Grayson Smith, then age 2, works his way through a puzzle at Butterflies & Frogs Childcare and Preschool in Fayetteville in this May 5, 2020 file photo. The Annie E. Casey Foundation, which in June 2023 ranked Arkansas as No. 43 nationally in overall child well-being, made access to child care the foreword of the 2023 report, highlighting data that isn’t directly factored into a state’s child well-being score. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk)
Arkansas has seen only limited problems in the month and a half since pandemic-era funding ended for child care programs across the United States, despite early and widespread concern over its consequences, according to officials and policy experts.
