For Immediate Release
Thursday, July 17, 2003
Suspension of Child Care Dollars Spells Crisis For Providers and Parents
ALTADENA, CA —Thousands of children across California from low-income or working families may no longer have providers to care for them while their parents are at work. On July 15, the State began suspending subsidy payments to child care workers who provide care to these children, forcing the providers to either turn children away or go without pay until the legislature passes a state budget.
"When working parents can't get child care, they can't go to work. The moms lose their jobs and the whole family is put at risk," said Kippy Moore, an Altadena resident providing child care for six children who are subsidized by the state's CalWorks program.
Without reimbursement checks from the State's Department of Education, some parents will face an impending crisis and providers will face immediate financial insecurity: "We count on every penny to keep our doors open. Most of us simply don't have extra funds to 'float' our subsidized kids," said Queen Evans, vice-president of the Family Child Care Educators Association of the San Gabriel Valley. "This is how we earn a living. This is how we survive."
While the State is ultimately responsible for making good on its payments, it is effectively "borrowing" from the childcare providers and counting on them to find ways to cover the costs of providing care while there is no budget resolution. Yet these providers are some of the least able to bail the state out during this budget crisis.
"Operating with little or no financial cushion, many child care providers are facing the decision to turn away subsidized children in order to stay open. No one wants to be put in that situation," said Denise Dowell, co-director of the United Child Care Union (UCCU), an affiliate of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which represents family childcare providers around the state.
Family providers often earn less than minimum wage when all of their operating costs are factored in to their income. State subsidies often account for the majority of providers' monthly income, particularly in low-income neighborhoods. The immediate suspension of subsidy payments translates to hundreds of dollars in lost income, an unanticipated gap that makes caring for their own families all the more challenging.
Members of the United Child Care Union have been working in coalition with other advocacy groups to encourage legislators to fund a budget that has sufficient new revenues to provide stability to programs for working families, including child care.
