Who'll watch the kids?
Originally published by Portland Business Journal
Working families scramble as Oregon child care providers struggle to find staff
By Shelly Strom – Contributing writer
Sep 10, 2021 Updated Sep 10, 2021, 12:17pm PDT
As a well-connected Portland mother with two sons younger than four years old, Alison Tierney is a go-to for moms and moms-to-be as they search, often in desperation, for child care.
“Even before the pandemic, most women in Portland knew that when you are about 12 weeks pregnant, you need to be getting your name on wait lists,” said Tierney, who as Covid hit in March of 2020 had a newborn baby at home and a toddler in day care.
Tierney, who is director of community engagement for the brand strategy firm Kinesis, and her husband both work full-time jobs and rely on child care. Their toddler’s day care provider closed permanently early in the pandemic. The couple was already home on their maternity and paternity leaves for their newborn and eventually juggled care for both sons while easing back into work in the early months of the pandemic.
Last fall the couple found a new child care provider. Today, they’re paying about $2,400 a month for child care, more than their monthly mortgage.
