Child Care Subsidies
Child care subsidies make quality child care more affordable, support the healthy development of children, and help low-income parents access the child care they need to go to work or to school to support their families. CLASP develops and promotes child care subsidy policies that expand access to assistance for low-income families, improve the quality of child care across settings, and help child care providers access the supports they need to provide high-quality care. We analyze state and national child care subsidy data to help advocates and policymakers better understand state policies and make the case for effective policies. For state child care assistance fact sheets, go to In the States.
States Strengthen Work Support Strategies in First Year of Initiative
In the midst of tighter budgets and cuts in benefits spending, some states are focusing on more effective administration of public benefits that support working families. They're doing so because they know that these benefits, which include programs focused on nutrition, health care and child care, help families become and stay employed and promote children's success in school and life. By streamlining eligibility processes and cutting red tape for these programs, states can reduce administrative costs and make it less daunting for working families to get the help they need.
For example, states involved in the Work Support Strategies (WSS) project are making administrative and programmatic decisions that help families more easily acquire benefits for which they're eligible. Reports on the initial planning year of the project (2010-2011), released by the Urban Institute today, indicate that participating states have made progress in simplifying application processes, streamlining eligibility policies, and coordinating the administration of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP - formerly Food Stamps), Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and child care assistance.
As a partner in the WSS project, CLASP provides technical assistance to states to strengthen the administration of their child care assistance programs in the context of the broader WSS focus on coordinating across multiple programs. In the first year of the project, WSS states took steps to reduce barriers to families' enrollment in child care assistance programs and to improve continuity of care for children. Read More >>
- Emily Firgens and Hannah Matthews | Nov 20, 2012 State Child Care Policies for Limited English Proficient Families
- Hannah Matthews | Sep 11, 2012 At Risk: Early Care and Education Funding and Sequestration
- Karen Schulman, Hannah Matthews, Helen Blank, and Danielle Ewen | Feb 23, 2012 A Count for Quality: Child Care Center Directors on Rating and Improvement Systems
- Hannah Matthews | Mar 01, 2012 Recent Child Care Growth to Fade, Startling Drop in Assistance Projected
- Danielle Ewen and Hannah Matthews | Nov 17, 2011 Caring for Babies: How State Child Care Policies Can Support Continuity
- Child Care and Early Education | Feb 08, 2013 Early Childhood Education Update - February 2013
- Jan 23, 2013 After the Fiscal Cliff, What's Next for Early Childhood?
- CLASP and ZERO TO THREE | Dec 19, 2012 Expanding Access to EHS: Illinois Child Care Initiative
- CLASP and ZERO TO THREE | Dec 19, 2012 Expanding Access to EHS: Kansas Initiative
- CLASP and ZERO TO THREE | Dec 19, 2012 Expanding Access to EHS: Minnesota Initiative
