Issues with the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF), which is administered in the state by the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, were discussed as well.
“You could not make more than $11.18 an hour as a single parent … with a full-time job,” said Emerson about current CCDF income eligibility limits. “If you want to be able to afford your child care, we are almost incentivizing women to go out and get low-paying jobs.”
One reform proposed by Emerson was to increase the CCDF income eligibility guidelines to allow for a single parent to earn more than $14.22 an hour and still qualify for child-care assistance.
Emerson and others also expressed concern with the current age requirements, which state that individuals must be at least 21 to work with infants and toddlers.
“It’s just kind of an arbitrary number. I’ve known 18-year-olds that I’d leave an infant with, and I’ve known 45-year-olds that I never would [leave an infant with],” said Emerson.
When it comes to child-care legislative reform, Charbonneau thinks lowering this age requirement will be a good place to start.
“The no-brainer is to change the age regulation,” he said.
Charbonneau added that he still wants to ensure child-care workers are high quality, noting the stories he heard during the hearing of women who, under the current regulations, have had sitters quit and walk out “just shouldn’t be happening.”
“It’s not just a funding issue … It’s pervasive,” he said.
Other ideas for reform included increasing the wages for child-care staff and making child-care workers eligible for vouchers for child-care assistance so that they can afford care for their own children.
To aid in this effort, Sam Snideman of the United Way of Central Indiana (and others) proposed revisions to Indiana’s economic approach. Snideman noted that the current approach has led to licensing and regulation issues, reimbursement rates that do not account for child-care costs, low wages, and a lack of assistance to children of child-care workers.
Proposed models would mitigate these issues by increasing income eligibility limits. Snideman and others provided examples of initiatives in other states such as the Michigan Tri-Share program, in which employers, employees and the state “share the cost of child care equally.”
One of the United Way’s close partners, Prosperity Indiana, is also a strong advocate on this issue.
“Prosperity Indiana recognizes the need for Indiana to include options for child care as part of a comprehensive community economic development strategy for the state so that Indiana can be a place where all Hoosiers can live and work in an environment that provides equitable access to economic and social opportunity,” Andrew Bradley, policy director of Prosperity Indiana, said in an email to TheStatehouseFile.com.
“If unmet, the need for child care acts as a barrier to stable employment and equitable health and economic outcomes.”
This is something that Emerson from Perry County also voiced. She stated child-care costs “are a major barrier to the workforce.”
In addition to the economic impact, the societal and personal impact of child care is one that Emerson has borne witness to firsthand.
“I think as a society we undervalue that role [of child care] … I have gotten to know teachers and the caregivers at [the Perry Childcare Initiative] very, very well, and I truly believe that they are doing some of the most important work,” said Emerson. “They are molding the personalities and the work ethic and the soft skills of our future generations, our children … It is providing a critical, critical service.”
Deondra Steward of Unique Cherubs Family Childcare holds similar views.
“What I would like people to know is that child care isn’t just a parent issue or a community issue. It’s a country issue,” said Steward. “It’s an issue that will take parents, providers, educators, legislators, senators, businesses and communities to come together to benefit our children, families and the future of our growing communities.”
The study committee is set to meet again Sept. 13 in room 431 of the Indiana Statehouse. According to the Indiana General Assembly, the meeting will discuss the “prevalence and impact of mental illness” “alternative treatment options,” and policies that enable access to therapy for those experiencing mental illness, especially veterans and first responders.
