Dozens of Air Force Families Disenrolled from Day Care at New Mexico Base as Staffing Woes Grow
A memo from Holloman Air Force Base, shared with Military.com and verified by the base, was sent out to 53 families last week notifying them that, "due to the current and projected staffing shortages, the child development center will no longer be able to care for your child/children." The notice was sent out May 9, which coincidentally is recognized among the services as Military Spouse Appreciation Day.
"Child development centers traditionally face high turnover, and several recent departures due to [permanent change of station] season in conjunction with the hiring freeze and the post- hiring freeze exemption hiring process reduced the number of child care providers at Holloman AFB," Denise Ottaviano, a spokesperson for the base's 49th Wing, told Military.com in an emailed statement. Care is scheduled to stop May 23 for those who received the notice.
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The news that dozens of families at the rural New Mexico base are losing child care comes amid numerous other cases being reported at other Air Force and Space Force bases across the country, as well as the Navy telling Military.com that it is facing similar staffing issues.
The child care problems have been exacerbated, in part, by President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's push to cut the size of the civilian workforce and federal government.
As the Air Force struggles to provide the care amid staffing shortages, the Navy told Military.com in a statement Friday that "administrative delays had temporarily halted Navy [Child and Youth Program]'s ability to extend job offers and onboard new personnel."
The statement, provided by Destiny Sibert, a spokesperson for Navy Installations Command, said that, "while the Navy is in the process of filling vacant positions due to turnover or need for seasonal staff, military families may experience child care disruptions such as reduced capacity for summer camps, reduced operating hours for certain programs, canceled activities, disenrollment of lower prioritized families, suspension of before-school care, or a pause on new enrollments."
Navy officials didn't answer follow-up questions about where they expected the effects to be most severe.
For many military families, the on-base child and youth programs, as well as the child development centers, are often their primary option for such services. The rural southern New Mexico community of Alamogordo near Holloman Air Force Base is limited in such offerings, leaving military families just a couple of weeks to find a solution.
One military spouse at Holloman Air Force Base, who spoke on condition of anonymity to detail the on-base situation, told Military.com in an interview Tuesday that the notification to affected families was sudden and the short two-week window has left many scrambling.
"It was a shock," the spouse said. "Two or three months gives people kind of time to, you know, figure it out, a little bit of breathing room. They were just totally shocked and in panic."
Ottaviano said that priority 1B4 families -- military members with a full-time working spouse -- are being disenrolled.
The spouse who spoke to Military.com said they were not personally affected by the latest notice due to having off-base child care. But they said they had heard from more than half a dozen members of the Holloman community who are now having to make tough decisions about their careers, finances and care options due to the sudden change.
"One spouse went in person to a bunch of day cares, and they all had a two-year waitlist," the spouse told Military.com. "What I'm seeing is a lot of really, really tough decisions being made."
Holloman's 49th Force Support Squadron posted a statement Monday, just a few days following the notice to families, saying "they want to apologize" for the sudden notices.
"The level of care we could provide changed quickly last week, which resulted in a lag of open communication with you all before receiving your notices -- we're sorry," the Monday message read.
Air Force guidance requires at least 54 caregivers for the child development center, the 49th Force Support Squadron said. When staffing falls below 40 caregivers, youth programs are stopped to transfer more caregivers to the day care.
Amid the summer permanent change of station season, it was anticipated that staffing will drop even more.
"At this point, the decision was made to prioritize within DoD guidelines, the priority fills of mil-to-mil and single mil families," the Monday message read. "The child development center is focused on care for current children in the center and [has] not taken new children."
Trump's push to slash the size of the federal government since taking office has also included the military, with Hegseth pushing to cut 50,000 to 60,000 civilian jobs in the Defense Department. Hegseth also imposed a hiring freeze on civilian jobs in the department in late February.
The sudden cuts have exacerbated a variety of issues with child care across military bases.
Military.com has reported on the changes tied to staffing issues, including Hill Air Force Base in Utah disenrolling families and closing a child care center; closing an infant classroom at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado and stopping the child care waitlist at Fort Carson; and Eglin Air Force Base in Florida shortening its day care center hours.
Staffing at military child care centers had been a long-running issue for the services even before the Trump administration's freeze on government hiring and efforts to fire or remove thousands of employees.
Last year, Dr. Janet Hooten, the regional program manager for the child care centers in the Navy's southwest region, told Military.com that centers in California, Nevada and Arizona were about 73% staffed after the COVID-19 pandemic. While the service has made efforts to fill many of those jobs, as of last year, parents were still looking at monthslong wait times just to enroll a child.
Last year, Military.com also reported that the Army has its day cares staffed at only about 70%. Military officials have pointed to low wages and stressful working conditions as key hurdles.
Now, the Pentagon has stressed that child care workers have been exempt from the hiring freeze and shouldn't be affected. However, the uncertainty caused by the hiring freeze, resignations and firings in other parts of the military may be making it harder to hire new workers.
The 49th Force Support Squadron said it's "aggressively pursuing avenues of hiring where we can." The base is expanding the availability of Family Child Care, a program in which certified caregivers watch over children either on base or off base in their homes. The Holloman spouse told Military.com that those programs often take months to set up, due to needed vetting and certification of caregivers.
"Holloman AFB is aware of the stress this puts on military families," Ottaviano said. "We are working tirelessly to mitigate further impacts to our military members."
Related: Florida Air Force Base Reduces Child Care Hours as Pentagon Pares Down Workforce
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