Is Military Child Care a Crisis?

Service members & spouses share the impact.

“I needed to work more to afford child care,

but I needed child care to work more!”

- Military Dinner Table Conversation Participant

Military families are surrounded by resources and support that are just out of reach. They struggle to balance family and work and feel as if no one is listening. In the latest Military Dinner Table Conversation I spoke with service members and spouses about how they access child care. Despite a host of child care options, families reported feeling overwhelmed at the process of getting care. Guest speaker Kayla Corbitt, founder of the Operation Child Care Project, helped shed light on what is happening behind the scenes.

Child care is hard to come by for military families. Photo by BBC Creative on Unsplash

As the DoD seeks to recruit and retain service members who have children policymakers should take note of the following pain points:

The Need for Support

Military families often feel overlooked and underserved when it comes to understanding the role child care plays in their lives. They report it is as essential to a successful military career as food and shelter but it is seen by the DoD as a luxury. While there are official and grassroots (like Kayla's OCC) initiatives, case management services designed to assist families in understanding and accessing available resources are largely unfamiliar to families. "New people come in and they go months [without care] and they drive an hour and a half to go to three different installations to drop their kids off at three different CPCs and schools before and aftercare," said a participant named Rachel.

Unique Child Care Needs

Additionally, traditional child care options, like center-based care, often don't meet the unique needs of military families, especially regarding non-traditional care hours that are required for active-duty parents. Others also reported needing part-time or drop-in flexibility that was not always readily available or affordable.

Misinformation and Lack of Transparency

Participants expressed frustration with the lack of a centralized source of information for child care resources, leading to reliance on informal channels for support and guidance. Families also shared that they are facing significant challenges in understanding what information they receive is correct. Misinformation and unclear guidelines regarding eligibility and waitlist procedures for child care assistance programs were a significant source of stress for participants.

The main issue was everyone seemed to be aware there were resources, but it was unclear where to start. I asked them, "Where do you go if you run into problems? Where would you like to go? Where would you like to see resources or a place to provide feedback?”

A participant named Julie shared, “Whether it's through finding information on a Google forum or a Facebook page or these late-night cries for help…those are the places where I think a lot of our spouses are finding information.” If new families seek to find information online, they may be frustrated by the lack of clarity of which resource is the primary source of truth and possibly sidetracked by the sheer volume of information.

“I started Operation Child Care to really get a better understanding of the issues that I was seeing,” said guest speaker Kayla Corbitt. One of the issues Corbitt noticed was families not knowing where to start and how to access resources. “The DoD and DOD entities know [a lot] about DoD programming. Civilian entities know [a lot] about civilian programming. The overlap of the two, where they're not overlapping, where they should, that is really where our expertise is. Over the years what we found is that families have felt left out of this process.” 

Impact on Family Dynamics

This Conversation confirmed that when military families struggle to find child care it affects many areas of their lives and decision making. Participants shared stories that indicated their employment decisions, financial stability, and overall well-being have been negatively impacted during the hunt for care as well as dealing with the paperwork related to maintaining care. Many families find themselves paying out of pocket for child care, sometimes at the expense of one parent's income or career opportunities.

Emerging Issues to Track

• Limited Options for Overseas Families: Families stationed overseas often face significant challenges in finding suitable child care options. While SOFA laws are improving it will not matter if overseas care does not keep pace.

• Concerns about Telework: While telework is offered as an employment solution, this flexibility does not matter if care is not available.
  One participant shared that telework "is not really an option. They're really just staying home to take care of their kids." Another participant emphasized the limitations of telework, particularly the lack of this flexibility for service members who are primary caregivers. They shared, "I feel personally that our leadership is engaged in helping us find ways [to work] but…telework only goes so far."

But there is hope. Some families have explored alternative child care arrangements, such as hiring nannies or participating in pilot programs like the Child Care in Your Home initiative. However, these options are often limited and require significant effort to navigate.

It was noteworthy that participants included not just military spouses, but also active duty service members who are struggling to find care for their kids. These Conversations underscored the urgent need for policymakers and decision-makers to address the child care crisis facing military families. The military is what economists call a “greedy job” asking one-half of a couple (service members) to devote a lot of time and energy to service, requiring the other half to fill in the deficit. This slack-pulling from spouses is expected and is an extension of a time when women did not work outside the home.

However, it can no longer be expected that those with children have spouses who can be expected to pick up the slack. Military spouses are employed, often because two incomes are required to get by in high-cost-of-living locations where they are stationed. Child care is hard to come by for all Americans. However, unlike civilians, military child care needs do not fit into a 9-5 care model. It requires the availability of flexible care at all hours.

The military families who joined the Conversation were not looking for someone to make it easy. They knew the process is inherently hard, but they did want to remove the bureaucracy wherever possible. 

By improving access to affordable, high-quality child care options and increasing transparency in eligibility criteria and processes, the DoD and policymakers can better support military families and ensure the readiness of the armed forces.

Keep scrolling to read the data and watch the recording.

Join the March Conversation

Topic: THE Transition from Military to Civilian Life

Date: March 28th

Session 1: 12 Noon EST (9 am PST)

Session 2: 8 PM EST (5 pm PST)

Guest: Anna Larson of the Milspouse Transition

Resources Shared During the Conversation

• Child Care Rate Change in Military.com

• Explanation of what case management looks like at The Operation Child Care Project

• OCC’s Intake for Assistance

• Research survey for the link between Military Spouse Mental Health and Child Care Access

• Military One Source Child Care Resources

• Respite Care

Subscribe to Watch the Videos & Get the Data

The average time participants waited for child care services:

5.2 months