Military Spouses Struggle to Juggle Careers, Home Life as Childcare Shortage Reaches 'Crisis Levels'

The U.S. is experiencing what many consider a "childcare crisis," after pandemic-related staffing shortages forced thousands of centers to permanently close.

Parents nationwide are now struggling to find affordable, quality childcare; and while it's a universal issue, it's bringing military families, especially, to a breaking point. 

"As a first-time mom and a fairly new military spouse, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect in a cross-country move in addition to the childcare situation, and I don't think I totally understood the severity of the childcare situation or the shortage and the waitlists," Ashley Ellis told CBN News.

Last summer, she and her husband received unexpected orders to relocate to a military base in Hawaii. As a full-time federal employee, Ellis quickly put her son on the base's childcare wait list, hoping there would be an opening by the time they arrived.

"We got him on the waitlist as soon as we could. We were hoping to get childcare by January...and we are still on the waitlist," Ellis explained.

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Over the last year, she has juggled working and taking care of her son. This means often starting at 4 a.m. so she can work while he sleeps, and taking him along on cross-country work trips. They've also hired three different babysitters to avoid gaps in care.

"We have a babysitter that costs about $500-to-600 more a month, for less hours of coverage, than we would be paying if my son was at full-time childcare at the base daycare," Ellis said.

Military bases first began offering childcare in 1989 under orders of Congress. Like other providers, however, they've faced significant staffing challenges, and have more than 9,000 children currently on waitlists. 

Jessica Strong, Senior Director of Applied Research at Blue Star Families, tells CBN News that childcare has escalated from just a military challenge to a retention issue. 

"About one in a quarter, one in four military families, have considered leaving military service and say the reason that they would leave military service was because of their spouse's employment challenges. And the greatest barrier that we consistently see to spouse employment is childcare," Strong said.

"My husband's career advances and mine waits in the name of that we're doing this for our country," explained Kelcie Kleaver, a military spouse.

Stationed near her hometown from the beginning of her husband's military career, Kleaver had constant support from family. Then, they got orders for Kodiak, Alaska.

"My first thought was childcare...something we were fed was, Kodiak is the largest Coast Guard base in America, and because of that, they have a CDC (Childcare Development Center), they have a commissary, there's so many activities for children. And we looked through all of those things and we thought, this would be a really enriching environment for our kids, and we would have the support that we would no longer have being close to relatives," Kleaver said.

Initially, her younger son went to the base CDC, while she focused on finishing her counseling degree. Then, with no warning, everything changed.

"My husband was told your child is being removed from the CDC, not because of anything that we've done, but because they did not have the staff to keep him, and what they had done was pretty much put everybody on a priority list. So if you were a family where you were a single parent and you were a member, that put you high on the priority list; if you were a family, where both parents were a member that put you high on the priority list. I'm not in the Coast Guard and I don't have technically a full-time job. I am a full-time student with an internship, but that puts me very low on the totem pole," Kleaver told CBN News.

This priority framework reaches across all military childcare centers, but Kleaver says, that has put her family in a waitlist position that could continually be pushed back.

"I was very surprised to learn that even when staffing is up to par, my child will still be beat out by new families coming in because they have priority over me. So there really is a very low chance of my child returning to CDC for the rest of our time in Kodiak," she explained. 

Now, Kleaver keeps her child full-time, while still trying to finish her degree. 

"I've been pushing through and trying to schedule most of my hours for nighttime when my husband is home, and that is terribly hard because then I'm losing out on that time as a family. As soon as he comes home, I'm gone," said Kleaver. 

Both the Pentagon and Congress are seeking to relieve some of the burden on families. Efforts include solving staffing issues and providing subsidies to help cover childcare costs. If not addressed quickly, however, experts fear this one issue could put the sustainability of America's all-volunteer force on the line.

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