As of today, two-thirds of New Hampshire’s child care centers have been designated as emergency child care programs.
This designation is required for centers opening under the state’s recent guidelines.
Approximately ten thousand children are being served through the emergency program. But Department of Health and Human Services Associate Commissioner Chris Tappan says the demand for child care is changing every day.
“With not every employer being open, not every parent needing their previous slot but maybe needing it, with parents choosing now to look at different child care centers...some parents are telling us they don’t necessarily want to go back to a center,” she says.
Tappan says some parents may prefer a family child care setting, or to share a single child care provider with a small group of families.
There are currently 1,800 open child care slots statewide.
Tappan says 154 more child care centers are scheduled to reopen within the month.
