SARASOTA, Fla. — It's a crisis in our state and across the nation: access to affordable childcare. A growing movement hopes that by asking providers to close their doors for a day, and parents to call in sick, it will prove how childcare and the economy go hand in hand.
Last July, I walked through the doors of Baby Fox Academy in Sarasota to greet a bunch of little faces.
“Good morning," I said to a group of 2-year-olds as I entered their classroom.
WATCH Childcare provider takes different approach to 'Day Without Childcare' movement
This morning, May 12, 2025, the doors to Baby Fox will be open again.
"If we’re not providing care even for one day, then it’s gonna have a huge impact," said Laurie McCracken, the owner of Baby Fox Academy. "We’ve already seen [that] with the childcare crisis that we have in Florida."
While McCracken agrees with the message, she can't bring herself to close down.
“Some of our families live paycheck to paycheck and work for employers that one call out could mean that they no longer have a job," she said. "With a provider being closed unexpectedly or even an extra day not planned, it’s not a holiday that normally employers are not closed for, potentially that means that they are not able to provide for their families."
She says Florida lawmakers are aware of the crisis. Recently, for Children's Week, she drove to our state's capital and helped hang 37,000 little hands in the rotunda.
“I spoke with lots of different legislators, and every single one of them has early childhood on the forefront," she said. "None of their bills or things that relate to the workforce or community can be successful if people can’t go to work.”
She said this is absolutely a bipartisan effort. Right now, there are nearly 1.4 million children 5 and under in the state, and only 750,000 childcare seats available.
It’s why, instead of closing, she’s asked parents to spread the message behind the movement.
“We are hoping that our parents share with their business owners, their employers that they work for on social media, their friends and family, that this is a crisis in our state with childcare but, thankfully I have a provider that is reliable on a regular basis and I can go to work or go back to school," McCracken said.
If you have a childcare story you would like to share with me, e-mail me at Heather.Leigh@wfts.com.
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