Pssst, Child Care Assistance Over Here...

For the first time in 2 1/2 years, the state is taking new applications for child care assistance for very low-income families. That’s the good news. The bad news is they don’t have much of a budget to tell anyone about it.

A state child care official told us about their "no-cost" outreach plan, and asked if we could help spread the word (we are not making this up). We hope that you too will pass the word. Forward links to this blog post, put a notice in your church bulletin, announce it in your community or organization newsletter, add it to your Reporters Notebook... Say something like this:

"Beginning July 1, 2005, Maryland will begin helping very low-income families pay some of their child care costs. Families can apply now. To apply contact your local Department of Social Services (You can look up the number for the office in your jurisdiction).

Only very low-income families will be assisted at this time. For example, assistance will be available to families of two making less than $13,333 a year, and families of 3 making less than $16,471 per year. Assisted families will be required to share in the cost of the care provided.

Applicants will need a signed application and verification of wages for the most recent 4 weeks. They must have a photo ID, proof of address, proof of immunizations, proof of social security numbers for the children, and proof that child support requirements have been met."

Spread the news, please.

The not so good news is that the amount of assistance that we provide is quite low. For example, a single parent with two kids who earns $300 a week, lives in Howard or Montgomery counties, and has his children in center-based care would be required to pay $200 a month – more than 1/7 th of his income – as his share of child care costs. The state then pays the rest of the cost, up to a cap.

Unfortunately, the caps on state payments are below the actual cost of child care that most parents will find (the state hasn’t adjusted it’s child care cost schedule in years, but that doesn’t mean that the actual costs of child care are frozen in time too). So, in addition to the $200 co-pay, parents will be required to cover the difference between the state subsidy cap and the actual cost of care.

To summarize:
+ We are accepting new applications for child care assistance for the first time in 2 ½ years
- We aren’t spending enough money to make sure that people know that we are accepting new applications
- Assistance will be provided to very low-income families only. For example, a single parent with two kids and who makes about $320 a week makes too much money to qualify fo help paying for child care (for the math challenged, that's 8 bucks an hour for full-time work).
- Even families that qualify for assistance will pay a large share of their income for child care.
At some point the state may open up the waiting list for families who have slightly higher incomes. However, Governor Ehrlich has not made help for these low-income families a Maryland priority at this time.

Does Maryland's level of commitment of helping low-income, working families pay for child care reflect your values and priorities?

Addendum June 16, 2005, for people who are looking for child care in Maryland: A lot of people who are looking for child are getting referred to this post from Internet search engines. We're glad that you got here, and hope that you come back. We'd also like to help you find what you're looking for: child care. Here is a great place to start, from our friends at the Maryland Committee for Children.