Longtime Lakeside child development center closing

A popular child development center in Lakeside is closing permanently next month after nearly half a century serving local families.

The Hatcher Child Development Center at Hatcher Memorial Baptist Church on Dumbarton Road, which opened in 1976, will close by March 28, CDC Committee Chair Sharon Vecchione wrote in a Feb. 17 letter to parents. The center has struggled with a variety of issues recently, she wrote, including a difficulty attracting qualified employees and the financial challenges of rising fuel, food and wage costs.

On top of those difficulties, the CDC still was attempting to recoup “significant amounts” of revenue it missed because of COVID-19 closures, while also dealing with some delinquent accounts from families.

“Hatcher Church has decided that, if we cannot provide safe, high quality reasonably priced childcare as is our tradition, then it is best not to continue to operate at this time,” Vecchione wrote, adding that she was delivering the news “with a heavy heart.”

In an interview with the Citizen Monday, Vecchione lamented the center’s demise as being reflective of the type of financial and staffing challenges being felt throughout the child care industry.

“I’ve read a lot about the child care industry, and I do feel like we are not alone in the problems that we’ve had,” she told the Citizen. “Frankly, I wish more people knew that."

The pandemic created financial issues for the center, which received Paycheck Protection Program grants to enure it could keep paying the employees it could retain, Vecchione said.

"But when you close a daycare center and you’re still paying the staff, that’s a pretty serious money loss."

Church and center officials have wrestled a bit with whether to be more strict in collecting delinquent payments from families, Vecchione said.

"We’ve not maybe been as tough about that as we’ve should have been," she said. "We’ve gone back and forth about 'Is the daycare a business, or is it a ministry? Our committee, we strongly feel that it’s a ministry."

As a result, officials have worked with families who are delinquent to collect at least a portion of the past-due amount on a regular basis, she said, while allowing their children to continue to attend.

Just before the onset of the pandemic, the CDC cared for 178 children on a daily basis, Vecchione said. Now, that number is in the 70s. She attributed the steep decline in part to the fact that more working families with parents who are now working at least part-time from home have opted to provide in-home child care themselves or through a nanny or other caregiver.

The center has about 22 current paid employees and has asked them to stay through March 28, offering a stipend for those who do, Vecchione said. If some leave before that date, the center may have to end certain classes early, too, she said.

Concerns about what current CDC families will do for child care have been on the minds of center officials, Vecchione said.

"We are very very very concerned about that. We felt like the best thing we could do first of all was give them as much notice as possible."

Parents so far have responded to the news with disappointment but understanding, she said.

“I think the parents have seen how hard it is, and I think they get it. They’re disappointed, but I think they get it.”

Center officials have sought additional grant funding since the onset of COVID that would have allowed its operations to continue, Vecchione said, but those processes proved to be too lengthy when they needed help immediately. She offered praise to current CDC director Amanda Owen, who took over at the onset of the pandemic and has had to navigate a variety of challenges since.

"She has been a tireless worker," Vecchione said. "I do not lay any of this at her feet."

There are no immediate plans for the space that has housed the CDC, Vecchione said.

There are 11 other licensed child care providers offering full-day care in the Lakeside 23228 ZIP Code, including four individual in-home providers, according to the Virginia Department of Social Services. One of the other seven is the Lakeside Baptist Day Center at Lakeside Baptist Church, which last year announced that it was selling its property to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in a deal that will officially close in July 2025. That facility had 30 children on site during a DSS inspection Feb. 15, 2022. There also are three other non-licensed child care programs in the ZIP Code, all through local religious organizations, which are not required to seek licensure but may do so if they choose.

A report earlier this year from the nonprofit ChildCare Aware of Virginia concluded that there are nearly 17,000 children 6 years old or younger in Henrico County with working parents and that existing child care centers, preschools and family child care programs in the county could accommodate nearly 12,200 of them.

Hatcher CDC has been a staple of the Lakeside community since its opening, serving thousands of children and families in the years since. The center currently serves children from infants to 12 years old through three programs: a full-time program, an afterschool program and a summer program.

Vecchione, a former elementary school principal who has been associated with the Hatcher CDC for 15 years, hopes that the center's legacy will be the difference that it has made for the children in its care.

"We have provided high quality care for 47 years," she said. "I think we’ve made a good place that parents who work know they can bring a child, and they know they’re going to be well cared for, safe, well-fed, happy and loved."