While watching over her four kids from her home in Fort Worth, LeDeja LeDay thought about how her life might be if she had child care.
“If I had the help, I would definitely work an eight to five or, you know, something where I can work while my kids are at school or daycare,” LeDay, 27, said. “And I also want to finish my schooling because I want to be a veterinarian.”
Instead, she stays home and watches over her 4-, 5-, 7- and 11-year-old kids as she remains on a child care assistance waitlist.
Many families are in a similar situation as the Dallas-Fort Worth area has at least 20 ZIP codes considered child care deserts, with only about 12 high-quality child care seats per 100 low-income working families, according to data compiled by the advocacy nonprofit Children at Risk.
North Texas has more than 3,580 child care operations, including centers, after-school programs and some run from private homes. Together, they have the capacity to serve about 322,595 children ages 13 or younger, according to Texas Health and Human Services Commission data.
That’s less than a quarter of the seats needed to accommodate North Texas families’ needs.
Dallas County alone has almost 35,000 children under 5 years who live in low-income families, and over 97,000 people from 5 to 17 years of age who live in poverty.
According to census estimates, in 2022, there were more than 1.4 million children ages 14 or younger in Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, Denton, Kaufman and Rockwall counties. More than 451,000 of them were children under 5.
“I really feel that as a single parent, we don’t have enough resources as far as child care goes,” LeDay expressed. “I feel like we could do a little better.”
Uptown Dallas resident Ona Hendrix experienced this scarcity while searching for a facility for her 3-year-old.
“I wasn’t looking for a child care center to just babysit my children or keep them while I was at work,” she said.
Instead, Hendrix wanted a center that could provide a nurturing environment. She paid particular attention to the curriculum, activities and safety procedures. But ticking all her boxes involved farther drives from home and work, she said.
“I would need to start putting my children in the car at 7:00, 6:45 a.m.,” Hendrix said.
After visiting about eight different facilities, she decided on Braswell Child Development Center, which was conveniently located and where she had previously enrolled another child. She could afford it after receiving a subsidy from Dallas County, which covers about 80% of the tuition. But Hendrix is the exception.
Only roughly one in four low-income working families obtain subsidized child care in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. That’s 7% less than what was provided in 2022 and 15% below the statewide trend.
On the other side, LeDay said she has been on Tarrant County’s child care waitlist for over two years, which has prevented her from getting a regular job and improving their financial status.
In the meantime, the family lives off a Supplemental Security Income check to cover rent and living expenses while LeDay makes some money on the side, doing supermarket or food deliveries.
“They told me that as long as I’m actively looking for a job, I can get the child care,” she said. “And so that’s what I’ve been doing, but I’m still not hearing anything back.”
Across Texas, about 333 ZIP codes are classified as child care deserts, a term that describes areas with too few available seats or providers, according to Children at Risk. For low-income working families, the number of child care deserts nearly doubles.
The most affected areas are West Dallas and Terrell, in Kaufman County, where no reported child care seats are available.
Some areas in north Fort Worth and Grand Prairie appear to have about 15 to 33 daycare seats per every 100 children of working parents.
While ZIP code 76140, where LeDay resides, is not considered a child care desert by the nonprofit, the shortage of affordable options still affected her family. This area has an estimated 62 child care seats for every 100 children of working parents.
On the other hand, ZIP codes in the more affluent areas of Frisco, McKinney, and Denton have some of the largest child care options in the area, with up to 81 providers per ZIP code, according to Texas Health and Human Services data. In these areas, there’s a surplus of child care seats compared to the number of children of working parents, according to Children at Risk.
The lack of options available for working parents across the state should be a top priority for Texas lawmakers next year, according to Kim Kofron, senior director of Education at Children at Risk.
“We talked about the deserts, and they’re a real problem for working families,” said Kofron.
The nonprofit tracked child care providers’ availability in the state since 2017. Every year, they update a map showing the ZIP codes where these services are scarce to raise awareness about the need for additional funding.
“I hear from parents from all income levels that they are choosing not to go back to the workforce because they can’t find child care,” she said.
In April, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick tasked senators with looking into ways to increase Texas’ workforce productivity, among other priorities. He instructed them to look into child care availability, which supports the state’s growing workforce, according to his interim charges.
LeDay said she’s grateful for the education she’s been able to find for her kids while living in North Texas. Originally from Lake Charles, La., she said she was attracted by the jobs and school districts in the area. She was recently admitted to Dallas College to begin studying in August. But unable to find child care, her plans are on hold.
“It’s frustrating for me because I am a work type of person. I want to go to work and then come home,” she said. “I’m hopeful that something will pan out.”
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.
