Minnesota, along with many other states, has made it more difficult in recent years for low-income families to receive child care assistance, according to a state-by-state examination of child care policies since 2001.
Reports released by the National Women's Law Center in Washington, D.C., in September 2005 illustrate that Minnesota has lowered its income-eligibility cutoffs for child care assistance, making it more difficult for low-income families to qualify for help. The state has also increased the monthly copayments charged to families.
In Their Own Voices: Parents and Providers Struggling with Child Care Cuts compiles 200 interviews with parents, child care providers, and state childcare experts nationwide. Its companion report, Child Care Assistance Policies 2005, is based on data through February 2005.
The concern is that parents who do not have reliable and affordable child care will not be able to get a job. Said one parent who was interviewed for the report, “I have two boys in need of child care. If I do not receive child care within the next upcoming weeks, I will have no other choice but to resign from my job. This cut will put me back to the welfare line.”
About 9,100 families in Minnesota use subsidized child care. The report is available at http://www.NWLC.org.
