Annie’s Place, a Dallas nonprofit that offers free child care so parents can attend medical appointments, is shutting down.
The child care center is located on the campus of Parkland Memorial Hospital, which is the main campus of the Dallas County public hospital district.
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The nonprofit has been struggling financially since 2023, according to an announcement posted on the Annie’s Place website by CEO Laura Rhoden. Annie’s Place, which formerly operated under the name Mommies In Need, was managing the financial situation until some expected money failed to come through.
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“But sadly, certain grants we had planned for didn’t materialize, leaving us with no other choice but to now close our doors,” Rhoden wrote in the announcement.
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Annie’s Place will close its on-campus child care operations on Wednesday, and will end in-home nanny services by Feb. 1.
Since Annie’s Place was founded a decade ago, the nonprofit has allowed patients to keep nearly 15,000 medical appointments, according to the announcement
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A spokesperson for Parkland Health, Wendi Hawthorne, said in an email that the county hospital district owns the physical child care center and is now seeking another organization to operate the facility.
“We are committed to providing a childcare option on campus for employees and eligible patients,” Hawthorne wrote.
Annie’s Place did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
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On Facebook, patients responded to the nonprofit’s closure announcement with both gratitude and grief.
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One poster said the center has been “a godsend to us through my husband’s cancer.”
“What a difference you were able to make in so many lives,” another poster wrote.
The closure of Annie’s Place comes less than a year after its founder and former CEO Natalie Howe Boyle announced her retirement.
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The child care nonprofit has said its goal was not just to provide child care, but to tear down one of the barriers people face when trying to get health care.
“It’s about community, compassion, and the belief that no family should have to choose between access to healthcare and quality childcare,“ Rhoden wrote in the announcement.
Rhoden wrote in the announcement that she hopes other organizations will fill the void left by the closure of Annie’s Place.
Dallas nonprofit that gives free child care to medical patients is abruptly closing
