Day-care meeting offers little comfort

Danette Goulet

COSTA MESA -- Families who depend on the county day-care program that

is scheduled to close in December still fear the worst -- despite the

promise of a meeting brought on by their volatile protest Friday.

“For now, everything is quiet. But I don’t know what will happen,”

said Marina Esco, a mother of three who has one child in the Costa Mesa

day-care site. “We just make a little bit of money as housekeepers and

such and can’t pay a lot for day-care.”

Although she is worried about her own family, Esco is more worried

about her sister, Raquel Rodas, who is a single mother with two children.

When the 13 state-funded day-care centers for low-income families

close their doors Dec. 15, many families and single mothers like Rodas

will be forced to quit their jobs and go on welfare, parents said.

“We need the day-care. These are poor people who are working,” said

Miyri Somozi, whose two children are cared for at the Costa Mesa center.

“Many people will return to welfare to take care of their children.”

But officials from the Orange County Department of Education, who

announced the closure of the program that serves 900 children throughout

the county last week, said they are working diligently to find a way to

keep the program running.

“The best option, as far as I’m concerned, would be if the California

Department of Education could identify some other agency who could pick

up the program in the same site,” said Ellin Chariton, director of child

development services for the county.

Chariton said she hopes the state can find another program -- like a

school district preschool program, or the Orange County YMCA that already

receives state funding -- to expand and take on the 13 centers.

While this would alleviate the parents’ current dilemma, those

programs would not be required to keep the 200 employees who will lose

their jobs.

The other possible options for parents is the county’s alternative

payment program that provides parents funds for baby-sitters or other

day-care centers, said Chariton. Not all child-care providers will accept

this payment, however, and parents said they want an assurance of the

same level of care their children received in the state program.

“This is a very good program here,” Somozi said. “It’s necessary for

poor people. These children are ready for kindergarten.”

While the county has promised a meeting, officials have not yet set a

day and time. Chariton said it is in the works, but she doesn’t want to

set one up without a commitment from the state Department of Education.

“We really believe we need a representative from California Department

of Education,” she said. “It’s in their hands now.”