Childcare facilities ready for parents to head back to work

SALINAS, Calif. (KION) Under Monterey County's shelter-in-place order, childcare facilities are open, but not just for frontline workers.

Destiny Sandoval lives with her cousin, who's still going into work at an auto parts store during the pandemic. So Sandoval goes to the YMCA in Salinas.

I’ve learned a whole bunch of things," Sandoval said. "I’ve learned to stay six feet. I didn’t know we were supposed to until I came here."

The YMCA is taking extra precautions to care for kids like her.

"They each get their own pencil box when they come in and it stays with them," Salinas YMCA Youth Development Director Mikayla Spooner said. "Those supplies are cleaned at the end of the day."

And Sandoval is in good company. All the kids at the facility still have parents physically working away from their homes.

“So those real everyday heroes,” Spooner said. "Those are the kids that we have."

The YMCA considers anyone working right now "essential," especially as shelter-in-place orders ease and more people head back to work.

“We’re definitely expecting more," Spooner said. "We’ve accepted more applications, we’ve gotten more financial assistance applications, as well.”

And plenty of other childcare facilities are also open for anyone working right now. The state has an online portal that shows you all of the ones in the region. On it, you can find larger facilities as well as smaller ones in family homes.

"Child services have been calling me, asking me if I have space," child caregiver Faye Ferranti. "I’ve been telling them, 'yes.'"

But still, many of these facilities say they've only had a small portion of kids coming in over the last few weeks.

"I’m sure people are afraid," Ferranti said. "They’re afraid."