San Diego Navy officials are scrambling to alleviate the shortfall of child care providers for the more than 4,000 military children waiting for spots in its base daycare centers, according to Navy Region Southwest officials.
Staffing shortages brought on by the pandemic have impacted a military child care system that was already strained before COVID-19 hit, according to Janet Hooten, the child and youth program manager at Navy Region Southwest in San Diego.
Before the pandemic, military families in San Diego could expect to wait more than a year to have a child placed in a Navy Child Development Center for care, Hooten told the Union-Tribune.
Hooten declined to say how long military families might wait today for a spot. She said the tiered-priority system means not everyone will wait in the same line. However, she said any military member up for orders that could send them to San Diego should get on the waiting list now.
“We encourage every family to put their child on the waitlist as soon as you know you will be leaving (the current duty station),” Hooten said. “You don't have to wait until you have orders in hand.”
In 2020, the Navy signed a deal with Coronado Unified School District to lease an under-utilized preschool for Navy child care. While that opened about 200 spots for kids, it only made a dent in the waitlist.
Military child care is subsidized by the Defense Department. There are daycare…
