Many daycare centers were shut down by the government, many by the pandemic. Many closed, and no longer exist,” said Rocha Acosta. She indicated that after the federal program was terminated, the state launched a similar one to maintain childcare services in favor of working mothers, and at the same time support the economy of daycare centers. The program, she explained, consists of the delivery of vouchers for one thousand pesos a month, which women can redeem at each of the 84 daycare centers, located in 11 municipalities. The support is granted for each child up to a maximum of two, whose ages range from 43 days to 5 years and 11 months. Last year, the secretary highlighted, her department allocated 17.1 million pesos for the delivery of 17,117 vouchers to 2,111 women from Querétaro, which translated into care for 2,378 infants. “The objective of the program is the benefit for mothers so that they can develop, that they can work and leave their daughters and sons in a safe place, that they can also study,” she stated. Sonia Rocha mentioned that for 2026, the intention is to support a maximum of 2,000 working mothers, for which a budget of 20 million pesos is available. The number of daycare centers in the state of Querétaro has decreased by 57% since 2019, the year in which the federal government discontinued the Daycare Centers for Working Mothers program. However, she acknowledged that for the following year, a change in the program's structure is contemplated to grant only one support per mother, in order to expand the number of beneficiaries. She added that on average, the daycare centers offer 500 new spaces each year, while more than 1,500 correspond to renewals. It should be mentioned that in 2024, the government of Claudia Sheinbaum announced the return of the daycare centers program through the National Care System. This, according to information from the Ministry of Women of the state. According to the head of the department, Sonia Rocha, the entity had 197 subsidized daycare centers at the beginning of the Andrés Manuel López Obrador administration. The strategy consists of the construction of Centers for Education and Child Care under the operation of the IMSS, which plans to install at least ten of these buildings in Querétaro. However, with the withdrawal of federal support, 113 of these places have closed in the last seven years, leaving a total of 84 to date. As explained by the official, most closed during the Covid-19 pandemic, while others were affected in their finances for having filed an injunction against the elimination of the federal incentive. “Many did not resist, besides remember that it was times of the pandemic.
