For low-income working families in the United States, the federal government offers financial aid to help pay for childcare.
asserted
government → work → childcare
That is, if families can get off the waitlist for it.
asserted
families → get → it
That figure has more than tripled over the past two years.
asserted
figure → triple → years
Around 118,800 kids were on waitlists in early 2024, the group found.
asserted
group → find → 2024
But there has not been nearly enough money available for caregivers looking for financial help, especially recently as childcare costs have ballooned nationwide.
asserted
costs → look → help
Valentina Sosa of Cypress, Texas, first applied for childcare assistance for her 18-month-old daughter, Ameea, in March.
asserted
Sosa → apply → March
Sosa's wages as a part-time real estate assistant aren't enough to cover the cost of local daycare.
asserted
wages → cover → daycare
While the family waits, Ameea mostly stays at home with Sosa while she works, which she often does remotely.
asserted
she → wait → which
"I know she needs the development that she's not getting, the engagement that she's not getting here with me, because if I'm working, I can only do so much," said Sosa, who is a single mother.
asserted
who → know → much
"That's horrible to see for her.
asserted
That → see → her
But I do what I can."
asserted
I → do → ?
Childcare advocates blame the expanding waitlists in part on a failure by Congress to appropriate enough money for the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), the federal government's main source of funding to help families pay for childcare.
asserted
families → blame → childcare
The program serves over 1.6 million children across the U.S. in a typical month.
asserted
program → serve → month
"We have public funding for our schools because we recognize it as a public good that is important for our economy, for the well-being and future success of young people," said Karen Schulman, senior director of state childcare policy at the National Women's Law Center.
asserted
Schulman → have → Center
"We don't fund our childcare system like that."
asserted
We → fund → that
Other forces have compounded in recent years to make waitlists even longer.
asserted
waitlists → compound → years
More low-income families are applying for assistance, advocates say, and federal COVID-19 relief money that temporarily helped boost U.S. childcare programs ran out.
asserted
that → apply → programs
It's forced many caregivers balancing their jobs with their childcare responsibilities to wait and see if their number on the waitlist will be called.
asserted
number → force → waitlist
Almost one third of U.S. states have waitlists
asserted
third → have → waitlists
Seventeen states currently have waitlists for childcare assistance or have stopped taking new applications, according to the NWLC report.
uncertain
states → have → report
(In states where county governments run the childcare assistance program, waitlists may exist in some counties but not others.)
uncertain
waitlists → run → counties
In the past, the number of states with waitlists has been higher, but Schulman said she doesn't remember a time when this many children were in line for assistance.
asserted
children → say → assistance
For example, 21 states had waitlists in 2001, encompassing a total of around 202,900 children — roughly half of the current total.
asserted
states → have → total
Federal stimulus dollars had buoyed the childcare sector during the pandemic, Schulman said; now, that money is gone.
asserted
money → buoy → pandemic
Roughly $39 billion from the American Rescue Plan went toward childcare, but states had to use the money by September 2024.
asserted
states → go → September
She added that CCDF funding has been "stalling" in recent years.
asserted
funding → add → years
Furthermore, childcare assistance programs are operated by states, which have different eligibility requirements for families and subsidy rates for providers.
asserted
which → operate → providers
States can also decide whether to spend their Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) dollars on childcare, and Schulman said some states facing budgetary pressures may have less of their own money to divert to assistance programs.
uncertain
states → decide → programs
That creates a difficult math problem for state officials, who have to balance the number of families they serve with the amount they spend on care, said Jordan Pargeter, federal initiatives and strategic policy administrator in Oregon's Department of Early Learning and Care.
asserted
Pargeter → create → Learning
"Is it better to serve more families but not help them very much with the cost of care?" Pargeter said.
asserted
Pargeter → serve → care
"Or is it better to serve less families but actually get closer to the true cost of care that providers are facing?"
asserted
providers → serve → that
Oregon established a statewide waitlist in 2023 that currently has around 26,000 children waiting to apply (though not all of them may be eligible).
uncertain
all → establish → them
Certain priority groups, such as families in the state's child welfare system, can bypass the waitlist.
asserted
groups → bypass → waitlist
Beyond that, though, no families have come off the waitlist in nearly three years.
asserted
families → come → years
Alyssa Chatterjee, director of Oregon's Department of Early Learning and Care, said Oregon pays childcare providers well and doesn't require high co-payments from families.
asserted
Oregon → say → families
Co-payments in Oregon are typically just 2% to 4% of a family's income, well below the 7% maximum allowed under a previous federal rule.
asserted
payments → allow → rule
It has meant that a smaller number of families is receiving a greater amount of financial aid.
asserted
number → mean → aid
"Oregon really has chosen to focus on maintaining that quality of programming that works well for providers and families by keeping those copays low, paying providers well," Chatterjee said.
asserted
Chatterjee → choose → providers
"That means we have to serve fewer families with the resources available."
asserted
we → mean → resources
Because of those financial pressures nationwide, the CCDF only reaches a fraction of the families it was designed for.
asserted
it → reach → families
…and 25 more, not listed.
The Aporia
