A lack of widely available, affordable, quality child-care means that many women struggle to make ends meet, and are unable to give their children a quality lifestyle. Many women and children live in poverty, as a direct or indirect result of a lack of child-care. Good child-care helps families, and it also helps employers. Workers who are not concerned about child-care tend to have a healthy, positive attitude towards their work, and are also more productive and less likely to miss work. In 1990, almost half of all children in West Virginia under the age of six required some sort of child-care.
Most children go to family child-care.
West Virginia is one of only three states in the country that does not regulate family child-care provided for six or fewer children. In 1995, there were 288 state-licensed day care centers in West Virginia with 13,943 available slots for children, but only 1,624 slots for children under age two. Three counties had no licensed day care centers at all, and eighteen had no licensed centers providing care for children under age two. The Governor's Cabinet on Children and Families continues action in the way of quality child-care. Funds are now available to both early education facilities and care services for accreditation.