'Child care cliff' makes it tough for working poor to get ahead

Also blocking many working-poor Iowa families from getting help in paying for child care: The state has one of the lowest income eligibility limits in the nation at 145 percent of poverty level, said Charles Bruner, executive director of the Child and Family Policy Center in Des Moines, a research and advocacy group. That cutoff was 43rd lowest among the states last year, according to the National Women’s Law Center. For example, a single mother in Iowa with two children must earn no more than $27,000.