An innovative proposal to preserve child care subsidies for low-income working families, despite a $55 million cut to child care funding in Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Executive Budget, is being advanced by the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA) and the Empire Justice Center.    The plan calls for a temporary exemption of public assistance (PA) participants with infants and toddlers from work requirements until the budget crisis has passed.  This would effectively free-up child care subsidy slots which would otherwise be allocated to PA recipients attending work related activities and utilize them to support low-income working families.  Without this approach, it is those slots currently being utilized by working families which would bear the brunt of budget cuts.

“If you are going to cut $55 million out of the child care program, let’s look at the ways we can maximize use of the funds we have,” says Susan Antos, Senior Staff Attorney at Empire Justice Center.  “Let’s help people who have jobs retain those jobs.”

“Given these difficult economic times, this is a temporary solution that can help us weather the crisis until budget revenues come back to a normal rate,” says Bich Ha Pham, Director of Policy, Advocacy and Research at FPWA.  “These temporary exemptions would be targeted at PA recipients who are unemployed but required to attend work related activities such as Workfare and soft skills training.  Do we want to require that at the cost of having employed people lose child care subsidies and lose jobs they already have.  Most of those people would likely wind up back on welfare because they won’t be able to maintain employment.”

Advocates believe an exemption aimed at unemployed PA recipients with children under the age of two could preserve over 8,000 child care slots for low-income working families, while also savings millions in administrative costs for work activities.

The proposal is beginning to gain traction in Albany, even as the Governor and legislative leaders move towards finalizing a budget for the coming year.

“This proposal would provide an exemption for those women with the youngest children, where finding and keeping safe child care is the most difficult,” says Senator Liz Krueger.  “In a time when there are too few child cares slots, it makes sense to allow those who already have jobs to keep them and allow those who don’t have a job to stay home and care for a young child, which many child development experts believe to be the right answer, and not be penalized by public assistance work rules.”

California already has implemented a similar exemption.

“Without an exemption, it will be like we are playing some perverse game of musical chairs with poor women and their young children,” says Krueger.  “When the music stops, families without jobs and child care will be grabbing them away from families who already have child care and have been able to find work.”

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