SANTA FE—There is a public hearing on proposed cuts to the Children, Youth and Families Department’s Child Care Assistance program on Monday, July 8 in Santa Fe. CYFD’s proposed regulation changes will prevent thousands of parents who are working or in school from getting much needed child care and continue to require families to pay an unaffordable share of costs.
The regulation would hurt hard working New Mexico families by cutting child care assistance eligibility to 160% of the Federal Poverty Level from 200%. This means fewer working families will have access to child care assistance, even though the program is one of the best work support programs available to help families exit poverty and increase financial stability.
CYFD’s proposed regulations also fail to address affordability for the child care assistance program. Unfortunately, CYFD requires low-income working families to pay an unaffordable share of their income toward copayments. The federal government has urged states to ensure affordability for child care assistance by capping the family’s share of costs at no more than 7% of their income. Under CYFD’s current copayment requirements, families often pay 10% or more. This makes it difficult for families to pay for other necessary expenses like food and housing.
The proposed regulation and public comments on the proposed cuts can be found here: https://www.newmexicokids.org/
WHAT:
Public hearing on proposed CYFD regulation that would cut eligibility to the state’s Child Care Assistance program
WHEN:
Monday, July 8, 2019 at 11:00 am
WHERE:
Apodaca Hall, 1120 Paseo De Peralta, Santa Fe, NM 87502.
WHO:
CYFD
Families who would be impacted by the proposed cuts
Other members of the public