The Weld County Department of Human Services will freeze enrollment in the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program starting on Feb. 1 due to a lack of funding, leaving many without the unique service.
“Issuing an enrollment freeze is not something we take lightly,” Department of Human Services Director Jamie Ulrich said in a news release on Monday. “We understand the negative impact this will have on the families and communities we serve, but with a lack of funding, this is something we have to do to continue supporting our enrolled families.”
The Colorado Child Care Assistance Program is a federally funded program that provides low-income families with financial assistance for child care costs. The program operates under the belief that every child deserves to receive quality child care that they may not receive otherwise due to their family’s circumstances.
The program is available to any family who may be homeless, working or searching for work, or enrolled in school and makes no more than 185% of the federal poverty rate. This means a family of four who makes less than $4,810 a month after taxes is eligible for assistance.
A study released this week showed 1 in 3 Weld County households struggle to afford necessities, and child care is the top expense for the average family of four.
With recently increased state-mandated rate adjustments for providers and new federal regulations, the Child Care Assistance Program had to make the hard decision to freeze enrollment in the program. The biggest cause of this freeze was the recently passed Improved Access to Child Care Assistance Program Act, Weld County officials said.
Weld County Department of Human Services Deputy Director Tami Grant said this new law will add an estimated $33 million to the program’s ongoing costs.
“This is the most significant rule change and is one of the primary drivers to determine a freeze is necessary in Weld County,” Grant said.
The law, which was passed in June, expanded the criteria of eligibility by blocking counties from adding their own eligibility criteria and limiting application requirements to only income requirements.
With this act’s passage, the Child Care Assistance Program estimates it will need almost $70 million to operate without implementing an enrollment freeze, of which the program received only $10 million from the governor’s supplemental budget. Additionally, since the program is not an entitlement program — government programs that guarantee benefits to a particular group — it cannot access any additional funds than what has been allocated at a federal level.
Weld County is the last of the larger Colorado counties to implement a freeze, with Boulder, Denver and Larimer counties among the several counties that already have frozen enrollment.
Weld County will still accept applications to the program after the freeze is enacted on Feb. 1. Applicants will be placed on a freeze list and will be addressed in the order that their applications were received.
Currently, there is no expected time when the freeze will end, but the Child Care Assistance Program will be connecting families with additional programs such as the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, food assistance and Medicaid. However, there is no alternative program that helps families with child care assistance.
“Continued collaborative efforts will remain a priority in Weld County to provide support and connect families to services whenever possible,” Grant said.
To learn more about the program and apply, residents can go to bit.ly/4hkzMTM or call 970-400-6017.
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