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Child Care Recipients Face Service Gaps and Supply Shortages: Testimony Before the Committee on Labor and Human Resources.
By Jane L. Ross
1995
Summary: In response to congressional efforts to assess the potential impact that various welfare reform proposals might have on child care availability, continuity, and subsidy programs, this report examines the difficulties parents have trying to identify and secure child care while they work or attend school. The four child care programs created by the Congress for low-income families are briefly described, and the requirements of these programs, coupled with resource constraints of the states, are shown to contribute to gaps in the delivery of child care subsidies. Next, the report provides an explanation of how the current system provides little incentive to serve the low-income working poor and, in addition, how the child care supply poses a major challenge for the states. The report shows that the current child care subsidy programs produce gaps in services for low-income mothers, impede continuity of care for their children, and create child care supply shortages. The report recommends that the four programs be consolidated. While noting that welfare reform proposals call for requiring many more welfare mothers to participate in education and work, it cautions policymakers to remember that the capacity of the child care system to absorb new demand must be considered.
Index Terms: Economically Disadvantaged, Eligibility, Research, Resource Allocation, Subsidized Child Care, State Initiatives, Welfare Reform, Working Mothers, 1988 Family Support Act [FSA], Aid To Families With Dependent Children [AFDC], At-Risk Child Care Program, Child Care And Development Block Grant [CCDBG], JOBS Training
Publisher: United States General Accounting Office
Publication Type: Reports (Descriptive)
Pages: 12 pages
Language: English
ERIC Number: ED381260
Availability
United States General Accounting Office
P.O. Box 6015
Gaithersburg MD 20884-6015
Availability from EDRS: This item is available from EDRS: http://www.edrs.com/default.cfm
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