Five child care centers closed as Bartlesville families run out of options
Kimberly van Veen | The Wiley Post
Sept 15, 2026
The night Kiddie Korner announced it was closing, no one knew it was coming.
At 5:58 p.m. on Aug. 31, owner Tina Martinez posted a statement on the center's Facebook page.
"With a shattered and heavy heart, I have to share some of the hardest news I have ever had to share: Kiddie Korner will be closing its doors, effective today," she wrote.
Any prospect of a quick reopening appears unlikely. Since announcing the closure, Kiddie Korner has been liquidating equipment and other items from its two Bartlesville locations.
The sudden closure left 70 children without care the next day and 24 employees out of work.
Reaction was swift.
"I literally don't even know what to say right now," parent Dallas Parker commented on the post. "There are literally no places that are taking kids or even responding to inquiries for people using the state's assistance!"
For some parents, losing child care also threatened their ability to work. Amanda Ashely, a single mother who had just started a new job, wrote that she likely wouldn't be able to keep it.
"This is the worst possible news to get as a single mom," wrote Ashley.
Martinez said COVID-19 was the tipping point for the business she ran for nine years. Since then, she said, staffing shortages have worsened while operating costs, regulations and financial pressures have continued to grow.
"The child care crisis has become so significant that it is forcing many child care centers to close their doors," Martinez said. “Everything costs more — the regulations, red tape and financial pressures continue to pile on."
Five child care centers in Bartlesville and Dewey have closed this year: Kiddie College at First Wesleyan Church, two Safe Haven centers and two Kiddie Korner locations. That doesn't include home daycares that have closed.
The 29 remaining centers in Bartlesville have capacity for 1,180 children, leaving an estimated gap of about 500 children ages 4 and younger who need care. A May 2025 Bartlesville Community Foundation report found there was one child care spot for every 1.5 children needing care in Washington County.
"It's a bigger problem than our community is aware of," Lindsey Thomas, owner of Firm Foundation Child Development Center, said.
State subsidies add pressure
Kiddie Korner was one of relatively few Bartlesville child care centers that accept a Department of Human Services child care subsidy. Families who meet income requirements can receive assistance with child care costs at approved centers.
The money doesn't go directly to families. Providers must complete the administrative work required to receive state reimbursement.
"DHS has made it very difficult," said Nicole Taylor, director of Firm Foundation, which accepts the subsidies.
This year's program changes put additional strain on providers and families. On April 6, DHS eliminated a $5-per-day, per-child subsidy to child care centers. On July 1, the state returned income eligibility requirements to pre-pandemic levels.
Taylor said she is responsible for ensuring the center receives its monthly state reimbursement for every eligible child it serves. If a child misses more than 16 days in a month, she said, DHS doesn't reimburse the center for the missed days.
Last year, several infants at Firm Foundation contracted RSV, and two were hospitalized for extended periods. Taylor said DHS reimbursed the center for only half the month, leaving the business to absorb the remaining costs.
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Thomas said getting answers from DHS can also be difficult.
"They don't provide a phone number, so you can't call them," she said. "You can send them an email through a portal and hope they respond, but they oftentimes don't."
Thomas serves on the board of the Licensed Childcare Association of Oklahoma and attends quarterly meetings at the state Capitol to advocate for child care providers.
"At the last meeting I was at, as many as 40 people made a public comment and the DHS representatives just sat there on their phones," Thomas said. "They do not want to listen to any issues or provide solutions."
Taylor said families encounter their own frustrations.
"It's not just difficult for the facilities. It's difficult for the families," she said. "Families will call and stay on the phone for hours."
She worries more providers will disappear.
"I can see more centers closing in the future just because of the way things are going," Taylor said.
Bartlesville's shortage mirrors a broader problem across Oklahoma. The Frontier reported in March 2025 that the state had lost about 2,300 child care slots after pandemic-era funding expired and that 34 of Oklahoma's 77 counties were considered child care deserts. Its reporting found providers were struggling with staffing shortages, rising costs and funding pressures that threatened their ability to stay open.
Parents are running out of options
The morning after Kiddie Korner closed, parents were waiting outside Firm Foundation before it opened, hoping to find care for their children.
There wasn't room.
Firm Foundation already turns away three to five families a day.
"These families can't afford not to be at work," Amanda Lewis, director of First Friends Childcare Center in Bartlesville, said. "So now who's watching your kids and who's in the workforce? We're going to have some dangerous situations on our hands, I'm afraid."
Kiddie Korner, which operated in Bartlesville for nine years, has closed its location on Frank Phillips Boulevard. The child care center's closure left 70 children without care and 24 employees out of work.
Kimberly van Veen | The Wiley Post
The problem extends beyond families looking for care. A 2023 study estimated Oklahoma loses $1.2 billion in economic activity as child care problems cause parents to miss work, change jobs or leave the workforce.
State lawmakers wrestled with child care as a workforce issue in 2026. One proposal, HB 4199, would have split participating families' child care costs among workers, employers and the state, while HB 4298, which changed some provider staffing and fee requirements, was signed into law.
City Council candidate Amanda Wier Veley said the shortage impacts other areas of the economy. It is also a workforce, family and economic development issue for Bartlesville.
Several years ago, the City Council created a child care task force that recommended regulatory and zoning changes intended to make it easier to open child care centers.
It wasn't enough to close the gap.
"There were grant opportunities and other resources that could have helped some of these providers, but some of them did not know those options existed until it was too late," Wier Veley said.
If elected to the City Council, Wier Veley wants an annual assessment of which licensed childcare providers have closed, which ages of children are the hardest to place and why providers are closing. Wier Veley also advocates for a city-employer-provider partnership, which she said a previous childcare study recommended.
“I would also explore whether the city can responsibly provide targeted development incentives for creating or expanding licensed childcare capacity — particularly with infant care, after-school/summer care and nontraditional hour care,” Wier Veley said.
For Wier Veley, childcare is an economic development issue for the city, and if Bartlesville can’t show businesses and young families this is the place for them, they will go elsewhere.
Thomas said she isn't surprised centers are disappearing. What worries her is what happens if the trend continues.
"I just wish our community leaders would recognize the problem," she said, "because it's going to be a huge problem soon."
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