New Jersey families who want to enroll in a subsidized child care program are being turned away this month after state lawmakers didn’t fully fund the program’s needs.
As it stands, families can’t apply for new vouchers, even if they have an older child already receiving the subsidy. Also, existing voucher holders face a higher co-pay. The freeze is leaving parents scrambling to figure out care and providers worried about whether they’ll be able to stay open.
“ We are talking about families who cannot get in and them potentially choosing between whether they work or don’t work, whether they go to school or don’t go to school, whether they have to reduce work hours or come completely out of the field,” said Winifred Smith-Jenkins, director of early childhood policy and advocacy for Advocates for Children of New Jersey.
Now advocates are calling for lawmakers to hold a special session to approve an additional $30 million that would reopen the application process and fund vouchers for another 2,400 kids. A group of legislators is drafting legislation that adds more money.
The state’s 70,000 child care vouchers offer low-cost care to families who qualify based on income and have infants or children up to 13 years old. Right now, families pay about 2%-5% of their income as a co-pay but that is set to increase to make up for the shortfall, the state said.
To qualify for the Child Care Assistance Program families must prove they are working at least 30 hours a week or going to school, and earn under 200% of the federal poverty level. For a family of four that means earning up to $64,300 a year. While Gov. Phil Murphy invested more than $1 billion in new funding for the program since 2018, and doubled reimbursement rates for child care providers, it hasn’t kept pace with growing demand.
The program has exceeded its budget despite another $80 million added in this year’s state budget. Child care advocates say that speaks to the increasing cost of child care in New Jersey, which can average $19,600 for an infant or $18,800 for a toddler, according to a Child Care Aware of America report.
“Child care is historically something that unless you’re in a crisis situation, we look at it as something parents need to figure out on their own, it is an invisible struggle,” said Debra Lancaster, executive director at the Center for Women and Work at Rutgers University.
But she said child care is critical to the state’s economy, too.
“How can we prevent financial disaster for families who are working and trying to raise their families in New Jersey?” Lancaster said.
Families who qualify but are being turned away for vouchers are being referred to Head Start or their local districts which may offer free care for 3- and 4-year-olds. About half of New Jersey’s districts offer preschool.
Child care providers are already feeling the effects since enrollment stopped on Aug. 1 and co-pays for parents rose to an average 6% of a family’s income.
Cindy Shields, president of the New Jersey Association for the Education of Young Children, which represents providers, said she’s heard from providers who say they’re having to turn away families because parents can’t afford the higher co-pays.
Shields said she’s heard from parents who just had a baby and also have older child in day care but “can’t afford care for both of the children without the subsidy.”
Advocates said people with in-home day care centers can only have five kids in their care and losing one or two if a parent can’t afford it could threaten their bottom line. The enrollment freeze also means families with an older child receiving a voucher won’t be able to get a voucher for their second child.
In New York City, officials have also started waitlisting new families applying for vouchers who qualify based on income even after Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul dramatically boosted funding for the program. About 3,000 kids are on the wait list.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
