DANVILLE, Pa. — A child's early years are critical when it comes to long-term academic and social success, but a severe shortage of child development professionals is putting kids in jeopardy. It's happening all over the country.

"Early child care workers have always been underpaid, underappreciated, underfunded," said Shannon Lewczyk, executive director of the Danville Child Development Center. "However, with the COVID pandemic, once we closed our doors for the mandatory shutdowns, when we reopened a lot of people chose not to come back into the industry.