State voucher waitlist leaves thousands without child care

Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne
July 3, 2025
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01Aubrey Dennis rides a tricycle at Bridge of Grace Early Years Academy. The child care center on Fort Wayne’s south side could handle twice the 60 children it has enrolled, says Danielle Svantner, director of the organization that operates it. Josaun Arrington washes vegetables in a play kitchen at Bridge of Grace. Low-income families’ lack of access to state vouchers signals tough choices ahead, Svantner says.

Indiana’s state budget is putting thousands of low-income families on the waitlist for child care, experts say.

At most of the six Westminster Preschool locations, 50% to 75% of enrollment is filled by children with Child Care Development Fund vouchers. But fewer parents have been able to get off the waitlist or qualify for the support.

Westminster Executive Director Danielle Svantner also said the organization has had to raise rates because of funding reductions.

The Fort Wayne location – Bridge of Grace Early Years Academy at 909 Elmrow Drive – can hold 120 children, but only about 60 are enrolled because fewer people have access to vouchers, Svantner said.

“What we can anticipate is, I think child care will be closing just like they did during COVID,” Svantner said. “We’re going to see that again, which will further our issue with the lack of child care in Indiana. A lot of people are going to have to choose between work and child care.”

In January, Gov. Mike Braun signed off on the 2025-27 state budget, allocating $147.25 million to child care subsidies. However, the budget he recommended in January devoted $362 million.

To Indiana child care providers serving low-income families, cutting more than half of the proposed funding came as a shock. The Child Care Development Fund gives child care vouchers to families with income at or below 150% of the federal poverty level so they can work or attend school or training.

However, in December, the Family and Social Services Administration reimplemented a waitlist for Child Care Development Fund and On My Way Pre-K voucher programs. Now, more than 24,500 families are waiting until they’re determined eligible and for funding to be available, according to the Northeast Indiana Early Childhood Coalition.

Many families will have to leave the workforce to take care of their kids, costing Indiana billions. A 2024 Indiana Chamber of Commerce report found that child care issues cost the state economy $4.2 billion each year, and more than half the parents surveyed missed work or class due to child care issues.

Before the budget was passed, Kendallville Day Care had around 60 families using vouchers to enroll in the facility. Now, it has about 40, Director Tina Lee said.

The day care can stay afloat and fully enrolled, she said, but it hurts families all around. Some people who used vouchers to enroll their kids in the day care now have been struck with the full costs of child care or copayments.

To fill the spots vacated by families who can’t afford care, Lee said self-paying families fill the spots. The day care’s biweekly reimbursement was around $30,000 from families using vouchers and has shrunk to $17,000, she said.

To supplement the losses, the facility raised tuition. Regaining funding this way could drag out new training and materials for the programs, Lee said.

“We’re talking about the most vulnerable citizens,” Lee said. “We’re talking about the future, and if we cannot invest in our most vulnerable little people, how are they going to be successful without this education, without the support?”

Svantner said if, for example, she had her kids in child care – a 1-year-old, 5-year-old and 8-year-old – it would cost $1,800 per month, more than many pay for rent or mortgage each month.

“Parents are calling every day,” she said. “They want to put their child in care, but they can’t afford it. And the cost of child care is increasing, it’s become unobtainable.”

High-quality, educational child care access is important, Svantner said, because of how much brain development happens in the first five years of life.

“I’m worried that kids are in places that they’re not safe,” she said. “Not in educational environments and getting what they need.”

Westminster Preschool leadership is still trying to figure out how to fill gaps in enrollment.

Children in low-income families or living in poverty need the intervention of high-quality child care in their lives the most, Svantner said.

“It feels like they pulled the rug out from under us,” she said.