Dominated by small businesses, the country’s child care “system” has long been at a breaking point. Child care is expensive to operate and to provide, yet families are largely left to pay for it themselves while providers eke out a living on meager profits.

To make it through coronavirus-era closures and the economic downturn, providers say they need help.

Without it, parents juggling child care with working from home, or unable to afford care while they’re laid off, could find their provider is closed when they return to work.

Little direct help has been offered. The latest relief package, the CARES Act, provides $3.5 billion for the government subsidy program aimed at providers who serve low-income families and $750 million for Head Start, the federal preschool program for families living in poverty. There are robust unemployment benefits to support laid-off workers in all fields. Most child care programs would be eligible for a slice of the $350 billion slated for forgivable small-business loans, but that’s available on a first-come, first-served basis.

That is not enough specific help for child care, advocates say.