Childcare cost relief on the way for some Virginia parents — but how many and how long is in lawmakers’ hands

This is part of our series investigating the ways Virginia is and isn’t helping parents with the childcare burdens forcing many parents out of the workforce. To learn more about how to research the quality and safety of the daycare you choose and why the state’s own preferred tool may still miss red flags, see our Taking Action Investigation Wednesday, March 18, live on 8News at 6.

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- If the General Assembly ever agrees on a budget, many Virginia parents will be hoping the Senate’s proposal to ease childcare cost burdens wins out.

House Bill 18 and Senate Bill 3 were both passed during the 2026 General Assembly session. If signed by Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D), this legislation would establish the Employee Child Care Assistance Program, which would provide an avenue for increased cost-sharing for childcare between families, the state and employers.

A January survey of Virginia employers showed “the lack of affordable, high-quality child care is not just a challenge for Virginia’s working families, but also is significantly undermining business operations across the Commonwealth.”

The Virginia Early Childhood Foundation found that more than 8 in 10 employers statewide said their employees’ childcare challenges have made it difficult to hire and retain staff. Even once they get workers in the door, nearly 9 in 10 employers say those same challenges consistently make employees late or absent.

Troublesome for mothers, especially, is the number of employees leaving their jobs or the workforce entirely because of childcare cost, availability and quality. When any of those factors become too burdensome, it is women who traditionally leave the workforce.

Henrico County mom Haley Hudson walked 8News through every step of her daycare decision process. She said all three of those factors — in addition to convenient location and hours of operation — were top of mind for her as she initially searched for a daycare for her son. That search is still ongoing nearly two years later.

She told us about a daycare that just recently called to offer her a spot.

“I first toured [that daycare] when I was just a few months pregnant and that was the fall of 2024,” Hudson said. “Crazy, crazy -- but not unusual, and honestly faster than a lot of the other daycares were giving me.”

She said some daycares told her they might not have a spot for her son until he was four years old.

But before Hudson and her husband even found places with availability in time for her to return to work as a teacher, they had to find a center they could also afford.

“It's actually really hard to find the information online, even when you email or call,” Hudson said. “A lot of the daycares make you come in and do a tour before they'll even talk to you about tuition prices. And it is crazy expensive."

The average Virginia parent spends $17,000 a year for one child, with discounts for two children — an infant and a toddler — bringing that average to $30,680, according to Child Care Aware’s 2024 data. That number has likely only climbed in the years since.

“Even with two working adults, we've had to stretch our budget really, really thin,” Hudson said.

Hudson said that, for daycares of a certain quality, the cost is essentially the same. She added that she was willing to lower her standards to a certain extent, knowing the alternative would mean having nowhere to send her child once her maternity leave ended.

“With it being so hard to get in, you end up having to sometimes settle just to get in,” Hudson said. “I mean, I had to go back to work.”

Hudson said she and her husband also looked at in-home daycares, but found it difficult to learn what options were out there and to find the quality they were looking for in the ones they did hear about.

Even for daycares, she said it was hard to sift through online reviews once she learned many facilities give incentives or raffle off prizes to parents who leave 5-star posts.

She also used the Virginia Department of Education's (VDOE) and Department of Social Services’ (DSS) online tool to review past inspections and violations -- but she also found it tough at times to gauge which violations were as minor as they seemed and which were dealbreakers.

“I'm expecting and hoping that my child is treated like one of the teachers’ own -- that he's cared for, that he's liked, that his needs are met, that he feels good going there,” Hudson said. “It's always going to be hard to drop him off and go to work, but to feel like, ‘Oh, he's in really good hands and I know that they're really looking after him.’”

On Wednesday, March 18, Taking Action Investigator Rolynn Wilson dives into why the results you find from the state inspections and violations review tool might not be enough. You can catch that live report on 8News at 6.