BATON ROUGE, Louisiana – October 14, 2026 A new report by the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children reveals that nearly 8,000 children in Louisiana are on a waiting list for child care assistance. The report, titled ‘Missing Piece,’ states that one in three parents in Louisiana have had to cut their work hours due to inability to find child care, and 17% have had to quit their jobs altogether. The report is available at policyinstitutela.org.
Dafnee Chatman, a mother of four from Baton Rouge, works 40 to 60 hours a week and has struggled for years to find reliable child care while balancing work and raising her children, including a 15-year-old, an 8-year-old, and twin 6-year-olds. Chatman said access to Head Start and local daycare centers enabled her to return to school and secure a job as the Louisiana state manager for Save the Children Action Network.
Her twins, born premature, began Early Head Start at around 8 months old and were developmentally delayed at the time but have since progressed to reading and writing at a first-grade level. Libbie Sonnier, CEO of the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children, stated that serving the majority of at-risk children in Louisiana from birth through age 3 would require an annual budget of at least $1 billion.
She emphasized that the state currently allocates only $78 million to help low-income families afford care, which she described as insufficient, and noted that providers cannot close the gap independently. Sonnier called for a commitment from the highest levels of government to invest in child care as a foundational need for families and the state’s economic future.
Chatman said she will continue sharing her story until such investment occurs, hoping other Louisiana parents can access the same opportunities that helped her family thrive. The report was issued by the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children and covered by WAFB in Baton Rouge, La. No specific date of release is mentioned in the source material, but the story is presented as a developing/top story based on the report’s recent publication.
