{"id":75262,"date":"2025-04-10T14:19:52","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T14:19:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2025\/04\/10\/military-child-care-centers-see-varying-effects-from-personnel-actions\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:48:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:48:42","slug":"military-child-care-centers-see-varying-effects-from-personnel-actions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/pay-benefits\/mil-money\/2025\/04\/10\/military-child-care-centers-see-varying-effects-from-personnel-actions\/","title":{"rendered":"Military child care centers see varying effects from personnel actions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Trump administration\u2019s efforts to cut the number of federal workers, including a hiring freeze, have resulted in various impacts on military child care centers, including the closure of one, according to service officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The child development center at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, has closed. No other centers have closed at Air Force, Army, Navy or Marine Corps bases, officials said, in response to Military Times\u2019 questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Child development centers \u201ctraditionally face high turnover, and several recent departures in conjunction with the hiring freeze reduced the number of supervisors and trainers\u201d at Hill AFB, Air Force officials stated. Air Force child development centers are staffed with employees paid by appropriated funds, which are taxpayer dollars, as well as non-appropriated funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although military child and youth programs were exempted from the hiring freeze in mid-March<\/a>, there was uncertainty when the freeze was first implemented. As a result, some child care centers have struggled to recover from those initial pauses in hiring. The country has long faced a shortage of child care workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Air Force now has an exemption for its child care centers from the Defense Department hiring freeze, but the hiring, on-boarding and training process takes time, officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Air Force\u2019s appropriated-fund employees weren\u2019t exempt from the Deferred Resignation Program, which allowed some Defense Department civilians to resign while receiving full pay and benefits through September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impact on child care centers, if any, varies from installation to installation, Air Force officials said. It also depends on how quickly the centers can hire new personnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado, officials will close one of their infant rooms on Friday because of the staffing issues, said a Space Base Delta 1 spokesperson. The closure is necessary to maintain an appropriate ratio of caregivers for children, to ensure the children\u2019s safety and well being, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are working through hiring freeze exemptions as quickly as possible,\u201d he said, adding that the base would work with affected families to return to the main CDC as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peterson officials asked eight families to voluntarily transfer their infants to an off-base, licensed, accredited child care center at no additional cost, through their Community Contracted Child Care program. Peterson launched the program in 2023 to address the high demand for child care at the base, and through March of this year, had reduced the waitlist by 150 children.<\/p>\n\n\n\t