‘Step in the right direction’: Parson proposes child care subsidy boost

By Jazmine Knight

Gov. Mike Parson discussed a new budget plan for child care subsidies in the future during his State of the State address, but local child care leaders say while it will beneficial, it won’t solve everything. 

Upon approval from the legislature, the budget would increase subsidy spending by $51.7 million.

“There’s a lot that needs to be done, but this would be a step in the right direction,” said Whitney Lanning, executive director of Community Action Partnership. 

In St. Joseph, a major problem is access to affordable child care, making the area a “child care desert.” 

“Child care is so important because we are the workforce behind the workforce that’s taking care of our kids in those formative years,” Lanning said.

Lanning, while supportive of the increase, said she believes it won’t solve all the issues surrounding affordable child care.

“The issue that we’re really seeing is that the number of people that are eligible versus the number of people that can make it through that system and sign up and receive benefits is very, very small,” Lanning said. “I think in our entire county, I can give you the data, but it’s less than 200 people. And we know that there are thousands that are eligible.”

Not only are families getting denied, but they also have to endure a long strenuous process before a subsidy decision. Some private care providers have to foot the bill for families until they can receive money from the state. 

“Every state has to have some level of state match to their subsidy program,” said Casey Hanson, deputy director for Kids Win Missouri. “And so I would say Missouri was kind of doing the bare minimum that they had to do in order to draw down federal money.”

In December 2023, a new portal was launched for parents to apply for subsidies.

“The goal of that system was to create a more modernized and user-friendly system, so the parents’ experience and their ability to access the subsidy is better,” Hanson said. “And they also established a call center just for child care calls to have childhood staff there to be able to help walk through the process.”

“These investments create a lot more opportunities to ensure that we have a lot of high-quality early childhood options, that providers are getting paid enough money to be able to provide quality care and then that we have a child care supply that can meet the demand of working parents so that they can be assured that their kids are taking care of while they’re working.”

For St. Joseph residents, one child care option is HeadStart. This resource allows families who meet certain qualifications to have access to child care at no cost. The problem: Spots are limited.

“We have very few slots … it’s all determined by the federal government and so we know that our services could be used by many, many more families but were restricted by the enrollment that we’re only allowed to provide,” Lanning said.

In a perfect world, Lanning would like to see universal pre-K.

“Making sure that every kid, from birth to 5 and K through 12 has a safe place to go that they’re learning soft skills and they’re learning emerging literacy skills. And there’s so much more to early childhood than just day care. And I think people are starting to understand that.”