New law addresses lack of available, affordable child care

WASHINGTON — After Navy spouse Samantha Wilson moved from Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Japan, to Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Washington state in November 2018, she landed a job but needed child care for her 1-year-old daughter.

She signed up on the Defense Department’s MilitaryChildCare.com, but the website estimated it would take a year before her daughter, Emilia, could get a full-time spot at the base’s Child Development Center.

While Wilson was able to find a day care off base, the unsubsidized $1,200 per month cost forced her to make hard choices and defer paying down her student loans. The expensive day care, she said, was not even highly rated.

“I didn’t trust the day care, but it was day care,” she said. “They were able to have her all day.”

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