LOUISVILLE, Ky. — As more Kentuckians return to the office, child care services across the Bluegrass state are filling up quickly and it’s leaving parents scrambling.

Kira Meador is a parent and the owner of Toza in Louisville, and she said child care is hard to come by in her area.

"We’ve joked many times that like were just like a desert for child care," she said.

Working Kentucky parents like Kira and Johnathan Meador are scrambling to find affordable child care for their kiddos, which is making their day to day lives even more unpredictable.

"The main reason that we need child care is that I otherwise I have to take my child to work for me," Meador said.

Kira and her husband are owners of Toza in the Germantown neighborhood of Louisville. She said the task of being a mom, a small-business owner and round-the-clock day care care provider isn’t easy.

"I can’t do it with a toddler in tow, and so I’m hoping to find something just to give a hand," Meador said.

While waitlists are common with child care centers, Paige Wilkerson, Assistant Director for Klondkie Kindercare, said the length of wait is longer now.

"In between our five centers, our waitlists go anywhere from three months to 12-18 months just depending on the age and location of the center," Wilkerson explained.

Waitlists and affordable options are what new parents and working families are juggling in an effort to keep their jobs.

"I've got like a solid range between $750 and $1200 a month and that is for day care centers, not private child care," Meador said.

"It truly takes a village to raise a child and we know that, and our parents know that. And I think this pandemic really helped magnified that," Wilkerson said.

The location on Klondike Lane has 103 children enrolled this summer with a waitlist 40 names long.

"Some people are only getting a week or two weeks notice before they have to go back to the office and that only gives them a week or two to find child care," Wilkerson said.

Daycare leaders predict this problem will not be going away any time soon, leaving Kentuckians with a significant challenge.

"It is difficult and you don’t want to turn anyone away, you don’t want to tell anyone no or we don’t have room here so we're doing the best that we can," Wilkerson said.

Overall, Meador is hoping in the future the state will provide more support to families that are struggling to find adequate child care.

"I really think there needs to be considerations made for universal child care because that would completely eliminate stressors like mine," Meador said.

Spectrum News 1 reached out to several day cares in the state who all say they’re at capacity or close to it now.