Missouri Army Reserves’ Top Childcare Choice For Drill

It’s a few weeks before your next battle assembly. While you may look forward to attending drill, you can’t help but worry about who is going to watch your children. You already missed drill last month because you couldn’t find reliable childcare and you really can’t afford to miss another drill. You’re hoping to continue your job in the Army Reserves but it feels impossible to advance in your career when there is always the looming stress of childcare.

The situation described above is one that happens all too often for families in the Army Reserves. Finding childcare to cover two twelve hour days over the weekends can be quite difficult to come by. There are a few avenues parents often take when it comes to childcare for drill. Let’s break down their options below:

1. THE BABYSITTER & NANNY ROUTE

This option seems the most straightforward when thinking of needing weekend childcare. That said, babysitters and nannies come at a price and a high one at that. According to Parents.com, the average babysitter in Missouri costs $17.88 per hour. Although some parents have the privilege of traveling to and from drill from their homes each day, many are traveling hours to their battle assemblies. For example, Soldiers traveling from Branson in the southwest area of the state to Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis have a 4 hour drive to attend their battle assembly. This would mean, they’d either have overnight care or a babysitter near the Reserve center and a hotel room for two nights. Both of these options would cost families hundreds of dollars often surpassing the battle assembly pay..

2. THE FAMILY MEMBER DILEMMA

For Soldiers with family nearby who are willing to watch their kids while attending drill, the family option seems like a no-brainer, right? Whether it’s a spouse, grandparent, or aunt/uncle, family members are often willing to support them once a month.

However, there is a large population of soldiers in Missouri who either:

• Don’t want to feel like they are burdening their families with childcare.
• Don’t have the option of relying on family members.

There are single parents with no family nearby, dual-military Army Reservists who both are attending drill, or maybe they have a spouse who works the weekends. It’s quite easy to immediately think of family as being the “childcare’, but more often than not this isn’t really an option.

Program parent and St. Joseph, Missouri resident Staff Sgt. Erin Lookhart had his own set of struggles when it came to childcare. His wife worked weekends and often had to use up her vacation time to watch their toddler while he attended battle assembly. The vacation days added up and over time “[we] weren’t able to take vacation time together because she’s spent her PTO days watching our kiddo”.

3. MISSOURI’S LATEST MILITARY CHILDCARE PROGRAM

Just last year, a new option for Army Reservists in Missouri came on the scene. The program was established through an Intergovernmental Support Agreement between Clay County, Missouri and West Liberty, Iowa, who competitively chose Upwards to assist them in providing childcare for U.S. Army Reserve soldiers during their training days. In order to alleviate both the stress of finding care that’s actually available on the weekends and offsetting the costs that come with it, Upwards has spearheaded a program to do just that.

FROM JEFFERSON BARRACKS TO FORT LEONARD WOOD, YOU’RE COVERED FOR:

• BATTLE ASSEMBLIES

• ANNUAL TRAININGS

• EMERGENCY DEPLOYMENTS

   

The Upwards Childcare Pilot Program was created to assist Army Reservists with childcare during their training periods. It provides coverage for Soldiers who either live or drill in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois and Central/Northern California. The covered training periods include battle assemblies, annual training, and emergency deployments, as long as they live or conduct drills in a qualifying state.

In just two minutes, Army Reserve families will immediately be able to see their eligibility status.Upon signing up, an Upwards Dedicated Care Manager will contact families to hear more about their individual childcare needs and begin the process of matching families with childcare providers near home, drill location or anywhere in between. All providers in the pilot program are Missouri state-licensed, vetted and insured.

Whether you’re looking to schedule drill childcare a few months out or need childcare this weekend, Upwards is happy to help! Head over to the Missouri Army Reserve childcare program page to get started.