Delaware County childcare is in crisis mode as owners here and elsewhere watch federal aid dry up and cope with not having enough high-quality, college-educated staff to keep up with required teacher-child ratios, writes Nate File and Lynette Hazelton for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

“You can make $18 an hour at Costco versus working $18 an hour in a room with 10 kids; half of them are having behavior problems,” said Joanne Drinkard, owner of Aardvark Child Care.

The American Rescue Plan Act has been propping up childcare operations since 2021 with $40 billion in aid.

That ends Oct. 1. Nearly 3,000 childcare programs are expected to close, and 11,000 childcare jobs will go with them.

Drinkard closed two Delaware County locations because of ARPA funds ending.

“That’s the only way I stayed afloat,” she said.

The funds kept childcare operating but didn’t fix any problems.

“It’s like playing Jenga,” said Diane Barber, executive director of the Pennsylvania Child Care Association. “We moved things around and took pieces from the bottom, but we all know how the game is going to end. Eventually, you know it’s going to collapse.”

Find out more about the daycare crisis and its impact on Delaware County childcare in The Philadelphia Inquirer.