After Dubois’ only daycare closed last year, Casey Sedlack said that she and some other moms placed an ad for a nanny to care for multiple families. But then, the Department of Family Services told them that wasn’t legal.

“ It was truly crushing,” Sedlack said. “It’s like my heart sank and we didn't know what else to do. It felt like we'd exhausted our options.”

A new law allows nannies and babysitters to legally care for two families at a time, up from a single family.

Sedlack hoped it’ll keep other communities from facing an emergency like hers. But she says lawmakers should recognize lots more work needs to be done to shore up childcare in the state.

“I'd love to see some sort of collaborative effort to fund childcare centers and assist to make them a sustainable service, like you would rely on the fire department being there or the police being there,” Sedlack said.

Sedlack said there needs to be a sea change in the way we think about childcare in the state.

“What if daycares or preschools or early education centers were listed on Zillow like public schools? I just wonder what would happen to the migration from rural America. I wonder how it would look in 10 years if we put as much focus on early childhood care and education in those ways as we do on other things.”

Since 2011, 285 daycares have shuttered across the state, leaving over 10,000 Wyoming parents unable to go to work.