Starting on Monday, July 1st, Kentucky lowered the income eligibility limit for child care assistance from 150 percent to 100 percent of the federal poverty level. As these drastic cuts go into effect, 8,700 families with 14,300 children are estimated to lose help in paying for child care
Starting on Monday, July 1st, Kentucky lowered the income eligibility limit for child care assistance from 150 percent to 100 percent of the federal poverty level. As these drastic cuts go into effect, 8,700 families with 14,300 children are estimated to lose help in paying for child care. The state had already stopped accepting new families into the program earlier this year. Paying for safe, much less high-quality, child care on their limited incomes will be an extraordinary challenge for these families who have lost or been denied help. Some parents will have no choice but to resort to less expensive, potentially less stable child care arrangements. Without reliable child care, low-income parent will have greater difficulties holding onto their jobs.
Catherine Kaiser, a Louisville parent interviewed by WFPL News, fears what she calls the “domino effect” that could result from the child care cuts. “When you lose your assistance program, you lose your job; when you lose your job, you lose your income. When you lose your income, you’ve lost all hope,” she said.
According to a survey of nearly 400 child care providers conducted by the Kentucky Youth Advocates (KYA), the child care assistance cuts will not only hurt the children and families who lose assistance, but may also force many child care centers to close and child care teachers and staff to lose their jobs. Brenda Bowman, Chief Operating Officer of Southside Christian Child Care in Louisville, expected that about one-third their staff (45 of 140) would lose their jobs. Such job losses can negatively affect the Kentucky economy as a whole.
In response to the cuts, Kentucky Youth Advocates, Kentucky’s Voice for Early Childhood, and Community Coordinated Child Care, organized a State Call-In Day on Monday, July 1st to urge Governor Steve Beshear to reconsider his decision. “Kentucky kids can’t wait until 2014 for these cuts to be restored,” said Dr. Terry Brooks, Executive Director of Kentucky Youth Advocates. Let’s hope they and their parents do not have to.