Parents & Children Call for End to Wait List

Parents
& Children Call for
End to Wait List

Strictly Embargoed Until: 10:00am, Wednesday, June 23, 2010

For More
Information, Contact: Tarun Gudz, 505-417-5948

ALBUQUERQUE-Working parents and their children will create a visual representation of all of the children in New Mexico now on the wait list for child care vouchers at the Children Youth & Families Division offices in Albuquerque Wednesday. They will be joined by some of the child care centers that are hurting right now because they have lost irreplaceable clients who can't afford child care without state support.

WHAT: A wakeup call about the growing number of families and small businesses who have been hurt by the state child care subsidy cuts.

WHO: Working parents, children, and child care center staff who are affected by state CYFD cuts

WHEN: Wednesday, June 23, 10 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

WHERE: CYFD office at 3401 Pan American Fwy. NE, Albuquerque

Parents and children will be at CYFD with paper dolls representing the 2,000 children whose parents are on the wait list for child care vouchers and calling on the State Legislature to start working on a funding solution.

Over 1,000 families are now on the wait list for state child care vouchers because CYFD cut the income guidelines for parents in half on January 1 to make up for its budget shortfall. In most situations now, parents making more than minimum wage cannot get assistance, but neither can these working parents afford the $300 to $400 per month, minimum, that they need to pay for child care.

As a result, some parents have had to cut their hours, quit work, or rely on friends and family for child care that does not provide the level of education that child care centers do.

OLÉ is a New Mexico community organization that represents over 2,500 parents in its Working Parents Association, which is fighting for a permanent source of adequate funding for New Mexico's Early Childhood Education programs, as well as voice with which parents and child care teachers can have a say in how the state manages its child care programs