Washington State Has Some Good News on Child Care in This Historic Recession

Overall, the “State Child Care Assistance Policies 2009” issue brief says most states preserved key child care assistance between February 2008 and February 2009. The 30-page brief, however, offers encouraging news for local parents because Washington was 1 of 11 states that described how it would use money from the economic stimulus package for quality initiatives and professional development, while reporting no waiting list for child care assistance.

Washington may have made limited progress during this tough economic time, but it still has plenty of holes to fill. And the state’s child care effort mirrors much of the country, according to the report.

Between February 2008 and February 2009, the majority of states had no changes in the child care assistance policy areas covered in this report—income eligibility limits to qualify for child care assistance, waiting lists for child care assistance, copayments required of parents receiving child care assistance, and reimbursement rates for child care providers serving families receiving child care assistance. — “State Child Care Assistance Policies 2009: Most States Hold the Lin...

Still, there was bad news out there about cuts to child care support, the authors found.

However, in those states in which changes occurred, more states moved backward than forward in each of these policy areas. Moreover, most states did not advance or fell further behind in one or more policy areas since 2001. (Read the report for footnotes.)

Even though the latest indicators suggest the U.S. economy is getting healthier, the National Women’s Law Center issue brief warns there may be more bad news in the future about child care, though billions of dollars in fresh federal dollars could help offset it.

Finally, as more families struggle with unemployment and lose their homes, the country has taken a step backward on child care assistance over the last eight years, according to the report.

Yet, after years of stagnation in funding and policies, many state policies are behind where they were in 2001 and many low-income families remain unable to receive child care assistance, or receive child care assistance that fails to provide sufficient support.

Thanks to The Early Ed Watch Blog for highlighting this report. Check out its excellent analysis.

by Paul Nyhan, Birth to Thrive Online