When the job doesn’t stop, child care becomes a challenge for first responders

TUCSON, Arizona — The Erik Hite Child Development Center looks pretty ordinary at first glance.

It has all the trappings of a typical child care center. There are vibrant rugs and plush floor mats in every color of the rainbow. Finger paintings and motivational posters adorn pastel walls. Tiny coathooks hang just a few feet above the floor and miniature cubbies hold pint-sized backpacks.

Children learn to share, count and recite their ABCs. They flip through picture books before nap time and eat packed lunches on paper plates, their fingertips sticky with fruit juice and mac and cheese.

But there’s one thing that makes the Erik Hite Child Development Center (CDC) different — every child enrolled has a parent or caregiver who works in law enforcement, emergency services or the U.S. military.

For those families, the challenges of finding child care go beyond cost.

First responders rarely work a tidy 9-to-5 schedule. Their jobs routinely require long hours, non-traditional shifts and dropping everything when duty calls. 

“I’ve had situations where we’ve had an officer that had to stay on a call until he had coverage — because whoever’s on the scene first has to stay and see it through — and then the mother’s at work and she doesn’t get off till midnight,” said Faye Collins, director of the Erik Hite CDC.

That leaves first responder families with a unique challenge: finding care that is available, affordable and flexible enough to keep up with their work.

From a dream to a day care

The Erik Hite CDC has been serving Tucson-area first responders and their families since 2011. 

For Nohemy Hite, the issue is personal. She founded the center and its parent non-profit, the Erik Hite Foundation, after her husband was fatally shot in the line of duty. 

Tucson Police Officer Erik Hite was just 43 years old at the time of his death. He left behind Nohemy, an adult son, and their infant daughter. 

“He loved kids. Not only that, but he loved what he did,” Nohemy said. “He absolutely loved being a servant, working in this kind of line of duty.” 

Nohemy knew she wanted to do something in her husband’s name to help other first responders and honor his legacy. The decision to open a child care center was largely influenced by Nohemy and Erik’s own experience.

After years of trying to have a child, Nohemy and Erik welcomed a baby girl. 

Like many new parents, Nohemy planned to return to work after maternity leave. But then the Hites started crunching the numbers. 

“We looked around at some of the corporate child cares and 85 percent of my paycheck was going to go into child care,” she said.

Meanwhile, Erik was working nights, weekends and holidays as a rookie officer. He joined the Tucson Police Department after retiring from the Air Force. 

Faced with the high cost of child care and conflicting schedules, Nohemy decided to quit her job and stay home. Erik picked up extra shifts and off-duty work to supplement their income. 

After his death, Nohemy felt called to do something in his name that would give other first responders and their families more options. 

She called law enforcement agencies across the country, trying to find out if anyone had created a first responder-focused child care center. She came up empty. 

“It was very challenging at the beginning,” she said. “I got a sense of people not understanding what I wanted to do.” 

But she persisted — seeking out mentors, building support and working toward a model that could better meet the needs she had experienced.

Two years later, the Erik Hite Child Development Center opened its doors. Her and Erik’s daughter was part of the inaugural preschool class. 

Today, the center has a waiting list, a dedicated staff and the capacity to serve up to 82 children. 

‘There aren’t a lot of options’ for parents with non-traditional work schedules

When affordable child care isn’t available, families find alternative solutions. Some parents leave the workforce or drop out of school to care for young children. Others couples work opposite shifts, sacrificing precious time together to make it work. 

Firefighters Dan and Starr Modrzejewski found themselves in that exact situation after their daughter Basyl was born. When Starr returned to her job as a firefighter paramedic three months after giving birth, they had no reliable child care option.

The couple worked opposite shifts, trading off care between them while waiting for a child care spot to open up — often going three or four days without seeing each other.

“It was challenging,” Starr said. “There aren’t a lot of other options for extended care.”

A spot finally opened up at the Erik Hite CDC when Basyl was 6 months old. 

Now 4, Basyl still attends the center. Her mother describes her as a spunky social butterfly who loves spending time with her friends and teachers.

At home, Basyl often brings that experience with her.

“She’ll pretend to be the teacher,” Starr said. “She always wants to say, ‘Mommy, let’s do the calendar.’”

For families like the Modrzejewskis, finding child care that matches the realities of the job can make all the difference. But options remain limited.

Families who use the center have made sacrifices to help each other, too. They’ve allowed their children to graduate to the next class earlier than expected to free up slots in a high-demand room. They’ve even let other families jump ahead of them on the waiting list if there’s a household in dire need.

“I have made calls personally to parents who have been on the waiting list and said, ‘There’s another family in this situation that really needs your spot. I know you are the next one on that list, but we want to be transparent and honest with you. Is it OK if you wait a little bit longer?’” Nohemy said. 

“I’ve never had families complain or get upset because I bumped up another family up on that waitlist because of the circumstances that they’ve gone through. They know all kinds of emergencies that pop up for families and they are very willing to accommodate and help each other.”