New Report Finds Child Care Challenges Are Affecting Indian River County’s Families, Employers and Economic Growth

The Florida Chamber Foundation’s Florida Business Alliance for Early Learning, in partnership with Childcare Resources of Indian River, released the new Indian River County Early Learning Landscape Analysis and Roadmap examining the childcare challenges facing Indian River County families, early learning providers, educators, and employers.

The Florida Business Alliance for Early Learning brings Florida business leaders and community partners together to strengthen early learning and literacy outcomes, build Florida’s future workforce, and advance the Florida 2030 Blueprint goals of 100% kindergarten readiness and third-grade reading proficiency.

The new report makes clear that childcare is not only a family issue. It is a workforce and economic development issue that affects parents’ ability to work, employers’ ability to recruit and retain employees, and whether children enter school prepared to succeed.

“The data tells us where the challenges are, but it also points to where we can make progress,” said Mark Wilson, President and CEO of the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Foundation. “Because we have to build the workforce Florida needs to compete in a global economy, we simply must make sure families have access to quality early learning and childcare. Indian River County has an opportunity to bring business, community, and education leaders together to address these challenges and strengthen the talent pipeline for the future. As I’ve said before, if we fix early learning, we fix 1,000 other things.”

The analysis found that Indian River County families face interconnected challenges involving the availability and affordability of care, limited awareness of financial assistance, and an early learning workforce under increasing pressure.

Among the report’s findings:

• Sixty-five percent of responding childcare providers maintain a waitlist, with a combined 466 children waiting for care.
• Among surveyed parents who identified a specific barrier to finding care, 62% cited a lack of available slots.
• Fifty-eight percent of surveyed parents identified childcare costs relative to overall household expenses as a financial challenge.
• Seventy-eight percent of surveyed parents receive no financial assistance, and only 27% were aware of School Readiness, Florida’s primary childcare subsidy.
• Thirty-two percent of surveyed early learning educators seriously considered leaving the field during the past year, and 38% work a second job.
• Fifty-five percent of Indian River County kindergartners were not yet demonstrating kindergarten readiness on the Fall 2025 assessment.

“The opportunity before the community is not simply to address childcare challenges, but to strengthen the foundation for lifelong learning, economic mobility and regional prosperity,” said Shannon McGuire Bowman, Executive Director of Childcare Resources of Indian River.

The report also identifies significant pressure within infant and toddler care. Infant rooms among responding providers are operating at 96% of reported capacity, while toddler enrollment exceeds reported capacity. Providers cited classroom space and the ability to recruit qualified infant and toddler teachers as major barriers to expanding care.

“For employers, these challenges in the childcare system can translate into absenteeism, turnover, scheduling difficulties, and a smaller available workforce, said Katy Healy, Senior Vice President at Northern Trust Wealth Management and Florida Business Alliance for Early Learning Member. “The report identifies several ways businesses can help, including flexible scheduling, employee childcare assistance, partnerships with local providers, reserved childcare slots, and use of the Florida Child Care Tax Credit.” Fewer than 1% of Indian River County employers currently use the tax credit.

The findings reinforce the Florida Business Alliance for Early Learning’s focus on engaging employers as active partners in improving early learning outcomes. Businesses can help employees find and afford care while investing in the early learning system that supports Florida’s long-term talent pipeline and economic competitiveness.

The report recommends a coordinated community response focused on six priorities:

1. Strengthening and sustaining the early learning workforce
2. Building a community-based behavioral health support system
3. Creating a seamless family navigation experience
4. Closing remaining affordability gaps for ALICE families
5. Expanding infant and toddler capacity where shortages are greatest
6. Building bilingual early educator pipelines

The report also calls for a cross-sector Early Learning Leadership Table and an annual Employer Child Care Roundtable to bring businesses, providers, educators, philanthropy, government and families together around shared priorities and measurable results.

“This is not a challenge any one organization or sector can solve alone,” Wilson said. “Employers must have a role to play because dependable childcare is essential to a dependable and productive workforce. The Florida Business Alliance for Early Learning is helping ensure business leaders have access to the data, tools, and community partnerships needed to be part of the solution.”

The Indian River County Early Learning Landscape Analysis and Roadmap draws on parent, provider, and educator surveys, public data, demographic and socioeconomic analysis, and national best practices. Survey findings represent participating respondents and should not be interpreted as a complete count of every family or provider in the county.

Click here to read the full report and learn more about early learning resources in Indian River County.