The Night Watch Child Care Center seeing challenges, and high demand for care

SALISBURY, Md. – One local childcare center owner says she’s seeing an increased demand for her services.

The owner of the Night Watch Child Care Center says she’s the only overnight childcare center in Salisbury, and with people now heading back to the office families are looking for childcare. But, getting kids the care they need can be challenging.

To help, the center partners with Maryland’s Child Care Scholarship Program, which provides assistance for child care costs. And, she said registering for that process can be a headache.

“Currently, you have to provide 4 weeks worth of pay stubs to even apply, and we have some moms that were home during the pandemic for virtual learning and do not have 4 weeks worth of pay stubs recent,” Dr. Amy Heger, owner of Night Watch Childcare Center, said. “Once they apply it’s still another 30 days for them to review the applications to provide benefits, so we have some families looking to have to pay almost 8 weeks of childcare and for an infant that could run you almost $1600, people just don’t have money for that.”

Heger said the state should look into doing the process differently, like holding off on asking for pay stubs and giving the family more time to turn those in.