A second chance for working families

Returning from their winter break, members of the U.S. House of Representatives have a chance to reconsider a budget bill that will have tremendous consequences for low-income families in Missouri.

Little-known provisions of the 774-page bill -- which representatives had only hours to review before they voted on it in December -- could cause hundreds of thousands of low-income working families struggling to stay financially independent to lose their child-care assistance.

The bill requires more parents receiving welfare assistance to work. While there is broad agreement about the goal of moving more families from welfare to work, simply establishing tougher requirements will not achieve this goal. Families need supports that make it possible to work, and key among these supports is child-care assistance to help parents entering low-wage jobs afford the high cost of care.

Yet the budget reconciliation bill does not include sufficient funding to provide child-care assistance for low-income families and the hundreds of thousands who will leave welfare for work.

Instead, to cover both the child care and the work costs of the new requirements, Missouri may have no choice but to reduce child-care assistance for low-income working families who are not receiving welfare.

Missouri has already cut back on child-care assistance. Missouri has the lowest eligibility cutoff in the nation, which means that thousands of working poor families are not eligible for this assistance at all, as they would be in any other state. A Missouri family of four can receive maximum assistance only if it earns less than $21,684 a year. With an infant and a preschool age child, the family would be paying at least $7,820 per year -- 38 percent of their income. In December 2005, we provided assistance to just 43,542 children, though almost 70,000 Missouri children under age 5 live in poverty.

Failing to help the families of these children is extremely short-sighted. Cutting child-care assistance is tantamount to cutting a vital lifeline for low-income working parents. Single mothers who receive help paying for child care are 40 percent more likely to remain employed after two years than those who receive no help, according to a study by the Economic Policy Institute. Former welfare recipients with young children are 82 percent more likely to be employed after two years if they receive help with child-care expenses.

Without assistance, child care is extremely difficult for low-income parents to afford. Parents struggling to afford the cost of child care on their own are left with no good options. They often must choose between paying other bills late or not at all, going into debt, turning to welfare or other public assistance, or settling for what they clearly know is inadequate care. In some cases this might mean leaving children home alone or putting pre-teens in charge of younger siblings.

Fortunately, there is a chance to save families from having to make such terrible decisions because the budget bill is not yet final. In early February, the House will vote again on the budget bill.

Now is the time to re-examine this bill's very real consequences for parents who are doing everything they can to support their families on limited incomes while ensuring that their children are safe and well cared for.

Dr. L. Carol Scott of Bunker, Mo., is past-president of the Association for the Education of Young Children of Missouri.