WHAT IS CARE 4 KIDS?

• Care 4 Kids helps low to moderate-income families in Connecticut pay for childcare costs.

• Sponsored by the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood and a partnership between the State of Connecticut, the families in the program, and the providers who take care of the children.

• 85% funded by a federal allocation of CCDBG block grants; TANF block grant to CCDBG or spend TANF funds directly on child care assistance, immigrant restrictions are waived for head start, and social security numbers are not required for licensed care

WHO BENEFITS?

• Care 4 Kids has three points of positive impacts:

  • Childcare providers

    • There are three categories of providers that are eligible for the Care 4 Kids program - unlicensed relative providers, center-based programs, and licensed family child care owners. The majority of Care 4 Kids programs are women of color who may otherwise not be able to be in the workforce because of their own child care needs.

  • Parents

    • Parents are provided with quality, affordable and accessible childcare so that they can work, go to school or train for a job. During the pandemic, childcare was one of the most noted barriers to parents returning to the workforce. Studies have shown that women with young children and less education have been most adversely affected during the pandemic with the loss of employment of women with young children being attributed to the additional child care burden (45% of the employment gender gap has been attributed to this factor). (COVID-19 She-Cession: The Employment Penalty of Taking Care of Young Children)

  • Children

    • Research continues to identify 0-3 years as key developmental periods. Early childhood development is a crucial phase of human development. No other period of life will carry out such an extensive transformation in such a short period of time, leading to the constitution of a human, sociable being, endowed from the age of two to three, with many already mature functions and all developmental delay during this period of early childhood, have consequences on mental physical health, on behavior and learning, in the long term. (Early Childhood Development (0 - 6 Years Old) from Healthy to Pathologic: A Review of the Literature)

WHAT DOES CARE 4 KIDS NEED?

• The Care 4 Kids program needs vast expansion to allow more families and providers to participate to address the on-going child care crisis across Connecticut. 

• Care 4 Kids providers are desperate for a much-needed raise and affordable and accessible healthcare. 

View the latest Childcare Contract HERE.