The stress-provoking scramble is compounded by high demand and inflation that have pushed summer care expenses to an all-time high. A week of camp costs $530 on average in California, up nearly 18% from 2022, according to data from camp marketplace ActivityHero.

And unless money is no object, options are often scarce. Free and low-cost programs provided by school districts and cities aren’t open to everyone, and spots are limited. Plus, drop-off and pick-up times can vary at camps, upending schedules as parents figure out whether they can dash out of work a bit early or rely on friends for help.

“There’s this very obvious gap between what working families really need for their kids and the kinds of services that we have available to them,” said Hailey Gibbs, senior analyst for early-childhood policy at the Center for American Progress. “And we all sort of collectively shrug our shoulders and say, well, they’ll figure it out. And it really just doesn’t work that way.”

Cost has been a big barrier for Marisa Pizano, who reduced her summer course load at Cal State Channel Islands and switched to online classes in order to care for her three children. The preschool her twin daughters attend is closed during the summer months. Summer school at her son’s Fillmore elementary campus ends at noon and doesn’t span the full break.

Even now, in these first weeks of July, Pizano, 24, remains on the wait list at Child Development Resources of Ventura County, a nonprofit that helps connect families with child care, in the hopes of receiving a state voucher meant to supplement the cost of summer and after school care for low-income families. Last time, her oldest son aged out of the program before Pizano was able to secure help. Read the full article here.