CCDF Must Be Fully Funded! Stories from Local Early Care and Education Providers...

These are stories from families and directors of Indiana Early Care and Education Providers, sharing their concerns about the current state of CCDF funding. Most are anonymous to not identify specific families or programs.

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Bartholomew County:

"There have been so many changes that have impacted my Family Home Childcare that the news of voucher waitlist was a hard hit to take. Currently, my program has 2 siblings utilizing vouchers. Their homelife is unstable to say the least, and they were actually recently taken into custody by CPS and released to an Aunt. All of this was sudden and unplanned for, so Aunt is concerned about their short term future and their care. With the voucher rules as they are, there is now no precedence for children in this situation so if they lose their vouchers then they will no longer be able to attend and have no option for care. The severity of this is very real in our lives and in theirs. My school has been their only stability for months. They are fed here, taken care of, and loved. The funding being pulled is heartbreaking for so many reasons. I personally know the children's stability, educational growth, and school family will be lost without this funding.

Secondly to this situation, my business, which is a licensed, PTQ Level 4, Nationally Accredited Family Home Childcare is struggling to stay afloat. I have had 4 people reach out for care within the past 8 weeks that also want to know about vouchers as they cannot afford childcare but appreciate the quality of care I provide. I have to route them to the CCDF waitlist and cross them off my waiting list, and hope for families who can afford to pay out of pocket to fill the gaps. I currently am facing so many vacancies in the fall semester that I either will be forced to take a pay cut or close my doors. As much as my heart knows how much children need care, I also must make a living and cannot in this climate. I know my true cost of care and am charging well under that as it is. Without vouchers, low income families cannot come through my doors and they desperately need to. It is baffling to me that this funding is not being supported when time after time it is proven that the ROI in early childhood education astronomically outweighs the funding that was recently cut."

Grant County: 

"CCDF gave me the opportunity to go back to work and further my schooling. I currently work as an EA but am working towards my teaching certification. Without CCDF, I would have nowhere for my son to go so I can work and keep the bills paid. With the vouchers my son and I are able to do better in life. Please think before cutting the budget and how it will affect parents everywhere."

" Several families at our preschool are on the verge of losing their vouchers, and without them, they are unable to afford childcare. As a result, they are considering un-enrolling their children from the program due to the inability to pay privately. Some of these children have significant health issues that prevent them from attending school regularly, which has contributed to their high number of absences. If a family loses their CCDF vouchers, they risk losing their jobs due to lack of childcare options."

"CCDF gives many families the opportunity to send their child to school and give them the best care and education they deserve. If cutting the budget happens many of the families will not have the care for their children as the cost for childcare is high." 

" One of our families who had been on CCDF vouchers for several years recently lost their vouchers, due to the fact that mom did not submit her change of address before her renewal date. She is a single, working mom with 4 children under the age of 9. She now has no child care for her 4 and 5 year old children, and had to switch to working 3rd shift to continue to be able to support her family. Our center was a safe place for her 2 youngest daughters, and we are concerned about their well being, as there have been previous cases of abuse and neglect in this family."

"We also have 2 new families who we enrolled at our center last week who are currently receiving CCDF vouchers. They were both worried that they would lose their CCDF vouchers if we didn’t enroll them as quickly as possible. One family has 4 children under the age of 4, 2 who receive services through 1st steps, and an additional one is receiving mental health services due to trauma. The mom pulled her children out of their previous child care, due to unsafe treatment of her children. Luckily we were able to enroll her 4 children, so that she didn’t lose her vouchers. The other family that we enrolled last week on CCDF vouchers is a single mom of 5. She was in need of urgent care for her 2 youngest daughters, due to traumatic family events. Luckily we also were able to place her children in time for her to not lose her CCDF vouchers." 

"Finally, we enrolled a brand new foster family last week. They took in 2 boys at 10pm on Thursday night, 3 and 4. Luckily we were able to place them in our center the following Monday, so that the parents could continue to go to work. This family is on the CCDF waitlist for at least 3 months, due to the new rules CCDF has enforced. Their weekly tuition for these 2 foster boys, even with the 10% sibling discount, is $564 dollars per week. That adds up to $2,256 dollars per month. This is a huge burden to this family who has taken in these boys who were in desperate need of a safe place to live, and the parents are both working 5 days a week full time."

Allen Co. 

