Team for West Virginia Children and the West Virginia Association for Young Children have announced new updates to the Mapping the Gap: West Virginia Child Care Access Dashboard, a first-of-its-kind tool launched in 2023 to provide real-time insight into child care supply and demand across the state.
The dashboard was created to shine a light on the persistent challenges families face in finding child care, particularly in rural communities. Since its launch, it has become a trusted resource for policymakers, child advocates, and families to better understand where gaps exist and how access to care is changing over time.
Key Updates in 2025:
The newly updated data, current as of this month, reveal several concerning trends:
- Decline in Family Child Care (FCC) providers: About 1 in 6 Family Child Care homes (an individual who provides regular, ongoing child care for a small group of children in their own private home) have closed since last year, declining by 15.6 percent from 918 Family Child Care Homes in January 2024 to just 775 today. This decline hits rural areas especially hard.
- Persistent access gaps: While some counties such as Marshall and Roane have made progress in reducing their child care access gaps, others, including Preston and Barbour, have seen the gaps widen significantly.
- Counties most under-resourced: Wood, Kanawha and Berkeley have the most total children without access, according to the model. Tyler, Ritchie, Wetzel, Doddridge, and Pleasants counties continue to face the most severe shortages of child care slots per capita.
- High percentages of children without care: In counties such as Wetzel, Calhoun, and Clay, the majority of children under six with working parents still lack access to licensed child care.
These findings are reinforced by county-by-county data, allowing state and local leaders to better see where progress is being made and where urgent intervention is needed.
In Greenbrier County, numbers from the dashboard show that there are 1,242 children in the county under the age of six, and of those 1,242, there are 647 who need but cannot access childcare. There are 34 providers serving infants, toddlers, and pre-K students, with a total licensing capacity of 599 children in that age range.
“These numbers tell a story we can’t ignore,” said Jim McKay, Director of Prevent Child Abuse West Virginia, a project of Team for WV Children. “When child care providers close their doors, families lose more than a service – they lose stability, opportunity, and peace of mind. The data shows that this problem isn’t going away–it is only getting worse. Without meaningful action and policy changes, more children and families are going to fall through the cracks.”
Kristy Ritz, Executive Director of the West Virginia Association for Young Children, added: “The dashboard makes clear what families already know: access to child care in West Virginia is uneven, and too many children are left without options. Policymakers have the opportunity – and responsibility – to use this data to strengthen the workforce, support providers, and ensure every child has the care they need to thrive.”
About the Dashboard
The Mapping the Gap: Child Care Access Dashboard was launched in 2023 through a partnership between Team for West Virginia Children, the West Virginia Association for Young Children, and Child Care Aware of America, which provided expertise and support in building the tool. The dashboard draws on state data updated regularly, with new enhancements allowing for near real-time tracking of changes in child care access and availability. By combining state-level data with Child Care Aware’s proven methodology, the dashboard gives West Virginians a clear picture of where the greatest child care needs exist.
The dashboard is available to the public at teamwv.org/childcaremap.
