Boost in child-care funding urged

As they trickle in from the cold this winter morning, their parents give them snacks and kiss them goodbye for the day, and the children at the YWCA Lolie Eccles Childcare Center in downtown Salt Lake City are comfortable and happy.

They hang their coats neatly in their lockers, and some children pick a puzzle or a favorite toy, while others find friends to giggle with or sit quietly with a book.

Their diversity is manifested in their faces and their clothes.

The children don't know, and likely wouldn't care even if they did, that some of their parents get a little extra money each month so they can be there.

In fact, 13 of the 49 children enrolled at the YWCA receive a subsidy through the state's child-care and development block grant. The number mirrors the statewide figure, where an estimated 26 percent of Utah households use paid child care.

"Every single person who loves a child in this state needs to realize that this money is very important," said Carolyn Forbush, director of the Y.'s child-care program.

In the upcoming legislative session, advocates will work to convince lawmakers that every Utah child deserves such a safe, stable environment. Voices for Utah Children has received a two-year United Way grant to work toward securing full funding of the program, which uses state dollars to draw down federal funds.

Last year, the Legislature appropriated $2.7 million in one-time monies to the grant program. Had lawmakers fully funded the program, with about $6.5 million, the state would have received another $12 million from the federal government. That money, advocates say, could have helped many thousands of Utah parents ease the financial — and emotional — burden of child care while pumping millions of dollars into the state's economy.

"We proclaim to be a very family-oriented state, yet our public policy doesn't always reflect that," Voices' Robyn Lipkowitz said. "This is a really hard issue for families and has a real economic impact on families."

In his budget released in early December, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. recommended that the program receive $3.5 million in ongoing funds.

In October 2006, 7,784 Utah families — with 14,714 children — were directly served by the state's child-care and development block grant, according to the Department of Workforce Services' Office of Work and Family Life, which administers the grant.

To qualify, parents must make 56 percent of the median income. For a household of two, one parent and one child, that is less than $2,007 a month. The monthly income for a household of three cannot exceed $2,479.