One Northern Colorado county to pause new applications for low-income childcare program
Weld County is the latest of more than one dozen counties in Colorado to announce they will freeze their Colorado Child Care Assistance Program application process amid funding concerns. The program, known as CCAP, has experienced funding issues in many Colorado counties after there were mandated provider rate increases stacked upon other new federal regulations that were not matched with increases in funding.
"We have to make sure we have adequate funding to maintain the families we currently have," said Jamie Ulrich, Director of the Weld County Department of Human Services.
The program helps provide money to low-income residents in Colorado who are seeking to place their children in daycare while they are at work.
"This could impact hundreds of kids here in Weld County?" asked CBS News Colorado reporter Dillon Thomas.
"Yes, that is correct," Ulrich said.
"How could this impact the everyday lives of some of these families?" Thomas asked.
"Sometimes it is the difference between whether a family can go to work or not," Ulrich said. "If this program isn't available, the question is who is going to take care of their children while they are at work? It does impact low-income working families significantly and then becomes a workforce issue within our communities."
The county says the freeze will allow existing enrollees to remain in the program. But, the freeze will prevent new applicants from being accepted.
"We could potentially be looking at multiple years, and we will be implementing this freeze," Ulrich said.
The county plans on initiating its freeze starting Feb. 1.
Ulrich said the plan is to allow families to get on a waitlist if and when funding returns to a sufficient amount to further fund the program. Those who are already accepted into the program will continue to receive their funds.
Ulrich said applications are submitted for more than 100 children per month in Weld County alone, underscoring why this funding issue is going to greatly impact families.
Ulrich said, that outside of third-party organizations stepping up to help fund or provide daycare to residents, there are not many other alternatives for families to use when it comes to funding daycare for low-income individuals.
"Unfortunately, there are not a lot of options out there right now," Ulrich said.
