SALT LAKE CITY — With her third child due in just weeks, Brea Kunz says the biggest question on her mind is not labor, diapers, or sleepless nights.
It’s child care.
“There’s not any room for her right now,” Kunz said, talking about her unborn daughter. “I may have to be out of work until September.”
Kunz is 34 weeks pregnant, raising two young children, and working as a server while largely parenting on her own.
At a neighborhood park in Salt Lake City, she watched her kids play while talking about the pressure she says is building as her due date gets closer.
“It feels like I can’t focus on my kids as much as I want,” Kunz said. “It’s hard, and it’s stressful.”
Kunz said she found support through Ohana Beginnings, a nonprofit working with mothers through parenting classes, baby supplies, mentoring and other resources.
She said those services have helped her prepare for baby number three.
But what they have not solved is finding infant care.
Kunz said some child care providers have told her waitlists for infants can run three to six months, meaning even after maternity leave, there is no guarantee she will have a safe place for her baby while she works.
“September was like a lowball,” she said.
If she cannot get back to work, Kunz said the financial impact could be immediate.
“We’re just facing homelessness,” she said. “We’re facing bills not being paid.”
Kunz’s story is one Ohana Beginnings founder Sherrie Allen said she is hearing more and more.
Allen said the organization is seeing mothers who are ready to work, go back to school, or rebuild stability — but who hit a wall when it comes to child care.
“It’s an absolute stop,” Allen said. “These women can’t go to work.”
Now Allen says Ohana wants to move beyond temporary support and build a long-term solution.
The nonprofit is working to open an early childhood development center near Horizonte Instruction and Training Center in Salt Lake City’s Ballpark neighborhood.
Allen said the location was chosen because of new family housing planned in the area, its proximity to Horizonte, and what she sees as a growing need among young families and working parents.
“If we can get the space, it could alleviate hundreds — literally — of families,” Allen said.
Allen said the organization’s biggest challenge right now is not staffing, but space.
She said Ohana already has licensed professionals prepared to help run the center but needs a facility partner, building space, or donors to move forward.
Allen estimates a center between 10,000 and 12,000 square feet could eventually serve more than 500 children, depending on licensing and classroom layout.
According to Utah Children’s Mapping Care for Kids report, only about 2 in 5 Utah families who need licensed child care have access to it.
In Salt Lake County, licensed child care currently meets about 45% of the need, placing the county among Utah’s child-care deserts.
State Rep. Mark Strong said solving the shortage may require communities to think differently about space.
Strong said schools, businesses, nonprofits, and neighborhoods could work together to create child care closer to where families already live, work, and study.
“Ten businesses… and they all need one or two or three slots, and they work together,” Strong said, describing the type of partnerships he believes could help close the gap.
For Kunz, the need is more immediate.
Her baby is due soon.
The waitlists could last months.
And for now, she said, going back to work may have to wait.
