State Child Care Assistance Policies 2010: New York

•    Income eligibility limit: In 2010, a family of three in New York could qualify for child care assistance with an annual income up to $36,620 (200 percent of poverty, 56 percent of state median income).¹

•    Waiting list: New York keeps waiting lists at the county level (statewide data are not available). Each county also has the authority to freeze intake and stop adding names to its waiting list.

•    Parent copayments: In 2010, a family of three with an income at 100 percent of poverty ($18,310 a year) receiving child care assistance paid $4 per month, or less than 1 percent of its income in copayments. A family of three with an income at 150 percent of poverty ($27,465 a year) receiving child care assistance paid $267 per month, or 12 percent of its income in copayments.²

•    Reimbursement rates: In 2010, New York’s reimbursement rates for child care providers serving families receiving child care assistance were at the federally recommended level—the 75th percentile of current market rates, which is the level designed to give families access to 75 percent of the providers in their community.

•    Tiered reimbursement rates: In 2010, some districts in New York paid higher reimbursement rates for higher-quality care.³
o    The reimbursement rate for center care for a four-year-old in New York City at the highest quality tier was 15 percent higher than the rate at the lowest quality tier.
o    The reimbursement rate for center care for a four-year-old in New York City at the highest quality tier was above the 75th percentile of current market rates.

•    Eligibility for parents searching for a job: In 2010, New York allowed parents to continue receiving child care for up to 4 weeks while searching for a job.⁴ 

¹A few small demonstration projects set the income limit at $46,691 in 2010.
²The state allows districts the flexibility to set copayments within a state-specified range; these copayments reflect the maximum amount possible in that range.
³Social services may set reimbursement rates for accredited programs that are up to 15 percent higher than basic reimbursement rates.
⁴For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) participants, child care assistance must be maintained while a parent searches for a job for up to 2 weeks, or 4 weeks if child care arrangements would be lost if child care assistance was not continued. For families who are not participating in TANF, child care assistance may be maintained while a parent searched for a job for up to 2 weeks, or 4 weeks if child care arrangements would be lost if child care assistance was not continued. In addition, each local social services district may choose to provide child care assistance to parents searching for a job for up to 6 months (including those receiving and applying for child care assistance) as funds are available.

Source: Karen Schulman and Helen Blank, State Child Care Assistance Policies 2010: New Federal Funds Help States Weather the Storm (Washington, DC: National Women’s Law Center, 2010). These data reflect policies as of February 2010, unless otherwise indicated.