2013 Regional Assessment of Child Care by Cooperative Extension

Not too long ago, the Cornell University Cooperative Extension Office of Oneida County's Child Care Council released a report of the state of child care in 2013 for the region. As they stated in their introduction:

We are pleased to provide you with a copy of the 2014 Child Care Needs Assessment containing data related to early care and learning services in Herkimer, Madison and Oneida Counties. You will find data outlining the supply and demand of regulated child care, cost of care, trend data, quality, follow up surveys and more. We utilized our own comprehensive database with all licensed and regulated child care programs and all the parents/caregivers who request information and referrals, data provided by our local Departments of Social Services, Census information, and data from Child Care Aware of America. It is our intent to offer this needs assessment to inform and guide our partners in community planning, while internally, we utilize the information to drive our own program planning and strategic development.

The graphs below illustrate the number of potential slots for each modality in...Herkimer County. Potential child care slots are based on the MAXIMUM number of slots a program is registered or licensed to serve, regardless of whether or not the slot is currently filled or vacant.

Click to Enlarge

Potential family/group child care slots reflect the Maximum Potential Slots as per the NYS Office of Children and Family Services Child Care Facility System. A family child care provider may care for two children under the age of two and six children ages two to twelve. Group family child care providers, who have an assistant, may care for up to four children under the age of two and twelve children ages two to twelve. The following charts reflect an estimated number of available slots based
upon the number of family/group family providers in each county. Maximum capacity is determined by the number of caregivers per setting and the square footage per child.

Click to Enlarge

Lastly, the graphs located within this section indicate the number of potential child care slots for child care centers by age group (see appendix for information on age groups and staff-child ratios). As the graphs indicate, there is a significant lack of child care slots for infants and toddlers. Not every child care center provides care for these younger children.

Click to Enlarge

If you would like to get a copy of the Child Care Needs Assessment, you can contact them at 315-223-7850 or call them toll-free at 1-888-814-KIDS (5437).

Finding Local Daycare: The Child Care Council at Cornell Cooperative Extension

Finding good child care is undoubtedly one of the most important decisions parents make when faced with that needed service. Working in the child care profession is a demanding job that requires a great deal of patience, responsibility, and caring on the part of the workers. Locally the Child Care Council has a lot of great information about local child care openings, as well as job training opportunities. They are sponsored through Cornell Cooperative Extension.

According to the latest Equal Employment Opportunities data from the Census Bureau, there are roughly 309 people presently working in childcare jobs in Herkimer County, and about 1,310 people in the same line of work in Oneida County. Educationally, child care workers in Herkimer County are somewhat split between those with some college experience (48.5% have an associates degree or at least some college classwork) and those with only a high school diploma or less (46.6%). About 5% have bachelor's degrees among childcare workers in Herkimer County.

In Oneida County, more than half of the child care workers have a high school diploma or less (51.5%), while another 43.5% have either an associate's degree or some college course work. And as was the case in Herkimer County, 5% of Oneida County's child care workers have a bachelor's degree.

Below is an interesting infographic from the Census Bureau about national child care trends. Click to see it enlarged on the Census Bureau website for easier reading.