WACO, Texas (KXXV) — Rising child care costs in Waco are forcing local families to make difficult decisions between maintaining their careers and staying home with their children, as some parents find that day care expenses consume their entire income.
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"It's a hard thing to decide where do you draw the line like where do you say you know I can't make it anymore and I have to increase my fees and then you run the risk of parents saying well I can't afford childcare so I'm gonna have to quit my job," said Linda Taft, executive director of Central Faith Child Development Center.
Taft said that since Central Faith Child Development entered the Central Texas market almost 20 years ago, prices across the area have been on the rise.
"But at the same time it's hard to have to do a price increase when you know so many families are struggling," Taft said.
When families can't afford child care, it doesn't just impact parents — it also impacts the workforce, according to Taft.
"So then if parents quit their jobs well then we lose, we lose our nurses because they can't afford child care or we lose like people that are in business like teachers you know they'll just say it's not worth it for me to be a teacher because I'm paying so much for child care," Taft said.
Kayce Myers, a local Waco mom of two boys, said the rising price of day care has been overwhelming.
"Day care prices ultimately it just was my income so we decided for me to stay home with the kids and home school and keep them so," Myers said.
For Myers, the numbers simply didn't add up.
"We did day care with our first son for three years and then we don't do day care with our newest son," Myers said.
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