Oklahoma and New Mexico Parents Receive Good News about Child Care Assistance

Recently, working parents in Oklahoma and New Mexico received some welcome news. State officials in these states reversed policies that would have made it more challenging for parents who need help paying for child care.

In June of this year, the Oklahoma Department of Human Services proposed to decrease funding for the state’s child care assistance program. Eligibility for child care assistance was set to be cut back and parents who receive help were set for an increase in their copayments as of August 1. Due to a disagreement over how the decision for program cuts was made, there was a delay in implementation until November 1. The good news is that last month the Department of Human Services announced that it had managed to find the funding necessary to avoid these cuts—at least for now.

In 2010 New Mexico stopped serving families who applied for child care assistance who had incomes above 100 percent of poverty ($18,530 a year for a family of three). Previously, families with incomes up to 200 percent of poverty ($37,060 a year for a family of three) applying for child care assistance could receive it.Now, all families with incomes between 100 and 200 percent of poverty applying for child care assistance are placed on a waiting list.

In addition to limiting families’ access to child care assistance, New Mexico decreased reimbursement rates for child care providers who serve children receiving child care assistance. According to the recently released National Women’s Law Center report on state child care assistance policies, New Mexico was the only state to reduce reimbursement rates between February 2010 and February 2011. Approximately 10 percent of the 560 child care centers registered with the New Mexico Children Youth and Families Department closed down in 2011. The rate reduction and the resulting loss in revenue for child care providers—who are already operating on very tight margins—were likely contributing factors in at least some of these closures.

Shortly after the NWLC report was released, the Governor of New Mexico announced that last year’s 4 percent reduction in reimbursement rates will be reversed as of January 1, 2012. In addition, about 1,300 children who had been on the waiting list will be able to receive child care assistance as of November 1.

Even with these positive developments, many families in Oklahoma and New Mexico will still not receive the child care assistance they need and child care providers will not receive the support they need to operate good-quality programs. In New Mexico, 4,700 children will remain on the waiting list, and reimbursement rates will remain insufficient. In Oklahoma, many low-income families will still be unable to qualify for child care assistance and many families receiving child care assistance will still have relatively high copayments. It is encouraging that these two states halted negative action on child care assistance. But hopefully these and other states will now take steps forward to help more families afford reliable, good-quality child care.