In the final FY2020 Appropriations Bill, Congress increased its investment in the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) by $550 million, the largest source of federal funding for child care.
This follows a record breaking appropriation of the FY2018 $2.37 billion increase. The latest appropriation estimates reveal Mississippi will receive approximately $7,224,000 in additional funding for child care and other services targeting eligible families. This is great news, except thousands of children who, some would argue, are most in need of the services are deemed ineligible because of a state law prohibiting them from participating.
According to the Mississippi Department of Human Services, a state law requires the agency to eliminate any children 0-12 years of age whose parent does not cooperate with the child support office. Simply put, if the custodial parent does not name the child’s absent parent or refuses to name them on the child’s birth certificate to the child support office, the child is ruled ineligible for child care, even if all other requirements are met. Given the goal of CCDBG is to support children’s learning and development who are living in adverse conditions such as poverty, homelessness, and with disabling conditions, the state-imposed rule appears counter to the goal of the program.
This concern was raised in 2015 by child advocates in Mississippi, but nothing has been done to remedy the problem. Historically, Mississippi has taken a punitive approach in the development of policies, regulations and laws addressing supports for low income families. The public perception that the majority of people who are receiving support through government services are non-working, able–bodied adults who are lazy and “gaming the system” is still present in the minds of many. While statistics to the contrary and eligibility requirements that restrict participation in support programs exist, the uninformed belief of “a free ride at taxpayers’ expense” overrides the facts.
With the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, families working 40 + hours a week will still be considered low income no matter how many years or hours they work, with very little hope of increasing their earning power without programs such as CCDBG. While no formal reports have been issued by DHS on the success of using the ineligibility for CCDBG participation regulation to improve child support payments to the custodial parent, or more importantly the overall family income, the regulation remains.
During this legislative session the time has come to provide children, all children, an opportunity to start life with a chance for success. It is time to change the law. It will cost the state nothing in additional dollars at this time, but without the change it may cost the state billions of dollars in the future when industries relocate or choose to locate in other states where the workforce is better educated and communities are more economically viable.
by Dr. Cathy Grace