Day care woes

As this school year was starting, the director of the Odessa YMCA's Southside Child Care Center was blunt about after-school care options.

"There are not enough child care facilities in Odessa or the Permian Basin," Mary Sosa said.

"Last week we were up to 499 children," she said, "and even though it dropped off a little when school started, we still staff fully in all areas. With so much oilfield work going in the Permian Basin, there's a shortage of day-care facilities."

Gail Dickenson of Workforce Solutions of the Permian Basin agreed, noting that child care isn't usually thought of as a money-making enterprise. Those who open day-care facilities typically do it because they want to help the children. But, they must subject themselves to a host of government regulations and expense that, understandably, are intended to offer protection and safety to the children, she said.

"The need is great," Dickenson said. "Infant care is the most needed."

Dickenson also said she believes there's a greater need for day care in Odessa than in Midland, though both cities suffer from a shortage of facilities.

She noted that anyone interested in starting a day care should contact the UTPB Small Business Development Center at the Center for Energy and Economic Diversification between Odessa and Midland.

"The SBDC is a wonderful resource," Dickerson said. "They'll help anybody wanting to open a day care."

Sosa said child-care facilities, regardless of where in the Permian Basin they are located, help ease the day care crunch presently felt in Odessa and Midland.

"If a facility is located in Pecos and workers in the oilfield can drop their children off there, it relieves the overcrowded situation in Odessa or Midland," she said.

She said the opening of a new day care facility "is a plus for everybody."

One facility that provided care for children, Faiza Learning Center in downtown Midland, closed on Aug. 18, adding to the already tight day care situation in both cities. Seventy-nine youngsters were affected by that facility's closing.

Another existing facility, A Precious 1 Child Care, operated by co-owners Mychael and Mollie Ball Sr. at 921 N. Midland Drive, will open another day care in early 2009.

They indicated that facility will also be located in Midland and will offer slots for about 100 children.

"We're currently looking for a building in north Midland, probably northwest Midland," Ball said Wednesday.

Mollie Ball, who serves as director of the present facility, said the new day care hopes to cater to mothers of infants.

"We would want to have more infants," she said. "We want to have slots for about 20 babies. And we do have children from Odessa.

"Infants take a lot more hands-on care," she noted, "but there's definitely a need here for infant care."

The toughest impediment in starting the new day care, she said, is "securing the workers."

Although finding enough workers is tough for all industries in the Permian Basin, Mollie Ball said it's particularly difficult in child care because the background of potential workers must now be scrutinized.

She agreed that those who enter the field of child care do so because a love for the children.

"You have to have a passion for what you do. It's a love for the children," she said.