Michigan Leads Nation … In Denying Child Care To Low-Income Families
The cost of child care is one of the biggest expenses facing many families in the United States. For some, the cost is more than their rent or mortgage payment. Low income families especially struggle to find affordable child care.
Child care providers are among the lowest paid workers, are most likely to be living in poverty, and barely making ends meet for their own families.
Yet, lawmakers in Michigan are about to walk away from $20.5 million in federal funding for child care because they won’t commit to spending $7.5 million in state money to help working families. Michigan has the disappointing distinction of being the state that returns the most unused federal funding dollars every year. In 2014, Michigan missed out on $9.3 million of federal funding.
Michigan’s limit on the amount of income a child care assistance recipient can earn is also the lowest in all 50 states. That means Michigan only offers assistance to the bare minimum number of needy families.
Some legislators have named underutilization of the program as a reason for not supporting funding, but Michigan also makes it incredibly difficult to apply for child care assistance. Parents trying to get help report onerous paperwork, long waits, and confusion over the process.
At the recent Child Care Policy Summit in Lansing, participants heard from many people about road blocks to receiving assistance.
Marnese Jackson is one of them. The Michigan mother found paying for full day care for herMichigan Leads Nation … In Denying Child Care To Low-Income Families: