Parents and community leaders are rallying to keep a Mott Haven day care center open.

With support from Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, some Mott Haven parents are battling the Administration for Children?s Services. The ACS says it is closing the Lucille Murray Child Development Center due to the mismanagement of funds allocated to provide affordable child care under the state?s universal pre-kindergarten program.

One parent whose child attends the day care center says the sudden closure of the facility will make it difficult for her to find affordable child care.

?We don?t have good jobs,? says Esther Guzman, who currently pays $3 a week for one of her two children to attend the day care center. ?We can?t pay $200 a week for babysitters. We need this.?

ACS says that it will transfer the children of Lucille Murray Child Development Center to nearby ACS-sponsored centers or give parents vouchers so that their children can attend private day care centers.

If closed, Lucille Murray Child Development Center will be added to the list of four day care centers to close in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx in recent years.