While approximately 500 children, ages 0-5, reside in Kit Carson County, there are only 39 licensed childcare spots; in our society, 70% of moms work, leaving roughly 300 children who need childcare without licensed childcare availability. The number of local childcare home providers in Burlington has been steadily decreasing over the past several years, and those that provide home care are limited to the number of children they can serve. Several of our long-time childcare home providers are nearing retirement age and they express worry about how they will be able to phase-out of providing childcare with the current state of the local childcare market.
An analysis of neighboring counties’/cities’ childcare capacities showed that Burlington and Kit Carson County are well below virtually all of our neighbors. Towns with childcare centers include Idalia, Wray, Hugo/Limon, Yuma, Holyoke/Haxton, Akron, Lamar, Fort Morgan/Brush and Sterling. Generally speaking, these centers are full with waiting lists while their communities also support a number of home childcare providers. Our neighboring Kansas towns boast substantially higher home childcare capacity.
The Survey
In November 2021, BCCP conducted a community survey to assess the public opinion and need of building a childcare center in Burlington. Of the 210 survey respondents, 73% answered that the current need for a childcare center in Burlington is “Very High” and 10% answered “High”.
While the majority of the respondents have children in their home and are in the child-bearing/raising years, 63% said that they have struggled to find childcare in the last 5 years. 59% answered that in their home, a parent has had to take a child to work with them due to lack of childcare in the last 5 years, and 57% stated that in their household a parent has had to reduce hours on the job due to lack of or unreliable childcare. 29% said that a parent has had to quit their job due to unreliable childcare while 25% of the respondents have intentionally spaced out having children due to a fear of not finding childcare. And most concerning, 18% have left their children in a care situation that they felt was potentially unsafe or unhealthy due to lack of childcare options.
32% of the respondents said that in the past 5 years, their business has been negatively impacted by employees having childcare struggles. 84% agreed that if there were a childcare center in Burlington, parents/guardians would have more flexibility to participate in the workforce or other obligations as desired and 76% agreed that their children would be in a healthy and safe environment while attending a childcare center in Burlington.
To summarize, 70% of the survey respondents agreed that a childcare center in Burlington would improve health and well-being of young children as well as parents in our community, would attract young families to live and work in our community, would positively impact the local economy, allowing mothers, fathers and caregivers more flexibility within the workforce, helping our community to thrive for generations to come.
While it is hasty to imply potential enrollment numbers based on the survey, it did indicate an extremely high interest level, indicating 116 drop-ins, 109 part-time, 103 full-time, 64 early-hours (before school), 62 late hours (after school). A different survey question determined a childcare center enrollment interest for 35 infants, 46 toddlers, 40 preschool age, and 50 school age. The survey also showed 45 families being interested in childcare for school aged children specifically on Fridays. 
