Parents question YMCA decision to close Cook County childcare program as families seek alternative care

Several parents are questioning how the Lake Superior YMCA reached its decision to close the Cook County childcare program, citing concerns about communication and difficulty finding alternative care for their young children.

The YMCA announced it would close the program by Dec. 31, ending a service that has provided licensed childcare in Cook County for more than a decade. The decision follows years of lower enrollment, staffing challenges, and an ongoing effort to transition to a family childcare license, said Emily Marshall, vice president of early childhood education at the Lake Superior YMCA.

In written comments shared with WTIP after receiving the closure announcement on Oct. 9 from YMCA officials, parents said they were disheartened by the decision and would have welcomed a chance to help explore alternatives to the closure.

“Parents would have happily worked with the YMCA to find a better solution than closure, but were never approached,” Keith Bergeron, the parent of one child currently enrolled in the program, wrote.

Lake Superior YMCA officials have pointed to declining enrollment and a “changing childcare landscape in Cook County” as factors in the closure, according to a press release and interviews with WTIP. Bergeron, however, said he believes changes to the program over time, including higher fees, reduced operating hours, and the elimination of part-time childcare spots, contributed to the YMCA’s current circumstances.

Earlier this year, the YMCA worked to transition from a childcare center license, which allowed the organization to serve up to 42 children, to a family childcare license. The family childcare license lowered the maximum allowed capacity to 10 children. At the time of the license transition, 13 children were enrolled in the program.

Marshall said the proposed change aimed to continue providing care at a smaller scale as enrollment declined and staffing became more difficult. Although the center had once operated at full capacity with a waitlist, enrollment fell substantially after the COVID-19 pandemic and hasn’t returned to the levels that require a childcare center license, Marshall said.

“We’ve been licensed for 42 since 2017, but we have been operating at like 25% of that,” Marshall said.

At the time of the closure announcement, six children were enrolled in the program, all under age three.

When the YMCA considered a license transition, officials consulted parents and sought input.

“This summer, parents were asked to come in person to be assured about the strength of the program, despite changes to its license,” a parent who wanted to remain anonymous told WTIP. “We were told that the change would make staffing easier and could even lead to expanded hours.”

The parent said communication differed when the YMCA announced the closure.

“When it was time to close the program, we were sent an email on a Friday night,” the parent said.

Cook County YMCA building

Staff recruitment and retention remained ongoing challenges for the YMCA childcare program, Marshall said, despite wage increases, bonuses, and other incentives meant to attract and retain childcare workers. Earlier this summer, the YMCA’s childcare staffing changed, with one employee retiring and another no longer working in the program. Marshall said efforts to recruit staff have been unsuccessful.

Marshall said the YMCA contacted families on its waiting list in an effort to increase enrollment, but some declined available spots because they had made other childcare arrangements or were not yet ready to enroll.

The ages of the remaining children also factored into the decision, Marshall said. By the end of the year, four of the six children remaining in the program would be considered preschool-age under the proposed family childcare license, potentially making them eligible for preschool spots if available in the community. The shift would further reduce the number of younger children needing care through the program.

“Unfortunately, we’re coming to a crossroads here where we’re running out of options to keep it sustainable, and it’s not the outcome that we would have hoped for,” Marshall said. “But the decision had to be made by the end of the year due to some other transitions with kids’ age categories and things like that that are determined by licensing.”

Parents who responded to WTIP said the decision has left them concerned about care availability in Cook County, particularly for infants and toddlers.

One family that has used the YMCA program for more than three years said they feel both “heartbroken and angry” about the closure.

“We feel like the Lake Superior YMCA has failed Cook County families,” a parent who wanted to remain anonymous wrote.

The parent said families and community members could have helped explore alternatives if they had been given an opportunity to participate in those discussions.

“This community is passionate and resourceful. If we had been given a chance to help find a solution to keep the daycare open, we would have,” the parent wrote. “There is a clear need for more childcare in Cook County. We know this because we are currently unable to find another spot for our 20-month-old.”

Another parent who spoke with WTIP questioned the YMCA’s decision-making process and expressed concern about the closure’s impact on families.

“The YMCA is a taxpayer-funded institution, and to unilaterally make the decision to close without consulting affected families, the community, or staff is unconscionable,” the parent wrote.

The parent also questioned whether the organization’s decision-makers fully understood the effects of losing childcare on working families.

“The executives who make these financial calculations can not fully appreciate the trickle-down effect of their decisions, and how parents who provide community resources are faced with impossible decisions when childcare is lost,” the parent wrote.

Marshall told WTIP she acknowledged that finding replacement care for children 24 months and younger will be particularly difficult. She said the YMCA’s decision to close in a couple of months at the end of the year would potentially help a couple of the currently enrolled children reach the 24-month category that “they would be eligible for a preschool spot.”

However, on Tuesday, Oct. 13, the YMCA notified parents that the childcare program would close Oct. 30, due to a recent staffing change, according to a message shared with WTIP.

“Given the recent changes in our staffing situation and anticipated enrollment, we have had to make an adjustment to the closure timeline. Our final day of care will now be Friday, October 30, 2026,” YMCA officials said in the message.

The updated timeline has left families scrambling to find childcare coverage by the end of the month.

“Our last day of childcare is two weeks away, and despite looking into all potential options, I don’t know what we are going to do,” Bergeron said.

Marshall said she described the closure as a very difficult decision, noting that she helped establish the Cook County childcare program in 2015 and that her own children attended it.

“I do understand the real difficulty that families may have finding other care, especially the youngest ones in our community,” Marshall said. “And so, I just want to reiterate how passionate I am about that program and how difficult of a decision this was.”

Marshall said that, looking ahead, the YMCA is not currently planning to reopen the childcare program. She said future changes in the local child population, workforce availability, regulations, or funding could affect the organization’s ability to provide care in the future.

For now, Marshall said the organization plans to use the classroom spaces that were used for the childcare program for other youth and YMCA programming.

The closure of the Cook County childcare program comes amid ongoing challenges to childcare availability, particularly for infants and toddlers in the county. Parents who spoke with WTIP said they are struggling to find alternative care, with some unsure where they will turn when the program closes.

Marshall said the YMCA’s executive director has shared county resources with families impacted by the closure to help them explore other childcare options.

Kalli Hawkins October 15, 2026