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| In
Brief: Increased Funding Needed to Help More Families
The extent of the unmet need for child care by low-income families and children has become a key question with the current reauthorizations of both the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) projects that 30% of children whose families meet state CCDF eligibility requirements in 2003 will receive subsidies, and 47% of children in families with incomes below the 1999 poverty threshold will receive subsidies in 2003. However, according to estimates from the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), the projections by HHS overstate the extent to which states meet the child care needs of low-income families in three ways: projections are based on more restrictive state eligibility rules rather than focusing on children eligible under federal law, therefore undercounting the number of children who are eligible for assistance; fiscal projections are based on uncertain 2003 spending rather than current spending data; and projections are based on an assumption that an increasing number of children will receive care while the numbers needing care will remain constant. CLASP
argues that the inaccuracies in HHS's projections have implications
for the funding that is allocated for child care subsidies and how
it is allocated. According to child care advocates, current proposals
for TANF/CCDF reauthorization (see National Policy News, factsinaction.org/national/naaug02.htm)
fall short of the funding required to meet the needs of working
families. In addition, a proposal to increase TANF work requirements
would broaden the gap between the number of families who need child
care assistance and the number who receive it. Although it is important
to appreciate the increases in child care funding since 1996, there
are still large unmet needs. CCDF and TANF reauthorization provide
an opportunity to address these needs, if they are examined using
current data and with as wide and accurate a scope possible to truly
estimate the child care needs of low-income families and children.
For
more information: Facts in Action, August 2002 |
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