Thousands of parents in Connecticut are scrambling to find child care after a change to the requirements for federal subsidies for the Care 4 Kids program.
"I don't have any siblings. I don't have any options. I have nothing," said mother of two Brittany Davis.
Davis is worried where her twins.The toddlers are in the program which gives eligible income families federal subsidies for child care.
This week, she and thousands of families received a notice saying the requirements to receive the funding has changed.
"What that means for a family of four is that they will go from earning as much as $53,000 a year and qualify for the program, and it'll drop down to $31,000," said executive director of Connecticut Early Childhood Alliance Merrill Gay.
The change state officials said stems from the re-authorization to the Child Care Development Block Grant.
Which added some positives, according to state officials.
Local
Changes included development for providers, extending job loss security to 90 days instead of 30 and extending the allotted childcare funding cycle to 12 months instead of eight months.
"When they reauthorized it they didn't re-appropriate enough money to pay for all of it. So Connecticut realized this is going to cost about $32 million more. And they don't have that money," said Gay.
"We did not want to close the program all together. We wanted to make sure we kept it open for all those families who are at the lowest income bracket," said Connecticut Commissioner of Office of Early Childhood Myra Jones-Taylor.
"We got 4450 families and that's about 6100 kids who are going to lose their childcare over the course of this year," said Gay.
While the changes take affect in early July, families like Davis's are spending their summer scrambling for care.
"It's scary. Its absolutely terrifying not knowing who is going to watch your kids," said Davis.
After July 1, parents who are over the income allowed will stop seeing funds three by October.
