“Especially ones with the preschool component,” Kathryn said.

The couple are professors at Casper College with advanced degrees. When they had Wesley, both wanted to continue working full time. So they had to find child care for their son.

Since Wesley is an only child, they opted for an in-home setting where they thought he could get the socialization he lacks at home. They are happy with his day care, which they estimate costs about 10 percent of their income.

Child care takes a hefty chunk out of Wyoming families’ expenses, according to a new congressional report. Yet in Wyoming, child care costs are lower than the national average.

Infant care in Wyoming costs $9,110 a year, below the national average of $10,476, according to the report, released by Sen. Martin Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat and the ranking member of the Joint Economic Committee.

Wyoming families spent 13 percent of their income on infant care. For a single mother, infant care e ats up 30 percent of her income on average, the report states.

Nationally, 15 percent of a family’s income and 42 percent of a single mother’s income is spent on child care.

In Wyoming, child care costs are also lower for older kids, running $7,841 annually for a 4-year-old, compared to the national average of $8,469.

Even though Wyoming’s costs are lower than average, child care is no bargain, parents said.

Families are confronted with the decision of whether it is more affordable for one of the parents to quit their job than pay for day care.

Natasha Adams of Casper is a registered nurse who has used child care through the years. When she had her first child, her parents helped a lot, she said.

Later, when she lived in Lander and had more children, she worked in surgery – sometimes 15-hour shifts – but found a woman in town who accommodated her schedule when Adams’ husband, who is in the military, was unable to pick the children up.

“It would pay off for me to have day care, and I could still” bring home money, she said. “But it’s finding a day care that has the hours that I need. Other nurses have even bigger problems, if you’re on a unit (in which) they require you to alternate between day and night shifts.”

Parents such as Adams say they worry about access to day cares that are safe and offer an educational environment — in addition to ones that are affordable.

The congressional report addressed access, too: Research shows children who receive high-quality child care are less likely to be arrested as juveniles and have criminal records. They are more likely to graduate from college and earn higher incomes as adults, the report said.

High-quality child care even makes a difference in kids’ health: Research shows children who receive good care have lower blood pressures. Children who participate in Head Start have lower obesity rates at ages 12 and 13 and have fewer long-term health problems overall, the report states.

Casper single mother Mariah Bovee described being shocked by the costs of day care when she adopted her first child, now 12 years old.

Bovee ended up as a parent when her daughter’s biological mother asked her to raise the baby. The woman was transient and struggling with a drug problem, Bovee said.

Since then, Bovee had two other children, now 10 and 6.

She paid about $150 a week in day care per child, Bovee said.

Then there was the cost of preschool. She wanted her kids in full-time preschool and paid $780 a month per child.

“Essentially, I could have paid for a bachelor’s degree by the time my kids were out of preschool,” she said.

The Lenths anticipate they, too, will have to start paying for preschool for Wesley soon. There will be considerations of whether he should be in a part- or full-time program. They’ll have to weigh the costs and which school is right for him to prepare for kindergarten

They will have to visit preschools, just as they toured day care centers when Kristen was pregnant.

“Soon, we’ll be having this conversation again,” Kathryn said.

Find the article here.