Child Care Financial Assistance Programs
Child care financial assistance programs offer financial aid for parents to help pay for child day care. Because of the rising cost of care for children, governments, employers and organizations offer financial assistance to parents in need. These entities also believe that by guaranteeing parents that their child is enrolled in quality day care, they are able to perform more productively at work. Qualifications and requirements differ by state.
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Massachusetts
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Massachusetts offers child care financial assistance through a tuition assistance program (TAP). The program was created after finding that parents in the state were spending at least 22 percent of their income on child day care. TAP will pay for a portion of a child's day care costs after evaluating a parent's income level. The evaluation will determine the amount of annual contribution the parent must make. Contribution amounts range from $8 to $200 a month in 2010. Parents must apply with the day care facility or through their local Massachusetts child care resource and referral agency. Parents do not need to be on welfare to qualify.
North Carolina
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Child care financial assistance in North Carolina is offered by the state's division of child development. Qualifying parents are eligible to receive a portion of their child care costs paid for by the program. To qualify, parents must meet certain situational criteria and family income standards. Situational criteria include whether or not the parent is working or at least attempting to find work, whether he is enrolled in school, whether the family is experiencing a crisis or the child has developmental needs. Based on the parent's income, fee obligations for the program vary from 8 to 10 percent of child care costs.
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Tennessee
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The department of human services organizes the child care financial assistance in Tennessee. The department offers a variety of programs for parents based on different family criteria. The Families First child care assistance, for example, is offered to low-income parents who need child care in order to perform their job duties. Parents do not need to make a co-payment under this program; the program pays full cost. The teen child care assistance program is offered to qualifying high school or middle school mothers who need child care assistance to stay in school. Parents must pay partially for the child care cost, an amount dependent on income.
Connecticut
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Care 4 Kids is a program, under the Connecticut Department of Social Services, aimed at providing financial help to low and moderate income families to pay for child care costs. Qualifying parents must live in Connecticut and be working and enrolled in school or attending a Jobs First training program. Care 4 Kids will pay for the cost of child care even if the child is being cared for in his own home or by a relative. Parents are expected to pay a family fee to the provider, including any additional costs that the program does not cover.
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