Child Care: More Expensive than College?

Parents need affordable and reliable child care so they can go to work or school. Child care is among the top expenses for working families, and there is no sign of relief in the near future.

Since 2000, the cost of child care has increased twice as fast as the median income of families with children. Families in Indiana are not immune from this trend. According to a study from the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (NACCRRA), “Parents and the High Cost of Child Care,” Indiana is among the ten least-affordable states for full-time infant care in a center. The other nine states include Massachusetts, New York, Minnesota, Colorado, California, Oregon, Illinois, Washington and Wisconsin.

To put this in perspective, in 40 states the average annual cost for center-based care for an infant was higher than a year’s tuition and related fees at a four-year public college, according to the report. Something is very wrong here.

So why are childcare costs on the rise? The study says that it actually has to do with the recession. Because many parents have been forced to work part-time, get second jobs, or work odd hours, their child care needs have been changing. Part-time childcare and care during odd hours is more expensive.

So what can we do to remedy the situation? NACCRRA makes the following recommendations:

• Increase investments in child care fee assistance and in quality improvement efforts.
• Provide resources for expanding child care capacity to meet the child care needs for working families.
• Reduce barriers that prevent families from easily accessing child care fee assistance.
• Meet the child care needs of working families by ensuring that publicly funded pre-kindergarten and Head Start programs make full-day, year-round child care services available.
• Design a system of child care that helps families at all income levels have access to affordable, high-quality child care.
• Improve state and federal tax credits and deductions to help all families pay for child care.
• Require the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in conjunction with the National Academy of Sciences, to determine the cost of quality child care and report back to Congress.

These are a few ideas. What ideas do you have?

CANI is the intake agent for the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) in Allen, DeKalb, Elkhart, Kosciusko, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, and Whitley counties. The CCDF helps families afford quality child care. Parents must be working, going to school, or receiving job training to qualify.

However, funding is limited for CCDF and there is almost always a waiting list. Can you help? Would you like to sponsor a family who needs help paying for child care? Email me, laurencaggiano@canihelp.org for more information on how you can help.

For more information about CANI’s Child Care Assistance program, visit. www.canihelp.org.ChildCare.htm.

Homelessness: A Gray Area

If you have a roof over your head, you can’t be homeless, right? That’s not always the case. Homelessness is a complicated issue and, not always easy to define by government standards.

According to the Center for American Progress, shared housing situations among the poor in America are commonplace. Specifically, this refers to a scenario like a mother raising her children in her parents’ home. Others might stay with other relatives (grandparents, cousins, aunts, or uncles, friends, or acquaintances.)

These shared housing situations are often referred to as being “doubled-up,” and in some circumstances they’re considered a form of homelessness due to their high levels of instability. “Doubling up” is defined by the Center as an individual or family living in a housing unit with extended family, friends, and other non-relatives due to economic hardship, earning no more than 125 percent of the federal poverty level.

The doubled-up population also has also been growing steadily, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. In 2008 there was an 8.5-percent increase in the number of people in families who were sharing the housing of others due to economic hardship compared to 2005.

Sadly these living situations are often not a matter of choice, but rather one of necessity.
These “doubled up” families represent a stark reality in the housing market. 51 percent of low-income renters and 43 percent of low-income homeowners in 2007 spent more than half their income on housing.

And the recession hasn’t helped their cause. Elevated rates of unemployment, long-term unemployment, and underemployment are greatly harming these families as many find themselves unable to keep up with mortgage and rent payments.

The worst part about this situation is that only some of these families and individuals are counted as homeless, but maybe they all should be?

According to the 2010 Point in Time Homeless Count of Hoosiers, an annual census designed to count the number of homeless in a region, there were approximately 585 people experiencing homelessness in northeast Indiana.

Per the count, “homeless” is defined as anyone staying in a shelter, living on the streets or in a place unfit for human habitation. “Doubled up” and temporarily housed folks do not count as “homeless” unless they are staying in a motel as an alternative to a shelter that is paid for with public funds.

Here is the breakdown of the results of the census:

• 418 households
• 337 single adults
• 55% male/ 45% female
• 81 families
• 155 Children in families
To me, these figures are misleading because, according to the state, they don’t account for “doubled up” families. Think of the families who are not being accounted for, many whom are teetering on the edge of homelessness.

To read more about this trend, check out the Center for American Progress article.

A Leap of Faith

I live downtown and encounter people asking for money on a regular basis. (These people may or may not be homeless or in need.) So when a man approached in my apartment parking with a “sob story,” I was quick to write him off as just another fraud.

I’m glad I didn’t. Sometimes a man in need is truly a man in need.

The man, named Tracy, was in need of gas money to drive down to Indianapolis to be with his daughter who was in critical condition at Riley Hospital for Children. He told me he had tried to get help from some churches downtown, but they were closed since it was in the evening. His last resort was to ask someone for money. That someone happened to be myself.

Despite hearing his sad story, I was reluctant at first. After all, I was going on vacation and strapped for cash myself. Yet something inside told me to help him. I caved and gave him all I had in my wallet. (a measly $7) Despite my donation, he told me he still didn’t have enough money to fill his gas tank. I hesitated and then took a leap of faith. I told him to wait there while I went upstairs to my apartment to get more money.

I returned and he was waiting patiently. I handed him the cash. He expressed gratitude for my generosity and told me how I was a blessing. He reassured me he would settle up with me when he was paid in a few days. I was going out of town, so I told him there was no hurry. Still, he was insistent on repaying his debt and asked for my phone number so he could get in touch.

While on vacation I pondered the incident and wondered if the man was genuine. I had told myself that, if nothing else, I had done a good deed. I didn’t expect to see the money again.

To my surprise, I had a voicemail from Tracy waiting for me when I returned. He said he wanted to meet up to repay the money. I returned his call and told him his honesty was refreshing, but not to worry about repaying me. I asked that he donate the money to a charity.

Moral of the story? Sometimes you have to go out on a limb to help people. Sure, there might be people out there trying to cheat the system, but for every one of those, there are probably four who are truly in need.