Childcare Is Key to Disaster Resilience

Hurricane Helene hit Western North Carolina and swept away Jeneal Hensley's home-based child care business, The Little People's Place, along with the routines that dozens of local families depended on. She was displaced for more than 500 days, and only one of her five prior charges returned when she reopened.

Regional data shows how thin the margin already was: in Buncombe County, only 7% of infants and toddlers were enrolled in licensed child care in 2025. Recovery efforts were slowed further because family child care homes, unlike centers, are not classified as nonprofit or public, complicating access to water restoration approval and emergency coordination with FEMA and the National Guard.

A new documentary and a Dogwood Health Trust report now argue that grassroots relationships, not top-down agency response, were the actual lifeline during recovery. State officials and advocates are compiling task force guidance for the next disaster, though it depends on coordination between agencies that struggled to agree on basics like reopening rules the first time.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.