This is what the pandemic taught us about military child care 1 hour ago Janet Garcia, a child and youth program assistant, feeds a child at the Center Drive Child Development Center on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in April, 2020. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Charles Oki/Navy) If anyone has doubted the importance of child care and youth programs for military leaders and families, the pandemic has likely dispelled those doubts. The biggest lesson of COVID-19 is “you can’t separate child care from mission readiness. We absolutely cannot do that,” said Patricia Barron, head of military community and family policy at the Defense Department, in an interview with Military Times. “I think the department knew that before, but they really know it now.”