It’s easy to relish New Hampshire’s recent ranking as the number one state for child well-being, but advocates warn this is no time to get too comfortable.

The Granite State, like most of the country, is still struggling to figure out both affordable and accessible childcare options.

Warner, for example, was a desert for parents seeking childcare until just recently. Most were forced to drive to Concord, New London and other nearby facilities or leave the workforce to stay home and watch the kids.

“In one word: miserable,” said Shelby Kinshaw about the childcare situation in Warner. Kinshaw is the mother of an only child.

Accessing child care in parts of New Hampshire can be reminiscent of the college application process — expensive, stressful and sometimes unlucky. Only in this version of the process, applicants are often in utero.

Kinshaw started applying to childcare centers when she was just four months pregnant, putting her daughter on four simultaneous waitlists.

“Everybody was waiting to hear back to see if they were going to be getting the call,” she said. As many young parents know, “the call” refers to a center accepting a child, and finally, no more waitlists.

When her daughter was 1, Kinshaw got “the call” from the newest – and only – childcare center in Warner.

Warner Early Learning Center, part of Boys & Girls Clubs of Central New Hampshire, opened on May 8.

The center has two rooms — a toddler classroom made for exploration and learning, and a quiet infant room with cribs. The center can host 20 children total — eight infants and 12 toddlers — but right now only has enough staff for five kids, all toddlers. Once they find an infant staffer, Warner Early Learning Center can start to accept younger kids, too.

Staffing was, and still is, the most difficult aspect of opening the center by far, a trend seen across New England in the childcare industry.

“The hardest part is finding staff… especially when you’re trying to open up a place in a new town and you’re wanting to serve the community,” said Amanda Perry, Central Early Childcare Education Manager at Boys & Girls Club.

There are few incentives for members of the workforce to enter the childcare industry due to the demanding nature of the job and poor compensation.

With few employees, childcare centers cannot fully staff their facilities, as portrayed in Warner’s case. This staffing shortage causes fewer available childcare spots and higher prices, making that “call” even more rare to receive.

However, the state’s top ranking by the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Annual Kids Count Data Book for child well-being was cause for Gov. Chris Sununu to celebrate.

“Our work continues, but this ranking is further proof that New Hampshire is far and away the best place for children and families to thrive,” Sununu said in a statement.

But the numbers tell a different story, known clearly to struggling families on limited incomes, and childcare workers struggling to keep pace with wage increases of other workers.

New Hampshire’s average cost of center-based child care for a toddler was $12,496 from 2020-2021. This is 31% of a single mother’s median income in New Hampshire, according to New Futures, a statewide advocacy group.

Nationally, childcare workers are paid worse wages than 98% of other professions, according to New Futures. Median national pay for childcare workers was $28,520 per year or $13.71 an hour in 2022.

Warner Early Learning Center is dedicated to providing the childcare spots that it does already have, even if that means opening a partially occupied facility. The administration believes that opening with only two staff members will help with recruiting.

“[Parents] know that we’re working really hard to fill these spots to get these kids started,” said Perry.

Sometimes, the center would go as long as three to six weeks without an applicant, but lately, it has been seeing more resumes.

It helps, too, that Danielle Thurston, the center director and one of the two current staffers at Warner’s new center, grew up in the area.

With its two staffers, Thurston and Lindsey Hilton, Warner Early Learning Center has had a smooth first month.

Though Warner is an example of a successful attempt at crushing the barriers that face New Hampshire’s childcare industry, the issue remains multi-faceted.

Over 40 childcare centers have been closed across New Hampshire in the last few years, according to Rebecca Woitkowski, Kids Count Policy Director for New Futures.

Warner stands as hope that persistence can open and staff new childcare centers. Kinshaw’s daughter came home from her first day with a new friend, which, especially for an only-child of the COVID generation, is a big deal.

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