Adult Concerns on Child Care Deal

There's a fight brewing around sandboxes nationwide. But the combatants don't wear Pull-Ups. Instead, they sport BlackBerrys and picket signs and talk of portfolios and payouts.

The subject of the dispute is Bain Capital Partners' buyout of Bright Horizons Family Solutions, the largest provider of employer-sponsored child care in the nation and the Washington region. Bright Horizons shareholders approved Bain's bid Wednesday.

Parents wondering how the deal may affect them are getting two answers.

The Service Employees International Union, which also protested the Carlyle Group's buyout of the Manor Care nursing home chain, suspects Bain's acquisition of Bright Horizons will have a negative impact on the quality of the care the chain provides for more than 70,000 children.

Recent buyouts in some industries have resulted in layoffs as the new owners streamlined operations. The union says Bright Horizons will be under pressure to cut costs because as part of the $1.3 billion deal, it will take on $850 million of debt.

"The question is, where is the cost cutting going to come from when the people providing care are already underpaid and the stability of the workforce is critical to the quality of care for kids?" said Kim Cook, president SEIU Local 925 in Seattle.

The SEIU's concerns are unwarranted, executives at Bain and Bright Horizons said.

"No centers are going to close," Bright Horizons chief executive David Lissy said. "There is no way to satisfy parents and deliver the level of quality care without taking care of those who are working for us. I don't expect any of that is going to change."

Parents pay as much as $1,800 a month to send their children to one of the more than 600 centers in the United States. In the Washington region, Bright Horizons operates about 20 centers sponsored by federal government agencies and such large private employers as Marriott International and George Washington University.

The SEIU, which is made up of 1.9 million janitors, security officers and health-care workers, has waged a very public campaign against private-equity buyouts since last year. Though the union doesn't represent Bright Horizons workers and is not trying to organize them, it sees itself as standing up for working parents, Cook said.

So far, however, parents don't appear to share the SEIU's concerns. Several people who were dropping children off at a center at 21st and K streets NW yesterday morning said the buyout didn't trouble them.

"They've told us there won't be any change in service," said Michael Koenig of Chevy Chase. "We're happy so far. It's not anything I'm too worried about."