RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina state lawmakers could address the increasing costs of child care this legislative session. It comes as some families are seeing costs outgrow their income.

Families like that of Sheranae Stoddard are feeling the impact.

What You Need To Know

  • North Carolina lawmakers could address the cost of child care this legislative session

  • Sheranae Stoddard is a stay-at-home mother to her five children

  • The cost of child care has ballooned to now more than what her salary brought in for their family

  • According to N.C. Child, 44% of North Carolina families are in a "child care desert"

Stoddard is a stay-at-home mother of five.

When her eldest children were young, she tried to work.

“I worked at a day care with my two oldest when I first graduated. My degrees [are] in psychology and minored in child development. So I was able to get a job at a day care pretty much right away, and I think the cost, this is at that time, which was 14 years ago about, it was like $900 for an infant to be, you know, to be there all day,” Stoddard said.

She said it just wasn’t financially doable for her situation.

Instead of working full time like her husband, Stoddard looked for part-time jobs.

“I took a job at the YMCA because I could bring my kids to work with me, and just other little things like little part-time jobs, where it coincided with his schedule. Because, you know, we just didn’t have enough money to put all three young kids in day care.”

When they had their fourth child, they decided it wasn’t worth it anymore.

“I think it is frustrating when you actually add up,” Stoddard said. “[It’s] $500 per kid, and that’s $1,000, you know? That’s $1,000 because you have two of them, and you’re only bringing in ‘X’ amount of dollars. You’re leaving your house for eight, nine, potentially 10 hours a day, and you’re only bringing home $300 or $400.”

It’s a problem that other families across North Carolina are facing, and the COVID pandemic only exasperated the need for more care at a lower cost.

According to NC Child, 44% of North Carolina families live in a child care desert.

This means a family might be in a situation where there are five children in need of care but only one spot is available. The burden of care for the other four children could then fall entirely on the mother.

Not every family can afford to have one parent stay at home and live off of one salary. It can leave parents in a precarious situation.

“Women have the babies — usually. I mean, when I couldn’t ask my husband to leave work or to do something when he’s the major breadwinner... And that’s part of the reason why I chose to stay home. My job, whatever job I got straight out of school and even into now, wasn’t going to make as much as he was making,” Stoddard said.

Republicans and Democrats in the state legislature say they’re hard at work on the issue.

Lawmakers have introduced many bills to address different areas of early childhood education and assisting high costs.

Stoddard says that as talks continue at the state’s capitol, she hopes there’s focus on finding a good balance between quality care and cost.

“There’s a lot of day cares out there and they could be cheaper, but do they offer quality child care? You know, you don’t want to put your kids anywhere, and I wouldn’t do that to my children.”