Child care providers and families visited the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston, West Virginia on February 2, 2026 for Child Care Advocacy Day. (Photo by Perry Bennett/West Virginia Legislative Photography)
Marissa Johnson and her 4-year-old son came to the state Capitol this week to urge lawmakers to pay attention to a widespread problem in West Virginia: a shortage of child care and providers facing funding cliffs.
Without reliable child care, Johnson said, she couldn’t work as a certifying agent at a federally qualified health center.
“I wouldn’t be able to work without our amazing daycare, A Place to Grow in Oak Hill,” said Johnson, 36, who lives in Fayetteville. “There’s no way we can stay where we live on one income.”
It’s another legislative session in which parents, child care providers and others hope lawmakers will work to improve the state’s child care desert.
More than 26,000 children currently have no access to childcare because providers do not have enough free places. according to government estimates.
The West Virginia Chamber of Commerce has advocated for it for child care laws to boost the state’s low labor force participation rate. And the few lawmakers who have made child care a priority have said the same thing.
But last year lawmakers Zero legislation passed focused on improving child care in West Virginia. A similar thing happened in 2024.
Del. Rep. Kathie Hess Crouse, R-Putnam, will try again this year to solve the elaborate issue of child care. Sponsorship invoices to deal with different topics. It’s a priority for her, she said.
“Our group needs it because we need the workers, and we want to make them available,” said Hess Crouse on Tuesday. “This is a priority for me and some of the female delegates.” The West Virginia Legislature exists mostly men.
Child care is a priority for the Democratic minority in the House of Representatives senatewho say they would like to work with Republicans to get the bills to the finish line before lawmakers adjourn the session in March.
House Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, said families in West Virginia often have to choose between going to work or staying home with their children because of the availability and price of child care.
According to a study by the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, the average cost of child care in West Virginia is about $800 per month for a child.
“Parents and children just need more access. We need more spaces,” Hornbuckle said. “We need more availability and we need to ensure that our quality of care from providers is high.”
Brian Dayton, Vice President of Policy and Advocacy for the state Chamber of Commerce said the chamber continues to be a staunch supporter of accessible and affordable child care.
“Our members, who collectively employ more than half of West Virginia’s workforce, tell us time and time again that child care is a critical hurdle to the workforce and economic development,” he said.
The legislation is aimed at supporting childcare workers
daycare centers are Struggling to stay openand hundreds of vendors have closed their doors in the last two years.
One topic is attracting and retaining employees.
The average hourly wage for the state’s child care workers is $11.48. according to work dates.
Child care providers have called on lawmakers to create the Child Care Workforce Scholarship Act. The estimated $5.2 million program would provide child care stipends for all child care workers.
“A lot of people get into this field because they have kids and love kids,” said Katelyn Vandal, director of A Place To Grow Day Care Center in Fayette County. “The ability to be part of the field and cover the care of their children would be a really big motivation for those in the field to stay in the field.”
Sen. Mike Oliverio, R-Monongalia, is sponsoring the measure Senate Bill 429 that would put it into action.
“With West Virginia at the bottom of the country in labor force participation, we believe that if we can create a system where we can provide modest scholarship funds to provide children with child care where their parents are the workers, we can make a significant difference to the number of people in our workforce,” he said.
Another measure, House Bill 4067sponsored by Hess Crouse, would provide a subsidy to the children of child care workers (who work at least 20 hours per week) to facilitate workers afford child care.
“Hopefully this can go through and maybe at least build up the workforce,” Hess Crouse said.
Financial problems have also plagued child care providers, and part of this is related to the high number of families using government subsidies to finance child care. Providers say the subsidy rate has not kept pace with the actual amount of child care provided.
The West Virginia Association of Young Children coming together Early childhood educators are calling on lawmakers to adjust reimbursement rates for state child care subsidies to “the actual costs of high-quality care.” The estimated price is $18.7 million.
Also the state recently changed From enrollment to attendance policies, the issue is how centers that serve children reimburse child care subsidies. A salary structure for enrollment helps providers Stay financially secure as there are usually more children enrolled than present due to illness or other family needs.
Child care providers, many of whom were surprised by the change, can only receive full compensation if children are present for at least four hours a day once a month.
Meghan Hullinger no longer has children who need child care, but she remembers how she needed reliable child care after she graduated and became a single mother. She came to the state Capitol with her children from Pocahontas County this week to advocate for child care legislation.
She noted that the state’s roughly $108 billion in surplus money could be used to fund child care laws.
“There are solutions to these problems,” she said. “We should invest in families, especially if we want families to stay here, if we want to stop exporting our children, if we want them to have a future in West Virginia.”
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