NY Times: Child Care Assistance Declining as Need Rises

 “There’s a long history of recognition that child care is essential to helping low-income women work. That commitment is being eroded.” - Helen Blank, Director of Leadership and Public Policy at the National Women’s Law Center, quoted in the NY Times 

A front-page story in today’s New York Times, citing NWLC’s recent report and its finding that child care assistance has eroded in 37 states, shows the impact of this for families across the country. A mother on the waiting list for assistance in Virginia has her daughter spend her after-school hours with her grandmother while the grandmother does her job driving a bus across the city. A mother on the waiting list in Maryland uses a patchwork of arrangements—including a grandmother in ill health—that often fall through, forcing her to miss work and lose pay. A mother in Pennsylvania receives child care assistance, but constantly worries about losing her job, losing her assistance, and being placed at the end of a long waiting list before she could receive it again.

The declining availability of child care assistance makes it more difficult for parents to work and afford high-quality care that supports their children’s learning and development. Unfortunately, recent developments in several states suggest that this trend is unlikely to reverse in the near future, and may get worse. In Washington State, the governor has proposed reducing the state’s child care budget by $50 million, which would cut child care assistance to 4,000 families. California’s budget shortfall is likely to force cuts to child care funding as well—which will come on top of an 11 percent cut made to child care programs earlier in the year. These cuts will result in more parents—like those in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania—struggling to keep their jobs, pay their bills, and ensure the well-being of their children. Policy makers should make it a top priority to prevent these cuts and instead expand child care assistance, which would have benefits for both parents and children.