Some of Kentucky’s Child Care Assistance Programs are being cut and thousands of families could lose support later this year.
According to Kentucky’s Department of Communications, the Department of Community Based Services is projecting an 88.6 million dollar shortage for the 2014 budget because of federal and state funding.
Beginning April 1 of this year, the agency will no longer accept applications for the Child Care or Kinship Care Programs.
And the agency said starting July 1, they will be changing the requirements for child care. As of now, families with an annual income of $33,000 or less for a family of four qualify for child care. However this July, families must have an annual income of $22,000 or less for a family of four to qualify.
The state said because of these changes, thousands of people will be impacted.
- Changing Income Requirements: 14,300 children impacted per month; 8,700 families impacted per month.
- Freezing Applications: 2,900 children impacted per month; 1,600 families impacted per month.
- The state also said 2,400 licensed child care providers could be affected and possibly lost their jobs because of the cuts.
