West Virginia Public Broadcasting – In 2023, an estimated 20,000 West Virginia children under age six were unable to receive child care due to capacity issues, according to an August 2024 report from the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy.
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Will Miller, interim state director for the West Virginia Small Business Development Center (SBDC), sees that as a workforce issue. The less parents can rely on child care centers, the less likely they are to reenter the workforce as their children age.
“That’s one of the big impacts of the child care problem in the state,” Miller said. “People want to keep working. But they can’t find enough spots for child care, or they can’t afford to put the kid in child care and then work at the same time.”
