Effective Day Care The Pivotal Factor

In the best of circumstances the cost of standard day care poses a major hurdle for low-income workers.

In the four years since nationwide welfare reform was launched, state and federal officials have pointed to shrinking caseloads as evidence of success.

While those statistics say a lot about how much money states have saved and can therefore redirect to other needs, caseloads tell only part of the story. They don’t tell us, for example, whether or how well families whose benefits were terminated are surviving. After all, welfare reform was supposed to accomplish two goals: reduce public expenses and help families and individuals enter the workplace where they could find economic self-sufficiency.

No wonder Gov. Gary Locke boasted that unlike many states, Washington was saving $250 million a year in welfare outlays at the same time it was achieving a decline in child poverty.

This two-pronged accomplishment is due in large part to the state’s commitment to reinvest some of the direct savings from caseload reduction in services that will help make sure former welfare recipients land on their feet once jettisoned from the state assistance rolls.

One such service is child care. The governor announced last week that $9 million will be distributed to 38 programs, three of them in Spokane County, to improve the accessibility and availability of child care services for low-income households across the state. In the best of circumstances the cost of standard day care poses a major hurdle for low-income workers. The best of circumstances may include one or more problem-free children of at least toddler age who need basic care between 8 and 5, Monday through Friday, at a location convenient (perhaps by bus) to both the home and the workplace.

Frequently, however, the best of circumstances don’t apply to people in the worst of conditions. Their children may include infants and may have medical, emotional or behavioral problems. The parent, commonly a single mom, may work irregular hours or at night, or on weekends and may have no reliable transportation other than public transit.

In Spokane County, the Spokane County Regional Health District, the YWCA and School District 81’s Express program are among the 38 programs to share in the funding. They were to find out this week how big a share they will receive.

Split 38 ways, $9 million isn’t as much as it seems, meaning the work of all 38 programs must be carefully evaluated and their accomplishments emulated across the state. The outcomes of those programs will be truly successful only if they produce sustained improvements in the quality and quantity of day care that meets the needs of those whom welfare reform is meant to nudge from poverty and dependency to employment and self-reliance.