Parents are scrambling to find childcare for their children during the federal government shutdown due to childcare services not receiving federal funding.

Diane Rogers, the executive director of Action Pact, said they had to close 15 early childhood education facilities due to not receiving federal funds that were supposed to be paid on Nov. 1. Action Pact is a Head Start provider in rural, southeast Georgia.

They asked for a guarantee that they would be reimbursed if they continued to provide services, but no one could give them that, Roger said. One month’s payroll for Action Pact’s Head Start programs is around $750,000.

“That’s a huge debt to take on unless you know you’re going to get reimbursed. We’re a private nonprofit. We don’t have that kind of money laying around,” Rogers said.

The closure impacts 548 children, and 187 employees have been furloughed. According to WABE, Action Pact Head Start facilities serve the following counties in South and Central Georgia: Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Brantley, Candler, Charlton, Clinch, Coffee, Jeff Davis, Pierce, Toombs and Ware.

Rogers is concerned about food insecurity, parents losing their jobs due to having to stay home with their children, and negative impacts on children’s development. One in four childcare slots in the area Action Pact serves is a Head Start seat, she said.

“We do a lot more than just play with blocks and play outside,” she said. “Children that need it receive specialized therapy.”

They have been working with Quality Care for Children and Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students to help parents find assistance during this lapse in services, Rogers said.

Juanita Yancey, the Executive Officer of the Georgia Head Start Association, said families across the state depend on Head Start for services. Georgia Head Start programs serve more than 25,000 children up to age 5 and their families, according to the Georgia Head Start Association website.

“Programs are doing everything possible to keep their doors open, but they cannot run a program on reserves and goodwill, so everyday of inaction is another day of uncertainty for the families who count on Head Start,” Yancey said. “Children can’t pause their development for political gridlock, and we need Congress and the president to take action now.”

Some Head Start programs have been able to find assistance to keep their doors open during the shutdown. The Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta and other funding partners provided an $8 million emergency loan to Georgia’s largest Head Start providers in order for them to stay open another 45 days.

Donna Davidson, CEO of Easterseals North Georgia, told The Imprint that her nonprofit was fortunate to receive an emergency loan to remain open.

“These are our children, we care deeply about what happens to them,” Davidson told The Imprint. “At the end of the day, families are the collateral damage of all this. It’s not right.”

The YMCA of Metro Atlanta, Easterseals of North Georgia, and Sheltering Arms serve more than 6,500 children and their families.

However, Action Pact’s Head Start programs in rural Georgia have not been so lucky.

“To my knowledge, we’re the only program in the state that had to shut down. We don’t have lots of foundations down here,” Rogers said. “We’re kind of at a place now where we don’t know what else to do.”

Action Pact accepts donations on their website at myactionpact.org.