Advocating for Children

Child care assistance more essential than ever – but less available

January 12, 2012 at 9:05 pm 4cforchildren Leave a comment

When “welfare as we know it” was ended in 1996, replaced by Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, child care financial assistance was accurately seen as an essential support needed for families to get off public assistance. Over the last 15 years this assistance has lifted millions of people out of poverty.

Today, with states struggling with lower tax revenue and a climate where cutting government spending is sometimes seen as a religion, there are far fewer families who are able to benefit from this assistance. One Associated Press story (http://tinyurl.com/7dsu8ht) tells of a mother and father with a four-year-old boy who are losing their child care assistance because their income is too high. The mother is a waitress at a weight-loss resort, the father a tree-cutter. Both make near the minimum wage.

Their story really struck me because, four years ago, they lived in a tent in a dry river bed, strung out on methamphetamines. Today they are both working, paying rent and supporting their child. They played by the rules – welfare reform has worked for them. It’s tough love with serious consequences for those who do not get training and work.

Now exactly why would we force this mother to quit her job and return to welfare? That is, if the family has not already reached its time limits so she can still qualify I often hear politicians and others interviewed saying that they worked hard for their money, and they do not want to prop up lazy people. But what about hard-working people who have worked extraordinarily hard to overcome odds? Count me in as one supporting more child care assistance to working families.

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