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Low-income parents hoping for help with child care expenses won't get that help through the voucher program unless they're already signed up, the program administrator said this week.
Sandra Frush, director of the Mental Health Association of Kosciusko County, which administers the child care voucher program, said funds for the program in Kosciusko County were cut by the state from more than $1.5 million to $787,723.
"We still have several hundred children out there who need to be on the program," she said, but MHA is unable to accept new clients.
The county's funding was cut by the state because the federal government slashed Indiana's allocation by $20 million, she said, though she has not been told the reason for the cut or how the remaining funds were divided up among Indiana's 92 counties.
"At this point, all we're being told is that there's a reduction," she said.
The Kosciusko County agency has been told by the state that the county's program is overbudgeted by 30 percent - or $177,653 - and can enroll no new clients.
Frush said in the past, MHA paid the child care providers directly. Now their role has changed and they deal only with parents.
The process, Frush said, starts when a parent comes in and applies for the program. MHA certifies that the parent or parents live in Kosciusko County and are working or going to school, that their income falls within the acceptable range (up to 127 percent of the poverty level, which, for a family of three, is $1,590 per month maximum) and that the information about the children is correct.
MHA sends the verification to the child care provider, who then bills the state Office of Families and Children for child care services. Forty-eight child care providers are in the program.
No services will stop for the 143 families already in the system, Frush said, "but you have to be on the program now, we're not taking anyone new."
And there's no alternative, either for the agency or parents who need the vouchers.
"There's no recourse at this point unless we can get the state to change the contract," Frush said. "Families are just sitting there, and so are we, wondering what they're going to do."
