Parents have another headache this back-to-school season because the recession is cutting back after-school care, the Wall Street Journal reports today, and that trend is likely rippling through preschool, pre-kindergarten and child care.

The story paints a sad picture of working parents sending their kids to malls and libraries, leaving them home alone or sending them home with their second-grade sibling.

“As schools open their doors this month and next, closings and cutbacks at thousands of after-school programs nationwide have parents scrambling to make alternative arrangements. Some are forging new child-care alliances with neighbors, or turning their work or sleep schedules upside down to watch their children after school. A growing number will leave young schoolchildren home alone, or in the care of siblings.” – Parents Scramble as Ax Falls on After-School Programs, WSJ, 08/26/09.

The recession has clearly reshaped after-school care in my house. As a full-time stay-at-home dad and part-time journalist, I’m now in charge of after-school time. But, we know we are lucky and that many parents can’t rely on a spouse’s job to bridge this gap.

While the Afterschool Alliance doesn’t have hard data on the earliest years of school, you could expect similar cuts in the early learning community, the Washington, D.C.-based group’s vice president for policy and research, Jen Rinehart, told me this afternoon.

"A lot of the after-school providers we know are also providing care for younger kids during the day,” Rinehart said.

One parent quoted in the article said it all for many working and struggling parents.

"In this work environment, you can't really afford to go to your boss and say, 'I want my schedule changed,' " Mr. (Philippe) Zamor says.”You are grateful to have a job."

I am a big fan of the WSJ’s Sue Shellenbarger. She combines serious journalism chops, experience raising her own two children and three step-children and context derived from the fact her kids are now older to create some of the best family reporting out there.

Check out Shellenbarger’s latest story and join the interesting debate at The Juggle, one of the more useful online forums for parenting topics.