Trump Administration Plans Child-Care Subsidies For Stay-At-Home Parents: Report

(MENAFN- Live Mint) The Trump administration is reportedly preparing a major change to the US federal child-care subsidy system that could allow some married couples with a stay-at-home parent to receive government assistance.

The proposal, backed by Vice President JD Vance, would expand the use of federal child-care funds to families where one parent stays home to care for the couple's children while the other works.

If implemented, it would represent a significant shift in the purpose of federal child-care assistance, which has traditionally been aimed at helping working and low-income parents pay for child care so they can remain employed, attend school or undergo job training.

What is the proposed change?

The administration is considering changes to the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), a federal programme administered by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Under the draft rule, a married couple could qualify for assistance even if one parent does not work outside the home and instead provides care for the couple's child, The New York Times reported.

The proposal calls this a new category of“parent-based child care.”

Under the draft document, one married parent could receive CCDF assistance to care for their own child if the other spouse works at least 35 hours a week.

The subsidy would effectively help offset some of the income the family loses because one parent has chosen to stay home.

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The federal child-care programme was created in the 1990s largely to help low-income and working-class parents afford child care while they work, attend school or receive job training.

The proposed change would broaden that purpose.

Instead of federal money being used primarily to pay for outside child-care arrangements, some of the funds could effectively support a parent providing care at home.

The programme currently provides about $9,000 per child each year, according to the information cited in the report.

Who could qualify?

The proposal would apply only to certain married families that meet income requirements.

Under the draft:

-The parents must be married.

-One parent must stay home and provide care for the child.

-The other spouse must work at least 35 hours per week.

-The family must meet the programme's income requirements.

-Household income generally must be below 85% of the state's median income, although some states use a lower 60% threshold.

Unmarried couples in which one parent stays home would not qualify under the proposal.

Single parents who do not work would also remain ineligible.

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