Kid Care Report: DCF reports daycare closures in Northeast Florida

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Several local daycares are temporarily closed in Duval, Clay and Nassau counties. In this week’s Kid Care report Action News Jax Anchor Letisha Bereola obtained a list from the Department of Children and Families of centers that have closed for various reasons. Some have since re-opened.

82 local early learning child care centers have reported to the Department of Children and Families they are closed temporarily. Many of them share a similar closure date of mid-March when COVID-19 forced a nationwide shutdown of schools and daycares. Three months later some of their doors are still closed.

On the list is Alpha Omega Learning Center on the Westside. Bereola talked to the owner Marieka Richards. She shut down the center in March and opened back up in May. Richards closed her doors again after, she says, her center was exposed to COVID-19. Richards re-opened for a second time on June 29th.

“And the reason why we chose to re-open is because I literally had a parent telling me that she was taking her children and sitting in them in lobby at UF Shands while she went to work. Because she had no care and no family here,” said Richards.

Richards says her center is losing money but her saving grace is small business loans from the federal and state government. Richards says she understands parents face a tough decision for child care and hopes her small business can get survive.

Resouces: healthychildren.org

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