Sky-High Child Care Costs in Ohio Threaten Families and Child Safety
Rising child care costs in Ohio are not only straining families financially but also raising significant concerns about child protection and the quality of care available to young children. For parents like Katey Gibbins-Burdette and her husband, Brandon, the $2,600 monthly expense for their two young children has become a central factor in shaping their family and career decisions. High costs are forcing parents to make difficult trade-offs, including reduced work hours, career changes, or leaving the workforce entirely, which can limit oversight and consistency in a child’s early environment.
Experts warn that the scarcity of affordable, high-quality child care increases risks to children’s safety and development. With demand far outpacing available slots—particularly for infants—many families are forced onto long waitlists or rely on informal care arrangements that may not meet safety standards. Child care centers themselves face pressure from rising costs, new regulations, and low reimbursement rates, leading some to consider closure. This threatens not only access but also the ability of centers to maintain proper staffing ratios and training standards critical to safeguarding children.
Current state assistance is limited: publicly funded child care is available only to families earning up to 145% of the federal poverty line, leaving many working families without support. Pilot programs and vouchers help some, but gaps remain, and quality care often comes at a price many cannot sustain.
Child protection advocates stress that ensuring safe, nurturing, and developmentally appropriate care requires both financial support for families and structural support for child care providers. Without it, children’s well-being can be compromised, and parents face unsustainable stress, which indirectly affects the quality of care children receive.
The Burdettes’ experience highlights the broader challenge: when families must “build their lives around child care,” safeguarding and child development risk becoming secondary to financial survival.
