Summer spurs boom in backup day care

It happens to almost every working parent: The kids are sick. School, or a local park program, is canceled for the day. The regular baby sitter is out of town.

And before they know it, those parents are spending the better part of the morning watching Nickelodeon, instead of working.

In fact, parents miss work because of a breakdown in child care an average of seven days a year, according to one study. The problem peaks as schools close, affecting many working parents, not to mention employers already operating with small staffs.

In one three-month period during 1997, 29 percent of employed parents nationwide experienced some type of child-care breakdown that resulted in absenteeism, tardiness, and reduced concentration at work, according to a study of nearly 1,000 families by the Families and Work Institute in New York.

The institute also found that only 20 percent of working parents rely on day-care centers, where a corps of teachers make individual absences relatively insignificant. The remainder depend upon relatives and friends, which usually means they depend upon the health and availability of one person.

As a result, corporate backup care has become a hot item, even if a sluggish economy has slowed its growth, according to Judith Presser, senior consultant for WFD Consulting, which specializes in work and family issues.

Proponents say such care helps employers recruit and retain workers and can be cheaper than the costs associated with employee absenteeism.

"The pitch is, 'We will save you three to four dollars for every dollar you spend,'" said John Marvin, president and CEO of ChildrenFirst, a pioneer in corporate backup child care.

Founded 10 years ago, the Boston-based ChildrenFirst now runs some 30 care centers serving more than 260 companies nationwide, including General Mills, Target, and Bank One. It differs from traditional day-care centers that also provide backup or "drop-in" services in that it deals exclusively with emergency care.

The advantage, Mr. Marvin says, is that teachers are specially trained to help children adjust to a new place. Furthermore, instead of one child being placed with a dozen regulars, everyone is new.

The centers often "enroll" up to a few thousand youth - every young child of every employee. But because those children attend the center only when regular day care falls through, classrooms usually run well below capacity. Designing the centers to accommodate much more than the average daily demand allows for plenty of room during peak times, including the summer. Mr. Marvin says attendance doubles as school lets out.

In the rare occurrence that a classroom or center does reach maximum capacity, ChildrenFirst tries to move children to other centers nearby .

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