standing, but the grounds were covered in soot and debris. About a block away, homes had been decimated.
Svihovec has been working from morning until dusk for nearly two weeks to get Woodbury back into shape so that the children can return, and to field donations for the families and staff whose homes were destroyed.
On Wednesday, they had piled up branches and filled multiple trash bags with toys and debris. The property is unique: Seven cottages serve 120 families whose children are 6 weeks to 5 years old. Each cottage needs its air filters replaced, the carpet torn out and insulation removed. A restoration group alongside teacher and parent volunteers are handling the tasks. The site still doesn’t have potable water and Svihovec was waiting Friday for a lab to confirm that it’s safe for kids to return.
Some parents are nervous to send their kids back to the center, given the air quality concerns and its proximity to the burn area. Others have pushed for a faster reopening as they’ve struggled to search for alternatives. Svihovec expects fewer than half to show up when she opens.
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For now, Lindsay Bruce is sending her 2½-year-old daughter to a school in Highland Park. She will consider sending her daughter back to Woodbury in February.
“I think we’re just going to have to sort of take it month by month,” she said. “That being said, it’s also scary, because as this goes on, everywhere else is going to fill up. There’s going to be nowhere else.”
Family child-care providers lose home and business at once
Home-care providers who lost their houses also lost their livelihoods.
Angela Li first learned the Altadena home where she raised her children in and ran her child-care business was destroyed via a video from her neighbor. The cubbies that belonged to the 10 children she cared for were gone, along with her own children’s mementos.
“I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I lost my house and I lost my job, all in one go,’” Li said. “That’s hard to comprehend. … I don’t even know how things are going to turn out.”
It’s been tough, she said, connecting with the families, four of which lost their own homes. “It was heartbreaking,” Li said. She’s planning a play-date for the families in February to provide closure for the kids, who were split up so abruptly.
For now, Li is taking it day by day. She is considering looking for another location to run her child-care business as she rebuilds her Altadena home. But she will be starting from scratch, and it will be costly.
Families scramble for new care
The day the fire started, B’nai Simcha Jewish Community Preschool in Altadena had been wrapping up the installation of fresh turf and getting ready to tour parents around their new infant center.
The fire destroyed nearly everything.
B’nai Simcha, which was founded in 1985, had been based at the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center for 15 years. Some of the children who had attended in the past were now sending their own children there. Parents stayed long after drop-off to visit with other families.
“There was so much history there. It was really sad to see it all go,” said director Carina Hu, who added that it’s heartbreaking to see the children scatter to other preschools.
During the pandemic, Shiri Goldsmith-Graziani — the mother of an infant and a toddler at the time — said B’nai Simcha was a “lifeline.” Her older son started at the preschool when he was 2, and was soon joined by his younger brother. She made friends with the other parents, attended events, and joined the temple.
“I feel like I lost something that was very meaningful for me, that brought me a lot of community,” she said. “It’s hard to wrap my head around being anywhere else.”
Still, Goldsmith-Graziani needs care for her younger son, who at 4½ years old was in his final year at B’nai Simcha. She’s spent the past two weeks “frantically running around,” and trying to figure out what to do. Her house, though not destroyed, was at the edge of the burn area, and isn’t livable. She lost half of her income teaching yoga and music at the nearby schools, now closed. Meanwhile, she’s also juggling child care for both her preschooler and her older child, whose Pasadena Unified school is still closed.
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And she was “dragging her feet” trying to find a new preschool for her son. There were a few slots available in nearby schools, but she didn’t want to send her child just anywhere, especially in such an unsettling time. She needed a facility that fit her family’s schedule and budget, but she also wanted to keep him with friends in a place that felt comfortable and familiar. Families generally select child care with great delicacy and consideration, seeking a site that is not only practical but also reflective of their values, culture, language or religion.
She applied elsewhere, but nothing felt quite right. “I’m oscillating between thoughtful, anxious, and desperate,” she said.
Eventually, she secured a spot for him at a nearby school that was able to increase capacity to add her son and one of his friends. He starts on Monday.
Child-care directors near the burn area of the Eaton fire have been racing to accommodate families like Goldsmith-Graziani’s and teachers in need of jobs.
Michele Masjedi has taken in five families at her center, the Journey Begins in Highland Park. She’s looking to expand capacity, but her facility must wait for approval from the state’s licensing department and await clarification as to whether a fire inspection will be required as the state works to streamline the process.
She and other child-care center directors at the Director’s Alliance of San Gabriel Valley & Los Angeles put together a spreadsheet of available spaces at open facilities near the Eaton fire burn area, to help guide parents and providers looking for new child care and workplaces.
“It became painfully obvious several days in that, just like during COVID, there’s not a good infrastructure for child care, and certainly not in crisis,” Masjedi said.
This article is part of The Times’ early childhood education initiative, focusing on the learning and development of California children from birth to age 5. For more information about the initiative and its philanthropic funders, go to latimes.com/earlyed.
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