Zero to 60
In early March, Laura returned to work after the birth of her second child. She was just getting back on track from her parental leave and things seemed normal. But things were not normal. Buzz was building quickly about COVID. By mid-March, Bright Horizons, our partner in operating and managing UCSF’s child care centers, acted quickly to adjust services, closing most centers nation-wide except those providing services for health care organizations like UCSF’s.
Most UCSF child care center parents, about 75%, pulled their children out of the centers in March to stay home, but UCSF’s centers remained open to serve essential on-site employees. At the same time, Family Services and Bright Horizons worked to expand the population they had been serving to include UCSF essential on-site workers’ children who weren’t already enrolled, by offering back-up slots and short-term enrollment opportunities to those in need of child care. In April there were about 160 kids enrolled in child care, and the vast majority of families are UCSF faculty and staff from the School of Medicine and UCSF Health–including many dual-health care parents.
Bumps in the road
With enrollment down, Kirkland and Lucia, two smaller child care facilities at Parnassus, were temporarily closed and families were given the option to transfer to the larger Laurel Heights and Mission Bay centers. Some families were understandably sad about the temporary closure. The shelter-in-place orders happened quickly and it was a confusing time for everyone. Many families weren't prepared to not get back to the centers for months and didn’t even bring home their items from their children’s cubbies.
Laura feels like this pandemic is the hardest thing most working parents have ever had to go through. It’s already difficult for parents to feel successful balancing work and home, and COVID has amplified the challenges, whether they go on-site to work or are attempting to work from home without child care.
Kids are also confused and anxious, and it can be challenging for parents to talk to kids about the pandemic when there is so much that is unknown. Why is this happening? How long? Their understanding varies based on their age. Laura’s three-year-old daughter thought they had to stay home because all the other kids at her school were sick.
