Child Care Subsidies

Cat Wise: According to one study, a typical family in Mississippi with an infant and a 4-year-old has to spend about 20 percent of their income on child care. But there are federal programs to help low-income parents, Head Start and child care subsidies in the form of vouchers. And neither program is universal. Carol Burnett is director of the nonprofit Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative. Carol Burnett: We do a lot of work trying to help parents navigate the mine field of applying for a child care voucher. And it's not just the funding. It's the application process that's incredibly burdensome, the multiple obstacles that stand in the way. Cat Wise: Nationally, only one in seven children who are eligible for child care subsidies under federal rules actually receive them. Lea Austin: It is a critical part of our infrastructure. Cat Wise: Child care as a safety net program is just not working, according to U.C. Berkeley's Lea Austin. She's the director of the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment. Lea Austin: There is not enough of those child care subsidies today to make sure everybody who needs it gets access to it. And so those that just has a domino effect, right? If you can't we know, if you can't access child care, the impact that has on your ability to work. You may not work at all. You may have to reduce your earnings.