Rachel Flood, Brown University graduate conducted an informative study into Government Provided Child Care Assistance: The dynamics of program participation in Rhode Island. Her research showed interesting background and current dynamics influences in areas of financial assistance for single parents, particularly in relation to child care.
According to Rachel, when President Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) into law in 1996, the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program was eliminated. This was then replaced with a new system of block grants to states known as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF).
TANF, providing only temporary financial assistance for single parents, eliminated the welfare entitlement that existed under AFDC, placing lifetime limits on the amount of aid that one individual can receive. It also required that welfare recipients begin working after a minimum of two years of receiving government assistance.
The study explains that TANF families face great obstacles to employment, one being a lack of affordable child care. In recognition of this problem, PRWORA effected important changes to the nation’s child care policy. Four separate child care subsidy programs providing financial assistance for single parents were consolidated into a single block grant to states.
The total amount of money available for subsidizing child care was then increased, allowing states to transfer funds from the TANF block grant into child care. In addition, states were granted flexibility and discretion in designing their own demographically relevant child care programs for low-income families.
The idea was to ensure that financial assistance for single parents in areas of childcare is available to alleviate working and taking care of the children a the same time. Under this auspice, the child care subsidy program in Rhode Island is one of the most generous in the nation. Child care assistance is available to working families with incomes under 225% of the federal poverty level, classifying it as a legal entitlement.
In simper terms is means that every eligible applicant is guaranteed child care assistance whereas in other states, where subsidies are no longer a legal entitlement, eligible families are not guaranteed financial assistance for single parents and may be placed on subsidy waiting lists until they qualify for something.
The Welfare Debate
Eligibility for Rhode Island’s subsidy program depends on income as well as a family’s work activity requiring low-income single parents families to work at least 20 hrs per week. Participants in the Family Independence Program, can include as work activities on-the-job training, community service, vocational training, and participation in job readiness programs in addition to public and private sector employment.
The child care subsidy program offering financial assistance for single parents is generous and can in fact remove a major obstacle to employment. With the child care subsidy programs developed in tandem, providing two-pronged assistance for single parents, the government has slowly found ways to treat the cause and not the symptoms by providing additional coverage to economically needy families without having to add child care costs to the risk of ending up back on welfare.
In the end, her research concludes that the most notable feature of Rhode Island’s child care policy is that child care subsidies are classified as a legal entitlement for eligible families. “The fact that subsidies are an entitlement is important because it insures that no family will be placed on a waiting list for child care assistance. Theoretically, this should encourage more families to participate in the subsidy program. “explains Rachel.
However, it is not established whether financial assistance for single parents and those in the low income bracket seeking welfare will more readily participate in subsidy programmes by legislatively guaranteeing child care assistance. The findings revealed that many families who are eligible to receive child care subsidies do, in fact, not participate in the program with take-up rate for child care subsidies ar only about 18.8%.
Families who do not speak English as a first language also showed incredibly low intake rates as a result of information access and navigating bureaucracy. An overwhelming majority of families receiving child care financial assistance for single parents subsidies during the months of this analysis chose to use those subsidies to pay for center care. As a result the state should continue its efforts to improve the quality of center care.
The study was conducted in a particular segment of the subsidy system however the best available information about child care subsidy use is found in administrative data. Population surveys also prove to be a valuable tool for measuring attitudes and preferences and additional research is required on the larger population of working poor who are not enrolled in the Family Independence Program to ensure that trends in financial assistance for single parents seeking child care subsidies are broadly considered.
Important online resources to visit for child care links include;
- Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning csefel.vanderbilt.edu
- National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) www.naccrra.org
- National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) www.naeyc.org
- National Child Care Information Center (NCCIC) http://nccic.org
- National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (NECTAC) www.nectac.org
- National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities (NICHCY) www.nichcy.org
- Teaching Strategies, Inc. www.teachingstrategies.com
- Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families www.zerotothree.org
Financial Assistance For Single Parents: Food
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) under the US Department of Agriculture puts healthy food on the table for over 40 million people each month. An online visit to their website has retailer locators to direct you to the nearest outlet in your area which welcomes SNAP benefits.
SNAP has originated from The First Food Stamp Program (FSP) in May 16, 1939. According to the site, the idea for the first FSP to offer financial assistance for single parents and others, is credited to various people, most notably Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace and the program’s first Administrator Milo Perkins. The program operated by permitting people on relief to buy orange stamps equal to their normal food expenditures. The orange stamps could be used to buy any food, while the blue stamps could only be used to buy food determined by the Department to be surplus.
During its 4 years, the first FSP reached approximately 20 million people in nearly half of the counties in the U.S The total cost was deemed to be $262 million worth of financial assistance for single parents and other individuals in need. Milo Perkins is quoted to have said; “We got a picture of a gorge, with farm surpluses on one cliff and under-nourished city folks with outstretched hands on the other. We set out to find a practical way to build a bridge across that chasm.”
The SNAP website provides information on its programs offering financial assistance to single parents, from grant to program data and policy as well as quality control. In addition, there is a section for Outreach and Nutrition Education Materials. These materials are designed to educate low income people about the nutrition benefits of SNAP and to encourage participation. Materials include posters, brochures, and flyers, among other items. Many are available in Spanish and all are complimentary.
Using SNAP/food stamps as financial assistance for single parents to buy food, you will be given something resembling a bank account and plastic card called the Mass EBT card. Each month, your SNAP/food stamp benefits are put into your account and your EBT card can be used at grocery stores, convenience stores, markets, and co-ops.
One can purchase any food except alcohol, pet food, or heated foods with SNAP’s financial assistance for single parents. You can also buy seeds and plants to grow food, as long as you are buying them from a store that accepts SNAP/food stamps (like a grocery store). However, one cannot use an EBT card to buy soap, toothpaste, toilet paper, tobacco, or anything else that is not food.
There are plenty of sources for grants and financial assistance for single parents available online and at your local relevant government departments. When you are searching online however, be aware of scams and make sure you do not participate in anything that asks for a fee, no matter how small. Make sure they are legitimate before you invest your trust in them. Government websites and the links they provide are the most viable options to consider.
If you are investigating a non profit organization or private entity make sure you visit their offices or call them in person to verify them as a legitimate source of financial assistance for single parents.