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'Make Way For Kids' Grants Aim To Increase Quality And Quantity Of Child Care Options

The two toddlers currently enrolled at LouLou's Pre-K & Family Child Care have a lot of books and toys to choose from. Once the home day care is licensed by the state, up to ten children will be allowed to enroll.
Amy Kolb Noyes
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VPR
The two toddlers currently enrolled at LouLou's Pre-K & Family Child Care have a lot of books and toys to choose from. Once the home day care is licensed by the state, up to 10 children will be allowed to enroll.

If you've ever looked for child care in Vermont, you know it can be tough to find openings. But it can also be a tough, and expensive, process for providers to open up and register with the state.

The organization Vermont Birth to Five is trying to help make it easier. 

Walking into LouLou’s Pre-K & Family Child Care, in Morristown, you see everything you might expect to find at any busy day care center or preschool. The walls are papered with finger-painted pictures and lined with cubbies filled with toys. In one corner there's a toddler-sized toy kitchen and market stand. There’s a sleeping corner, a reading rug and a toy tool bench.

Sitting on the floor in the middle of it all is LouAnn Hess-Clewes, with two toddlers on her lap.

In the nearly a year since Hess-Clewes opened her business, these two little girls have had this space and LouLou, as everyone calls her, all to themselves.

That’s because Hess-Clewes is in the process of becoming a state-registered care provider. Until that process is complete, she’s only allowed to provide care for two families.

Bailey Carbine-March holds a baby doll while LouAnn Hess-Clewes holds on to her. Bailey's mom says she feels fortunate to have one of the just two day care spots Hess-Clewes is currently able to offer.
Credit Amy Kolb Noyes / VPR
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VPR
Bailey Carbine-March holds a baby doll while LouAnn Hess-Clewes holds on to her. Bailey's mom says she feels fortunate to have one of the just two day care spots Hess-Clewes is currently able to offer.

Hess-Clewes said it has been an in-depth process. It’s not that she’s new at providing child care — she’s worked as a director and an assistant director at local child care centers for decades.

"I’ve been working with young children in licensed centers for almost 30 years now. ... Twenty-one of those years have been in Vermont, in Stowe and Morrisville," she said.

That experience is what made her such a good candidate for Vermont Birth to Five’s first round ofMake Way for Kids grants. Last spring, the program gave $455,500 to 23 child care programs around the state. Along with that money comes mentoring from early child care experts.

Jen Severance, Hess-Clewes’ mentor, explains, "[At] Make Way for Kids we provide funding and coaching to programs who are, one, starting up and need help with start-up costs; two, programs that are trying to expand their programs to offer more care; and three, to help do some coaching with programs to increase their quality."

In this case, Severance has been helping guide Hess-Clewes through the lengthy state registration process. Once she’s registered, Hess-Clewes will be able to provide care to up to 10 children at her home-based day care.

Severance said those spots are sorely needed.

"There is such a shortage of child care in Vermont." — Jen Severance, Vermont Birth To Five

"There is such a shortage of child care in Vermont. For infants and toddlers especially, there is a little over 50 percent of people with infants, toddlers who are looking for care – in any type of care – can’t find it," Severance said. "And if they’re looking in high-quality child care programs, the number goes up to about 80 percent that can’t find high-quality care."

The process of opening a registered day care has become much more complicated since Hess-Clewes decided to pursue this dream. She said the regulations used to be outlined in a 49-page pamphlet, and now the booklet is nearly 200 pages. But, Hess-Clewes said, it's worth the effort — both for her career and for her families.
 

Governor Scott's plan to use money from an expanded Internet Sales Tax to pay for a 7 million dollar increase in child care programs is being criticized by a number of lawmakers
Credit Amy Kolb Noyes / VPR
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VPR
Toddlers Brexlee Mace, left, and Bailey Carbine-March, right, show their moms Charity Lanpher, left, and Amber Carbine-March, right, the hats they made during the day at LouLou's Pre-K & Family Child Care.

"We understand the importance of each other," Hess-Clewes said of her families. "Without them, I couldn’t be home living my dream. Without me, they couldn’t be at work not worrying about their child. So it’s just such a great fit for us."

Parents Amber Carbine-March and Charity Lanpher agree.

"There isn’t a moment of the day where I don’t think that she is being cared for and loved," Carbine-March said of her daughter Bailey.

Lanpher, whose daughter Brexlee is Hess-Clewes' other charge, adds, “We got lucky with LouLou.”

If all goes as planned, LouLou’s Pre-K & Family Child Care will be registered and able to take more children in the spring. Meanwhile, Hess-Clewes has some big plans for her two toddlers.

"These are going to be my little trainers," she said. "When I have new children that actually join me, I’ll be like, 'Oh, Bailey, can you go help so-and-so, show 'em where the book is?' 'Brexlee, can you help so-and-so, show 'em how we clean up at LouLou’s?' So these are going to be my teacher-helpers. They’re in training right now.”

Vermont Birth to Five just opened up a second round of Make Way for Kids grants. The goal is to make sure every Vermont family has access to affordable, high-quality child care by 2025.

Amy is an award winning journalist who has worked in print and radio in Vermont since 1991. Her first job in professional radio was at WVMX in Stowe, where she worked as News Director and co-host of The Morning Show. She was a VPR contributor from 2006 to 2020.
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