Child Care

Some say this may be to blame for worsening labor shortages in areas. Federal estimates put the average cost of infant care at a daycare to be more than $14,000 a year in some New Hampshire counties.

More than a third of families in New England with young children use more than one form of childcare.

“The child care crisis isn’t an individual problem for families to solve,” said Sen. Becky Whitley, a Hopkinton Democrat. “It’s an economic one that requires us all to come to the table for a solution.”

The committee likely won’t propose any of its own legislation this year. Instead, it will gather input from child care providers, advocacy groups and others.

Overnight and day camps across the state are preparing for ongoing financial pressures and looking at what factors to consider to best serve New Hampshire families.

The state wants to use the funding to test out ways to make child care more affordable and accessible to New Hampshire families.

Of those families impacted by the shortage of options, one in five said it directly led to a job loss.

From an ugly dispute with a former landlord to crowdfunding investors, reopening Wild Orchid Bakery has been a lot of work for baker and chef Shelly-Anne Storer.

Jessica Aviles' son Gabe has Duchenne muscular dystrophy and needs home care. So Aviles started work to become his LNA.

New Hampshire daycare centers are looking for more employees to join the workforce in order to meet the high demand for child care.