In response to today’s economy, many social service programs are experiencing funding challenges. It’s time to look deeper at the importance of such programs that aim to assist families in advancing their socioeconomic status so they can provide for their families and contribute to their communities.

One of the greatest barriers to employment is the inability to find affordable, reliable, quality childcare. Minnesota currently uses a program called Basic Sliding Fee to administer child care funding to families in need of assistance who do not qualify for cash assistance programs such as the Minnesota Family Investment Program. This program was designed to assist low-income families with child care expenses and give a greater incentive to working.

BSF is an income-based program which requires different co-payments to the child care providers from families depending on their income. Minnesota’s child care assistance programs have faced financial cut-backs for years. Due to these cuts, waiting lists in Minnesota are now soaring above 5,000 families. Consequently, there are thousands of parents who are forced to settle with inadequate and unsafe child care options or end up giving up employment and falling into the welfare system.

Looking ahead, it is very likely that budgets will continue to be cut. It seems essential to consider the importance of programs such as child care assistance and relay this importance to your state legislators in order to decrease the waiting lists and increase the number of working individuals in our state.