Two U.S. Army bases erroneously notified parents that child-care cuts were coming as a result of President Donald Trump’s federal hiring freeze.
Mr. Trump signed an executive order Jan. 23 that halted all federal government hiring except for the Defense Department.
Regardless, officials at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and Army Garrison Weisbaden, Germany, informed personnel that services at child development centers would be curtailed.
A DoD spokesman told Military Times on Wednesday that officials are now working with Army officials at each base to clarify the process for requesting new child-care workers.
“We are prevented from bringing new caregivers on board but are still having our usual staff turnover and illnesses which create challenges to maintaining ratios and providing quality childcare,” Fort Knox’s Col. Stephen K. Aiton recently wrote, the newspaper reported.
“This closure is a result of staff shortage due to the Federal Hiring Freeze,” wrote Col. Todd J. Fish, commanding general of the garrison, to military families in Weisbaden.
The mix-up prompted Salon to publish a story titled “Trump’s Federal Hiring Freeze Is Worsening the Military’s Child Care Crisis.”
Think Progress published a similar piece that announced “Trump hiring freeze forces suspension of military child care programs.”
“Officials at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and Army Garrison Weisbaden, Germany, did not immediately respond to Military Times questions regarding whether they were aware of, or had pursued, the hiring exemptions,” the newspaper reported.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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