For Release: IMMEDIATE
Date: June 1, 2006

State to Address Child Care Concerns of Military Families

RALEIGH – N.C. Division of Child Care Development Director Rob Kindsvatter today announced that his office has solved a problem that was preventing counties from accessing subsidized child care funds for military families. DCD addressed the issue after it was brought to its attention by the Cumberland County legislative delegation, but the solution will apply to active duty military families – including National Guard and reservists – statewide.

“We want to do everything we can for North Carolina’s military families,” said Kindsvatter. “I’m glad that the Cumberland delegation brought this problem to our attention, so we could do the right thing.”

Child care subsidies are distributed to counties based on what each county needs to serve children under age 11 in families making 75 percent or less of the state median income. The state uses census data to determine the number of eligible families. The problem is that census data does not accurately reflect military pay. Many types of specialized military pay – like combat pay – are not counted when a family is applying for a child care subsidy, but the census data doesn’t make that distinction. Based on census data alone, many families may appear to earn too much to qualify for subsidized child care. That means that county may not receive subsidy dollars to cover the real number of eligible children. It is likely that counties like Cumberland, with a heavy military presence, are not getting the allocation of child care subsidy dollars that they need to serve these families. DCD will resolve this issue by putting in a special code that will allow county DSS staff to identify children from military families that are receiving subsidies. Using that data, the state will reimburse the county on a quarterly basis from unallocated subsidy funding for the families that would not have been accounted for in the county’s allocation. Cumberland County DSS estimates that they are currently serving 361 children from military families who fall into this category, accounting for an annual expenditure of $1.4 million.

Members of the Cumberland legislative delegation praised today’s announcement.

"North Carolina is dedicated to easing the burdens that our military families may face as a result of their valued service to our state," said Senator Tony Rand. "We take pride in these men and women and in the sacrifices that they make to serve and protect our country."

“This is a major improvement in our ability to service our military families,” said Representative Rick Glazier. “It means a substantial increase in child daycare funding and consequently, a substantial improvement in childcare availability for our servicemen and women, and their families.”

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