Hundreds of thousands of eligible kids are waiting for childcare assistance

The useful part

There's the mother of two who needs a full-time job to keep up with the bills, but can't afford full-time childcare. There's the medical technician who stopped buying groceries and turned to food banks so she could pay for her infant's care. There's the baby who remained in foster care, even after his mother completed the steps to bring him home.

How it works

• These families all qualify for government-funded childcare assistance, intended to drastically reduce the childcare bills of needy parents so they can work or go to school.
• She had found a job, as the state required, but couldn't afford his childcare.
• Hundreds of thousands of children were sitting on childcare assistance waitlists in 23 states and the District of Columbia as of this spring, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.
• In three more states, many eligible families who applied were simply turned away.
• Waitlists have ballooned since 2023, when eight states had them, according to the AP analysis.

What to take from it

Long waitlists often force parents to make financial tradeoffs Many of the waitlists first started after $28 billion in pandemic aid expired in the fall of 2024.

Details worth keeping

Instead, Indiana's program, which had run short on funds, waitlisted them. Some states have increased funding to try to fill the gap, but f...