For many, the real work is only beginning.
And that includes L.A. County’s hundreds of early care and education facilities — with an estimated 503 of them impacted by the massive Palisades and Eaton fires.
“We’re still assessing the loss,” said Cristina Alvarado, executive director of Child Care Alliance Los Angeles, a partnership, formed in 1997, that provides services for thousands of families and child care providers across the county. “A number of centers and some family childcare homes have been lost.”
The alliance works with 10 childcare agencies across L.A. County. The biggest impact was in the area of the Eaton fire, with at least 139 centers lost along, with family homes that provided child care, Alvarado said. Some of those were large operations.
On Saturday, Jan. 25, there was a supply distribution for child care providers organized by the L.A. County Early Care and Education Emergency Response Team at Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena.
The team is focused on helping providers clean up their sites to become operational and able to serve children again. Vouchers are also being distributed to families who qualify, those either on government aid or who meet income eligibility standards.
The work ahead is daunting.
Using a triage model, Alvarado said, agencies throughout the region are coming together to first determine where families are, where child care staff are and who needs immediate child care.
Facilities such as YMCAs, L.A. Recreation and Parks, and other entities are also looking into housing childcare or helping with “pop-up” locations.
Some families who have lost places of work may be getting by for now without childcare, Alvarado said, but workers are scrambling to organize the effort to move forward.
“It’s a bit of a challenge trying to figure all the pieces out,” she said.
That’s probably an understatement.
“People are still evacuated (from their homes),” Alvarado said, “so we still don’t know what all the impacts are, where the families are.”
Many have lost possibly both homes and workplaces such as grocery stores or other work sites.
Information provided by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said referral agencies are working across various communities to help families locate early child care and education services. (Families can call the Child Care Alliance at 888-922-4453 or go to ccala.net to locate resources and referral agencies in their neighborhoods.) L.A. County and city have both set up emergency childcare options for families through their respective recreation and parks departments.
“The primary impact is in the Altadena and Pasadena area, with a total of 289 centers and family childcare homes in the fire evacuation areas,” a Friday, Jan. 24, email from the L.A. County Department of Public Health said in response to questions submitted by the Southern California News Group. “The L.A. County Early Care and Education Response Team is still in the assessment process of how many facilities have been destroyed or damaged.”
The L.A. County Early Care and Education Emergency Response Team was activated on Jan. 8 to support the system during the recovery process, county officials said.
Among Alvarado’s concerns are how all of this is impacting young children who are experiencing changes in shelter, food and clothing provisions.
“We don’t want to lose any childcare providers,” Alvarado said. “This field already was very impacted by COVID. We need folks who know how to work with children. There will be a lot of cleaning (at centers that survived) to do to reopen, setting up licensing protocols, making sure play equipment is clean.”
Sandboxes contaminated by ash, for example, will all need to be completely emptied and refilled, she said.
Another issue will be the expenses that childcare providers face, since, Alvarado said, those aren’t expected to be covered by insurance or FEMA payments.
“I’m trying to raise some additional funds,” Alvarado said. “We don’t know what kind of federal support is coming. All of that is still being ironed out.”