WARREN, Conn.—The challenge of accessing childcare in Warren and surrounding rural towns has increased. A letter announcing the permanent closure of the Warren Church Community Childcare (WCCC) facility was sent to enrolled families on Thursday, Oct. 9.
Beloved by the community for over two decades, WCCC first opened its doors in 2004. The center provided state-licensed, year-round daycare for infants through school-age children in the classroom spaces located in the lower level of the Warren Congregational Church building. As a mission of the church, WCCC operated under the church’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit status since its inception while maintaining its own separate board of directors and financial accounts.
“It was not an easy decision,” said the Rev. Anthony DeRosa during a phone interview Wednesday, Oct. 22.
“We want to move in a different direction at the church. We have a lot of great things going on,” he continued.
DeRosa assumed the role of pastor of the church in May following the departure of his predecessor, pastor Gary Kitchin, who had served for 10 years.
DeRosa explained that the church plans to use the former childcare classrooms to house a youth ministry and outreach for young adults.
“It’s a tricky situation. These are the only classrooms in the whole church,” stated DeRosa.
A former member of the WCCC board of directors spoke to The Kent Dispatch on the condition of anonymity in a phone interview Oct. 22 and explained that the church had been routinely using the childcare classrooms on weekends when the daycare was closed. There was also a vacant room unused by the daycare at the church’s disposal, too.
“We were already co-existing,” stated the former board member.
The timeline
Current renovations to the space formerly occupied by WCCC to remediate a mold issue discovered there preceded the closure. The mold issue was known by the town and church since at least Tuesday, Aug.5, according to the Board of Selectmen meeting minutes from the same date.
Jenn Dunleavy, WCCC board of directors parent representative, informed The Kent Dispatch in a phone interview Thursday, Oct. 23, that the daycare was first notified of upcoming construction scheduled for some time in October by DeRosa and another church official at WCCC’s Wednesday, Aug. 13, board meeting.
By Tuesday, Sept. 2, discussions between the WCCC board members and DeRosa and other church officials to potentially relocate the daycare temporarily to the town community center across the street from the church during remediation were already well underway, according to an email exchange obtained by The Kent Dispatch.
Two days later, WCCC notified enrolled families of the upcoming construction “scheduled to begin in early October,” according to an official letter dated Thursday, Sept. 4, obtained by The Kent Dispatch. In the email exchange, both WCCC board members and church officials emphasized the importance of notifying enrolled families of the upcoming remediation at least 30 days prior to scheduled work to maintain compliance with the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection regulations.
WCCC had been working with Warren First Selectman Gregory LaCava to find a solution during the temporary closure.
“I heard the daycare needed to move out, so I met with them to come up with a plan,” said LaCava in a phone interview on Oct. 23.
“We were exploring the idea of temporarily housing the daycare at the town-owned community center next door. It is centrally located and would allow the daycare to still access their playground,” LaCava elaborated, noting that the town had already moved forward with a state inspector site visit.
Discussion and a vote on the community center option were slated for a town meeting Thursday, Oct. 16.
In a follow-up letter obtained by The Kent Dispatch that was sent by WCCC to enrolled families dated Friday, Sept. 19, an exact closure date was established. At that time, the closure was still only temporary.
The letter stated, “We want to inform you that our daycare will be closed starting Monday, October 6 due to upcoming construction. We are diligently working to establish a temporary location so that care can resume as quickly as possible.”
Dunleavy created an LLC for the daycare Wednesday, Sept. 24, called Warren’s Tiny Wonders in an effort to eventually operate independently from the church.
Friday, Oct. 3, was the last day WCCC was in operation ahead of the closure, which was still to be only temporary at this point.
On Oct. 9, WCCC was notified by church officials that the church had decided to permanently close the daycare. The same day, WCCC issued a letter notifying enrolled families of the abrupt shift from temporary to permanent closure stating, “the church has made the decision to permanently close Warren Church Community Childcare and Preschool. This decision was made solely by the church leadership and is not one that the daycare staff or administration had any part in determining.”
“I want to make sure that it is clear that we love them [WCCC] and want the best for the kids in the community,” DeRosa said. “It was God’s timing to have them move on.”
Due to the dissolution of the daycare by the church before Oct. 16, no action was taken at the town meeting.
It remains unclear what precipitated the sudden change on the part of church leadership that led to their decision to permanently close the daycare. DeRosa did not respond to attempts by The Kent Dispatch to contact him a second time to ask followup questions.
The impact
At the time of the closure, 20 children from 11 families were enrolled. About 80 percent of those children lived in Warren. Five people were employed by WCCC, consisting of four teachers and one director. Several former employees are Warren residents. As employees of a religious organization, former WCCC staff are not eligible for unemployment benefits.
Prior to the abrupt closure, WCCC had been raising money for new playground equipment since Monday, May 19, through a GoFundMe campaign. The former director of WCCC is working with GoFundMe to refund donations.
“The decision was made with such short notice and the timing was unfortunate for our family,” said Kent resident Katherine Barrie in a phone interview on Oct. 23.
Barrie’s toddler had been enrolled at WCCC since the summer of 2024. She recently gave birth to a second child and had planned to enroll her baby at WCCC when she returned to work.
“It leaves us in a weird spot because there are not a lot of options that are close by where we can send both a toddler and an infant,” Barrie continued.
“And the relationship component is also important—my toddler had formed strong bonds with teachers and peers at WCCC. It’s very sad,” Barrie said.
“My boys grew up there and the teachers have helped me raise them. It was like being thrown out of their second home,” said Dunleavy, who in addition to being part of the WCCC board is a Goshen resident and parent to two children who had been enrolled at the daycare since infancy.
“Disrupting their routines was hard, especially for my little one with sensory issues who depends on familiarity and routine,” Dunleavy continued.
Both Barrie and Dunleavy have since found alternative childcare arrangements.
Families searching for licensed childcare options in Connecticut can search for providers online at 211childcare.org.
Awful. Child care providers support not only children and families, but also the local economy. Working parents (particularly mothers) are hurt the most by the lack of child care options. There is a nationwide shortage of child care — and the shortage is exacerbated in rural areas like Litchfield County. In Litchfield County, families are on the wait lists for child care centers for many months — and it’s more difficult if you have an infant. Being on a wait list for a year is not unheard of.
For the church to decide to close the center without giving families warning is unconscionable. The church should have given families at least 6 months notice so they could apply for wait lists and work out alternate arrangements. It sounds like the mold abatement project was not a surprise – why did the church not determine an alternate location for the child care center ahead of time? Poor planning all around, with local children and families paying the consequences.