“We have a fantastic teacher who is a single mom of four, one of which is an infant in our care. She currently does not have a network of support. She receives a 40% discount for being an employee. Her weekly fee for care is $280. As a family of five on a single childcare teacher wage, she cannot afford care. She is currently sitting on the waitlist. A waitlist in which she is prioritized as an early education educator, but it is not helping her. If I withdraw her child, I also lose a high-quality teacher. If her child stays, we are paying wages and donating care. It is costing our organization twice, requiring funding we do not have. The cost of recruiting and hiring a new teacher also comes with significant expense. As a leader of the organization, I am left considering which causes us less financial impact when I know the real concern is the quality of life for this family as well as the quality of education and care for the children she supports at Early Childhood Alliance every day.”

 "We have lost a few families because they were not able to renew their vouchers in time and now they were placed on the waitlist. They couldn’t afford the childcare and withdrew their child. It was not easy seeing these families suffer like that. Families that are already approved should have an easy way for approval

"How has the CCDF program impacted our family? We have no close family so Bridges of Graces staff has literally become my kids' second moms/aunts, all of the teachers have a special place in mine and my kids' hearts. My kids don't even want to leave their school due to having to leave the teachers. If I walk in and see my daughter crying, it's because one of the teachers is holding another child and not her. Because she wants all of their love and feels safe with them. My son was taught to walk by these amazing women. He gets all the love and cuddles he could possibly want there. I know my children are safe and cared for in their care. When he broke his arm, his teacher reached out to me by phone for updates, because she loves him and cares about him. When I drop him off in the morning, he lays his head on her chest because he trusts her."

"My meaning of high-quality childcare is exactly what has been proved for me with the CCDF vouchers. I know these women care for my children as if they were their babies. I know I'll come to pick up my children after a long day of work with them being absolutely loved, safe and treasured as I would treasure them." 

"If I didn't have CCDF I would not be able to afford childcare in my city. It wouldn't be possible for me to work full time and have them in any daycare in Fort Wayne. I have 2 children in the infant and toddler classes it would cost me more than my paycheck to send them to school every month. Without Bridge of Grace Early Years Academy my children would only have me and not have these amazing teachers sitting with them every day and helping them work out their emotions, learning life lessons, making friends and building relationships."

"Our biggest story of a family impacted by CCDF is our family who has 3 children enrolled, age 3 and under.  She has a 2 month old that she would like to start but she is on the wait list.  Her job is being patient with her, but long term she may lose her job if she cannot get her child enrolled."

Jay Co.  

"Our center opened in Jay County in December of 2024. We have three families that have been on the list for CCDF since then. We have turned away at least 5 families that say they are on the list that have not been approved. We are unable to offer care to them until they have been approved. There is a need here in Jay county without the funding we have families suffering. We have two families enrolled now waiting to be approved. They have a balance of over $1000.00 that increases every week. One is a single mother making $15.00 an hour with three children. She has maxed out two credit cards to keep her children here. The reason for this is that her children's education comes first. Two of her children get special services which we have set up through Jay County Schools. We also have a behavior specialist set in place to work with one child. If she has to leave our program she loses these services because she does not live in the Jay County school system. She only works in this county in Jay county.  CCDF funding is crucial to families in the state of Indiana."

Wabash Co. 

"There is an employee that was unable to receive CCDF funding due to the waitlist and has on multiple occasions had to choose between paying a bill/buying groceries and paying child care."

"There are multiple families that are unable to enroll due to being on the waitlist. For one family it has impacted her ability to work, she had to quit her job to stay home and take care of her child."

Noble Co.

"I have a parent who called for a toddler spot. She recently moved into a rehab and domestic abuse halfway house. We had a mom who brought 3 of her children here last month and the mom referred the toddler mom to our facility - so that they could share transportation - and help each other out. The mom of the 3 children already had vouchers in FW and the toddler mom just moved recently for similar reasons. When I explained the fees to the toddler mom - she was very worried she could not pay our lowest rate (which is $215/week) because she works at Dairy Queen. She has to "work" to be able to be at the halfway house, but she also needs to afford care. Luckily the other mom who his already here is going to help her out with the transportation, so she can pick up the extra hours to make tuition work - at least until "if" she can get vouchers - which she is still going to apply for. It breaks my heart to see this kind of situation happen. Here is mom who is trying to better her situation - due to difficult life circumstances - but can't count on the subsidy to help her family move forward, yet this other mom who is also struggling and making things work - is willing to step in and help her out - which is amazing."