More families may get child care subsidy

BOISE – Idaho Health and Welfare administrators are considering a proposal that would allow more low-income families to qualify for subsidized child care.

The department currently only allows families to receive the subsidized care if they meet an income standard based on the 1998 federal poverty level.

The outdated poverty level forces some Idaho families to choose between earning at least some money – and face paying for their entire child care bill on their own – or turning down raises or remaining unemployed so they can qualify for state help, Department of Health and Welfare spokesman Tom Shanahan said.

Four years ago the state Office of Performance Evaluations began recommending that the department use a current poverty standard, but the change was never made because of limited funding.

Eligibility for the program is based on a complicated formula that considers the 1998 federal poverty standard, the child care rates in the region where the family lives, the family’s income and the number of children in the family.

“Right now, if we had a single mom making $8.50 an hour, she doesn’t qualify for Idaho Child Care Program assistance,” Shanahan said. “In Boise, child care runs around $550 to $600. When you’re making $8.50 an hour and have to pay for rent and food, can you afford to pay $550 for child care?”

If the department raised the eligibility requirement to the 2005 federal poverty level – allowing roughly 400 more children into the program — it would cost about $1.4 million more next year, Shanahan said.

But because the bulk of the money for the program comes from capped federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds, Shanahan said, making such a change would likely mean cuts elsewhere.

The department is considering cutting some families from the program by enacting stricter rules for parents enrolled in higher education programs.

Under the proposal, low-income parents who are attending secondary school would also have to work in order for their children to qualify for the assistance.

Even student parents with jobs would only qualify for the program for two years.

Those changes would likely cut enough families from the program to cover the estimated increase from updating the poverty eligibility rates, Shanahan said.

“We know that’s not optimal either, and it’s going to create hardships for students, but the bottom line is the program is designed to help the working poor, and right now the working poor don’t qualify,” Shanahan said.

Though the proposal is not yet official, the department may present it to lawmakers during the 2007 legislative session, he said.

Ann Gjerdy with New Horizon Childcare in Boise said any change that would help the lowest-income workers afford child care is welcome.

“We have single parents, and the percentage they have to pay and the jobs that they qualify for make it hard for them to make ends meet,” Gjerdy said.

“It’s forcing more parents to go on welfare if they can’t get out and find jobs and make sure their child care is taken care of.”

Karen Mason, executive director of the Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children, said the Health and Welfare Department is working hard to make sure it’s taking care of the families that are struggling the most.

“Right now the eligibility requirements are so low that many, many people are kept out,” Mason said. “It’s really important that the department bring the poverty rate to a more current year.”

Even now, most of the families that do qualify for the program do not get free child care. Instead, the state helps cover the cost of child care based on a sliding scale, Shanahan said.