Thousands of families could lose childcare, impacting economy, education

Yahoo

28-05-2025

DENVER (KDVR) — The Colorado Child Care Assistance Program (CCCAP) in Colorado helps families afford safe, quality childcare.
Families below the poverty line can qualify for subsidized childcare provided by the government as long as they're working, trying to find work or furthering their education.
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Federal changes, under the Biden administration, are now shrinking the number of families that can get help.
CCCAP is available for low-income families with children from birth to age 13. Families then have continuous eligibility. So, once a family is eligible for CCCAP, they stay eligible as long as their income stays under 85% of the state median income and they're in one of those eligible activities.
Previously, 30,000 families were able to use the program. Now, new changes require enrollment-based pay versus attendance-based.
Right now, providers are only paid when a child shows up. This means that childcare providers will get paid a higher amount, they say more accurately, covering the cost of care.
Family co-payments have been capped out at about 10% of a family's income, and the new federal mandate will require a cap at about 7% of a family's income.
It's a cost of $70 million in order for the state to serve the same number of children they were previously serving.
A three-to-five-year enrollment freeze is taking effect across the state.
Right now, it costs the state on average $6,600 per child per year, that's going up to $18,000.
The Colorado Department of Early Childhood said they will have to drop 64% of their kids they serve, and more than 10,000 families will lose their access to these benefits.
They state said this change is necessary to absorb those new costs without any additional money coming into the program. Providers believe it will be devastating.
'Serving less children in this program has a huge ripple effect for Colorado. Not only is it affecting our providers and most importantly, our families, but it's affecting our economy as well. If those parents can't go to work or further their education, that is a real drain on our economy and an opportunity lost,' said Sarah Dawson, CCCAP division director of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood.
All of these new federal rules will go into effect August 1, 2026.
Dawson said a child stays in CCCAP for about three years, so counties have to budget about three years in advance, which is why CCCAP freezes are taking place state-wide right now, even though the increase in cost is not happening until 2026.
Families who are currently receiving CCCAP should stay on top of those redetermination deadlines to stay in the program. The cuts are mainly impacting new families that are trying to get access to CCCAP, many of them are getting on a waitlist or don't have access at all.
This is impacting new, young parents.
These cuts are especially worrisome to Steven Bartholomew, the executive director of New Legacy Charter School. New Legacy provides teen parents with free childcare while the student is getting their high school diploma.
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'What I'm concerned about with CCCAP is the fact that we have a generation that will be affected negatively, very similar to the pandemic generation. We see the effects of that,' said Steven Bartholomew, the executive director of New Legacy Charter School. 'The same thing is going to happen with a CCCAP freeze, if young parents can't get their kids to an Early Learning Center, their young parents will suffer because they can't go to they can't go and have a job, and their little ones will suffer also because they're not going to be ready for preschool and kindergarten.'
Bartholomew said they will lose about 15% of their early learning center funding because of the CCCAP freeze, and in two years, they are looking at losing about 30%. He said this translates to cutting staff members.
'(Cutting staff) means the quality of the education for both the teen parent, in other words, the high school student and also their child, their little one in the Early Learning Center, their education will be affected negatively,' Bartholomew said.
The Colorado Teen Parent Collaborative also weighed in:
Access to childcare is not a luxury- it's a lifeline. Teen parents and their children cannot afford to wait three to five years. Colorado must act now to prevent long-term harm and support the next generation of parents and learners.'
Now many in the early learning space are calling on policymakers to make a change.
'This is our youngest Coloradans' future, so we got to be thinking about any possible thing that we can do. I think first and foremost, these are unfunded federal mandates. So, we do need to keep putting the pressure on at the federal level to get the funding. We need to implement these really positive changes here in Colorado,' said Dawson.
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