ST. LOUIS — For two decades, Mary Crockett-Smith has poured her heart into The Christian Academy, a daycare she owns in North St. Louis County. She’s faced many challenges, but nothing like what she's dealing with now.
“It breaks my heart... It makes me want to do more, but you can't," said Crockett-Smith, The Christian Academy's founder.
For nine months, Crockett-Smith said she has not received what she’s owed from the state of Missouri. Nearly all of her students live in poverty. She receives state subsidies to help pay the bills. Not anymore.
“It’s a debacle. It’s chaos, it’s insanity that you can do this. And not be accountable," she said.
To stay open, she took out a $70,000 loan and drained her savings.
“How would you describe the state's reaction to your challenges?” asked the I-Team's Paula Vasan.
“Not caring. Distant," Crockett-Smith said.
Her story is one of hundreds. The I-Team has been reporting on the problems for months.
Internal system failure
Child care providers across Missouri are struggling due to a massive IT failure with a new internal system meant to streamline payments and enrollment. Launched last December by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, or DESE, the new system has created bigger problems.
“And the fixes are not being made," said Crockett-Smith.
"Words cannot express the gut-wrenching sorrow," said DESE Commissioner Karla Eslinger at a Sept. 10 hearing in Jefferson City. “We immediately dove in to determine how to resolve, how to get the system running properly and how to address the backlog of issues."
The new system, called the Child Care Data System, was intended to help families search for child care providers, apply for subsidies, and enable providers to manage subsidy contracts. The contract for the system was awarded to Carahsoft, with WWT as the prime vendor and MTX as a sub-vendor. Previously, the system for child care subsidy payments was managed by the Missouri Department of Social Services before transitioning to DESE in 2023. The old platform, called FAMIS, had limitations, including not allowing families to view their account status.
Eslinger testified that the system's contract had been recommended by the Chief Information Officer of the Missouri Office of Administration’s IT division. However, after its rollout, the platform began to fail, severely disrupting payments and straining providers' operations. These system issues left DESE to manually resolve each problem, a slow and labor-intensive process.
For the past nine months, providers have faced ongoing struggles, often spending hours on hold with DESE’s contracted call center, without resolution. Many have had to close their doors, worsening Missouri's already dire child care crisis.
Without state payments, providers are unable to enroll children in need, leaving thousands without care and, in some cases, in unsafe situations. One provider noted a tragic incident where a child, unable to attend care, died after being left in an unsafe home environment.
Recent hearings
Child care providers are saying enough is enough. They've come to the state capitol, demanding answers for why the system-wide technical glitch has caused payment delays for so long.
In two hearings held on Sept. 10 and 11 by the Missouri House of Representatives' budget and education committees, DESE addressed the IT issue that severely impacted child care providers receiving state subsidies. These providers, who depend on state subsidies to serve low-income families, were left without crucial funds to stay in business and pay staff for example. Some have been forced to sell their cars, take out loans, and dip into retirement funds just to stay afloat. Many are now calling for the resignation of Pam Thomas, assistant commissioner of DESE’s Office of Childhood.
House Minority Leader and Missouri Representative Crystal Quade, (D) 132nd District has called on DESE to issue $75,000 payments to impacted daycare providers immediately to help solve the crisis. She said the money is already allocated, it’s just not being distributed.
Emails reveal chaos and confusion
Emails obtained by the I-Team show state officials scrambling. In a May email, DESE's Pam Thomas called the process “embarrassing.” She even wrote, “No one knows what this system is really doing.” Yet, despite these admissions, problems continued.
We reached out to World Wide Technology, the company behind the new IT system that cost the state about $14 million. A World Wide Technology spokesperson told us in an email: “As a Missouri-based company, WWT places a high priority on fulfilling our responsibility to the citizens of Missouri. WWT remains committed to its partnership with DESE on this modernization effort and will continue to invest all necessary time and resources to move this important project forward and ensure that payments are made to childcare providers in an accurate and timely fashion.”
State officials have promised a fix by next month.
“The state completely messed up," Crockett-Smith said.
She said her patience has run out, as she feels the pain thinking about kids she’s turned away. She can not afford to take them in.
“Our children are in danger if they cannot be in safe places," she said.
Child care shortage
This isn’t just Crockett-Smith’s concern. Missouri is already facing a child care shortage. In fact, 68% of Missouri counties are considered child care deserts—where the demand far exceeds the supply, according to the nonprofit Child Care Aware of Missouri.
The IT nightmare makes an already bad situation worse. And as months drag on, Crockett-Smith is pleading for the state to step up—before it’s too late.
“I love this community. These are wonderful people who deserve a chance," she said.
DESE does not collect the reason that a child care provider decides to close or end their contract with the state’s child care subsidy program. There are 53 contracted providers that have closed their doors since January. In that same time frame, 80 new contracted providers have opened, according to a DESE spokesperson.