There was a time when Carol High's home daycare business was so busy, she said, parents who already trusted her with one child would plan the birth of their next child around her next potential opening.

But today, High's house on Shady Nook Avenue in Catonsville has considerably fewer preschoolers under her care.

"I only have four (children), that's it," said the 30-year child-care provider. "Usually I have eight, so it's gotten bad."

According to High and other local child-care providers, business has decreased drastically in recent months because of the poor economy.

As parents tighten their belts to cut spending, one of the first things to go is child care, especially if a parent has lost a job and can take care of the child on his or her own, providers said.

That, coupled with the fact that a number of professional day-care centers have popped up in the state in recent years, has left High and others with fewer clients, they said.

"I've lost a couple kids because a couple of the parents have lost their jobs," High said. "And it seems like the centers are taking more of the kids.

"There are a lot of day-care providers struggling."

Nicole Hiteshew, who started her day-care center in her home on Calwell Road in Arbutus two years ago, has seen her clientele of five children dwindle down to two.

"The third one I just lost because the mother has stopped working, and that's what happened with all of them," Hiteshew said.

"The parent loses a job and the child is out the door in a few months. It's the economic times."

Ann Neumann, a care provider who has worked for 16 years out of her home on South Rolling Road, attributes her substantial client losses more to the rise of care centers than the decline in the economy.

"I'm doing OK, but I'm not doing anything like what I did three or four years ago," said Neumann, who said she used to watch eight children full-time and now watches four ages 5 and under part-time.

According to a 2008 report by the Maryland Committee for Children, a nonprofit child-care advocacy group that tracks childcare trends in the state, the number of full-day infant centers in the state has been rising steeply since at least 2003.

The number of programs for school-age children in Maryland has been on the rise as well, although at a slower rate.

The number of private home child-care providers in Maryland, on the other hand, has been on a steady decline, the group's study found.

One reason could be that licensed home-care providers, such as those mentioned here, by law can watch no more than two children under age 2, Neumann said.

"I've gotten a lot of calls for babies, I just can't take them," she said.

"And it seems to be a lot of older children, 2 and older, are going into these preschools and different, other schools."

Providers in the area said they have turned to advertising more than in years past, when referrals seemed to fill any open spots.

Hiteshew said she has posted ads in newspapers and on community bulletin boards in super markets.

She and many others have also posted ads on craigslist.com.

But their efforts have been of little help, they said.

Still, the situation has not deterred newcomers such as Janice Semanick, who has offered day care out of her Halethorpe home since October.

She's heard the economy has hurt local providers with years of experience, but having just gotten her license, she said she is determined to stay in the field.

She said she is "just trying to get it out there as much as possible" that she has openings.

Presently, she is watching two children, in addition to her daughter.

"A lot of people are out of work, so a lot of people don't need the care," she said.

"I'm just trying to wait it out and get a part-time job to make ends meet, but this is what I want to do. It's my dream."

According to Nancy Anderson, president of the Baltimore County Family Child Care Association, the economy has not meant bad news for all providers across the county.

Her home-care service in the White Marsh-Perry Hall area is full for the first time in years, she said.

Anderson, who has been in the business for 26 years, said she thinks the economy is causing more parents to pull their kids out of centers and look for cheaper care from private providers.

"We offer meals, flexible hours, and lower rates than day-care centers," Anderson said. "You get more for your dollar."

That shift from centers to home providers hasn't hit this area yet, local providers said, but it would certainly be welcome.

"I wish I could get more children," Neumann said.

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