Bonnie Albrecht’s path to a government child care assistance program was long (the Texas mother spent nearly two years on a waiting list) and bureaucratic (involving seven pay stubs and countless phone calls). Edythe Smith, who lives in Syracuse, New York, juggled her full-time job with caring for her baby daughter full-time from home while she waited for help. Barbara Aranda had to call her job in Austin so often that she lost crucial income and had to turn to food pantries to feed her three children.
The three women have two things in common: They all spent at least a year on a waiting list for child care subsidies, which mainly help low- and moderate-income working families pay exorbitant child care costs.
And they are all single mothers.
Single parents have been disproportionately affected by record waitlists for child care assistance across the country, as I reported this week for Hechinger and The 19th. About 80 percent of the grant recipients are – like Aranda, Smith and Albrecht – single parents. Several of these mothers (mostly) told me about their lack of not only employment, but also promotions and basic financial and food security due to long waits for access to assistance.
An already dire situation could get even worse if the Trump administration gets its way. The New York Times reported Earlier this month, U.S. Vice President JD Vance pushed for an overhaul of the $12 billion Child Care and Development Block Grant to redirect some of the funds to stay-at-home parents — provided they are married, of course. To be eligible, one spouse must work at least 35 hours per week while the other stays at home.
On X, Vance has called universal child care “a massive subsidy to the lifestyle preferences of the rich over the preferences of the middle and working class,” adding that “normal Americans care more about their families than their jobs, and want a family policy that doesn’t send their kids to crappy daycares so they can enjoy more ‘freedom’ in the paid workforce.” »
But Republicans are hardly unanimous in their vision of what should happen with the nearly 40-year-old child care assistance program. Earlier this year, 40 Republicans in Congress advocated for “robust” funding of the program, even if this attempt was unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, a conservative group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, Advancing American Freedom, has pronounced against Vance’s idea because it would “punish work” and “expose the sanctity of the family to government intrusion,” among other concerns.
Some experts doubt that Vance’s plan will one day take effect. But the idea poses a serious distraction at a time when waiting lists continue to grow in many states, leaving countless parents — especially women — priced out of the job market.
This article on child care subsidies was produced by The Hechinger Report, an independent, nonprofit news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Subscribe to the Hechinger newsletter.
Post-Trump proposal could shift child care subsidies to stay-at-home parents appeared first on the Hechinger Report.
