Report: Delaware’s child care shortage is now an economic crisis

November 26, 2025 11

BETHANY BEACH — Lauren Weaver had her first child on a Friday. By Monday, Weaver’s boss put in her notice and let Weaver know she would likely become the next director of the Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce.

“I was fortunate in a sense, because otherwise I probably would have had to quit my job based on what happened that first year, based on the money we paid out,” Weaver told the Delaware Business Times.

While navigating becoming a first-time mom and manager in 2017, she put her child on about seven wait lists for daycares in Sussex County.

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Weaver estimates her family paid thousands for a nanny as well as a match for social security and business licenses to follow state regulations. The nanny still left for a higher paid job. Ultimately, Weaver’s family had to rely on friends and family for child care until they managed to get in at a daycare, one that involved a daily two-hour round trip.

Eight years later and with Sussex home prices now at $550,000, Weaver says the child care crisis has become much more stark. Sussex County is a child care desert; it’s estimated there are three children per every one daycare spot in the county, according to U.S. Census analysis from Rodel. That ratio rises in the beach communities to six children to every single spot.

“It really opened my eyes, because before kids I didn’t think twice about it,” Weaver said, now a mother of two. “It’s getting to the point where people are thinking of development here and you’ve got to start thinking: should there be a child care facility or a Boys and Girls Club. It’s getting to the point where it’s becoming a real issue.”

A new survey done by First State Pre-K Coalition and key partner Rodel found that the lack of available child care in Delaware is rapidly becoming more of an economic crisis. The two had done a parent survey in 2018 and a scientific poll in 2022. But this time, they partnered with 200 business and community organizations which represent industries crossing professional and service industries to get both the employer and employee view of the child care shortage. About 500 parents participated in the survey.

“This is the first time we have evidence directly from Delaware employers that child care access is impacting their employees and business productivity. We had the national data and anecdotes. Now we have Delaware data,” Rodel Senior Vice President Madeleine Bayard said.

The report found that 49% of parents who were surveyed drained their savings or took on debt to afford child care. One-third of parents have turned down a job promotion, reduced working hours or even left the workplace entirely to care for their kids.

It’s also starting to hurt Delaware businesses, according to the report. About 69% of employers who were surveyed said that workers regularly miss shifts due to child care issues.

“Imagine facing this issue every month. Some of them say it’s every week, and that’s where it starts to make sense why some people don’t work. This is restricting people’s economic mobility,” Bayard said.

DBT was told that some Sussex County employers reported that they have hired people, only for those hires to back out because they could not find reliable child care.

Delaware offers millions for purchase of care, a state subsidy that helps centers cover partial tuition for households with income between 150% to 300% from the poverty line. For some families, Delaware Health and Social Services can waive partial or full copayments for families who fall within or below those thresholds.

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But with the U.S. Census placing the average Delaware household earnings at $79,335, many families in the state are ruled out by those parameters.

Advocates in the state have urged state officials to raise the income eligibility for this subsidy, noting that Delaware ranks the bottom in the nation for the program. Rodel believes that it only reaches one out of five children in Delaware through Purchase of Care, Head Start and other state-sponsored programs.

To build up supply, First State Pre-K Coalition and Rodel advocate for an increase in investment so child care workers can earn a livable wage. They also ask for more financial tools like low-interest loans and grants to help open more daycare facilities.

But changes to federal child care tax credits may offer some breathing room. Beginning in 2026, federal tax credits will cover at least 40% of expenses for daycare centers, up to $500,000 per year depending on the business size.

The two organizations don’t stop there, however. They also advocate for employers to consider offering dependent care assistance plans, including setting aside $7,500 in pre-tax money for child care costs. Employers can also do what they can to make scheduling flexible through telecommuting or flexible hours to reduce stress.

Delaware Restaurant Association President and CEO Carrie Leishman said that’s not possible for all businesses, however. Restaurants employ one out of 10 Delawareans and two-thirds of that workforce are women, making child care access an issue that hits her association hard.

The survey conducted by Rodel and First State Pre-K Coalition found validity behind the concern as 77% of employees in restaurant jobs have to reduce their hours due to child care.

“Restaurants are open early for breakfast and late at night. If you’re a female chef that gets out at 10, what daycares are open until then?” Leishman said. “We know it doesn’t fall totally on women, but we know that women do get disproportionately impacted by caregiving challenges.”

From her experience, she said that restaurants often struggle to advance workers from entry-level jobs to management, because employees often lose benefits along the way– including higher pay that may price them out of purchase of care.

Leishman advocates for working with the state government to offer more incentives for daycares with non-traditional hours and study regulations that may be a barrier to open them.

“We need to make it as streamlined as possible for anyone that wants to open up a daycare in this state,” she said.