News

April 1, 2010 

Oklahoma City, OK—The Oklahoma Child Care Resource & Referral Association, Inc., has announced the update of the county data for the Oklahoma Child Care and Early Education Portfolio, a detailed compilation of information and statistics depicting the status of child care in Oklahoma. With such factors as need, availability, cost and quality, this website brings together into one resource, extensive information to assist civic leaders and child care advocates in the assessment and improvement of options for working parents and their children. Most of the data for the 2009 State Profile has not altered much from the previous year.

This is the first time the county profiles have been updated online.  For the first time last year, the county profiles were online with a print copy of the Executive Summary.  Previous year’s data has been published in biennial books with the first having been produced in 2003. While previous editions have included a printed version of an Executive Summary, the 2009 update has only been done for the online county profiles and data tables.  The data for individual counties is available online at www.okchildcareportfolio.org. 

In Oklahoma, over 58 percent of all children under five live in homes where either both parents work or a single parent works to support the family. Furthermore, nearly 416,000 children age 12 years and younger need some form of child care while their parents work to make financial ends meet. Although the cost of child care typically equals or exceeds other major family budget items, such as rent or mortgage, only about nine percent of Oklahoma’s children needing care receive state assistance.  

 More than 46 percent of Oklahoma’s licensed child care facilities provide high quality care with a learning-enriched environment, as indicated by a two- or three-star rating in the state’s “Reaching for the Stars” rating system. This number has increased by more than 15 percent since the first publication in 2003.  Because studies have shown that 90 percent of human brain growth occurs in the earliest years, any child care environment should be enriched with age-appropriate educational activities that develop each child’s capabilities for school, future employability and life in a complex society.

“As Oklahoma’s leading voice for child care we have to ensure that we equip people with the information to know how child care is changing in our state and help them to identify and address the relevant issues,” said Paula Koos, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Child Care Resource & Referral Association. “Before our Association began producing child care portfolios, parents, social service professionals, community leaders and others seeking to examine the problem had to compile information from multiple sources and try to make rational sense of it. The Child Care Portfolio data has been found to save everyone a great deal of time because we pull data together from many different sources into one place.  We encourage parents, child care providers, legislators, community leaders, advocates, and other community organizations to go online, at www.okchildcareportfolio.org, and become familiar with the state of child care in their community.” 

ABOUT OKLAHOMA CHILD CARE RESOURCE & REFERRAL ASSOCIATIONThe Oklahoma Child Care Resource & Referral Association, Inc., is a private, not-for-profit organization established in 1999 that coordinates the statewide network of community-based child care resource and referral agencies. The Association serves families in their search for appropriate care; assists child care providers in their efforts to establish and operate licensed facilities with qualified staff; and advises employers about cost-efficient ways to help employees with their child care needs.  One of the Association’s primary responsibilities is to collect, analyze and report data about child care demand, availability, quality and cost within Oklahoma’s communities and statewide.