NEW ULM — A special informational meeting was held at the CAST Senior Center/New Ulm Community Center Thursday for senior citizens looking to serve as daycare substitutes.
New Ulm, Minnesota and the United States at large are facing a shortage of daycare providers. For years, the New Ulm Economic Development Authority (EDA) has attempted to find methods of alleviating the shortage. Without adequate childcare, many parents are unable to return to the workforce, creating a worker shortage. The EDA has found limited daycare is an obstacle in businesses coming to the community or expanding.
Growing the number of daycare providers and maintaining current daycare providers has become a top priority.
Recently Mayor Terry Sveine suggested recruiting senior citizens to serve as daycare substitutes. In the event a regular daycare provider needed to take a few hours off for personal business, they could search a database of available senior substitutes who could fill in for them.
“Many providers need a substitute,” Sveine said. He learned of one provider who no longer had an active driver’s license because she did not have available time during working hours to renew her license.
There are other times where a provider could use a substitute to attend medical appointments or even complete routine paperwork. A substitute could help fill much need gaps in the system.
Sveine said it wouldn’t solve all the daycare programs but it could help maintain current providers.
Sveine believes senior citizens are in a unique position to help as substitutes. He currently watches his grandson multiple days a week and believes other seniors would be interested in helping watch young people.
Any senior substitute would receive hourly pay from the providers, when and if they work. Depending on the provider, this would be $10 to $20 an hour.
The meeting at the Community Center included childcare specialists from Brown County Human Services to provide seniors with the information they needed to become a substitute.
Daycare licensing supervisor Laura Filzen explained any substitute would require a background check. Minnesota also requires substitute caregivers to take training before caring for kids. This training includes CPR courses, Sudden Unexpected Infant Death prevention and other basic training. Substitute training does require ongoing training. Some training is annual and other training is every two years. New Ulm EDA has already agreed to cover the costs of this training.
Anyone interested in joining the daycare senior sub program can contact the Brown County Licensors Office at Human Services. Licensors can assist with getting started.
A following informational meeting will be scheduled within the next few weeks for those unable to attend Thursday’s meeting.
