Original Source | Statesman Journal
By Ruth Liao, Monday December 21, 2009

Early-learning efforts also reach families who receive subsidized child care through state programs that enable working parents to keep their jobs - but that program faces steep cuts in the upcoming state Legislature.

State child care officials say the demand for child care is even higher as low-income families struggle to keep jobs and child care assistance.

But after July 2010, the number of children who receive child care through subsidies could diminish by half. And child care providers are worried about that economic effect to their industry.

The subsidy program is called Employment Related Day Care, or ERDC. The funding is paid mostly by federal funds that are channeled through the state Employment Division to the state Department of Human Services, which administers the program, and some general state funding.

The program serves 11,150 families, or about 20,500 children. Of those families, 1,450 families, or 2,826 children, are in Marion and Polk counties.

But by July, restrictions on the program are set to go into effect: only families leaving the cash-assistance program, known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, will be eligible for ERDC.

Families currently receiving subsidies will be allowed to remain in the program. But that means low-income families who are not on any state assistance but could benefit from subsidized child care will not be eligible as a new client.

State officials estimate that 2,913 families per month won't be able to access services.

However, state Department of Human Services expects more families will require TANF assistance, as many as 728 cases per month.

About $19.5 million in funds helped backfill cuts from 2007 to 2009, but that money has been exhausted.

The Legislature approved improvements to the ERDC program which have raised subsidy rates for families and lowered co-pays that families would pay.

In Salem, a parent looking for infant care could afford as much as $506 per month at a child care center. Co-pays, which are calculated on a parent's income and number of children, were lowered by 28 percent.

Prodzinski said the agency did not want to change those improvements as a means to save money.

The restrictions on the program, known as TANF leavers, would save as much as $16 million for a year.

"The budget system is so bad right now, we've run out of places to look," Prodzinski said.