Child care is not a new need for families, nor a new challenge for communities to resolve. One of the earliest programs Waypoint provided was a daycare and nursery for mothers who were working at the mills in Manchester (launched in 1882). While there have been improvements in child care since the late 1800s, New Hampshire is now seeing a crisis due to increased costs to families and challenges for providers – making child care increasingly more difficult to obtain.
As part of our work focused on Early Care and Education (ECE), funded through a grant from the Couch Family Foundation, Waypoint’s ECE Project Manager has been working to increase awareness of a recent expansion of resources available to families accessing child care. We are also gaining a better understanding of families’ experience with services like the NH Child Care Scholarship Program.
The NH Child Care Scholarship Program (Scholarship program) helps eligible families access child care by providing payments directly to the family’s provider of choice to help offset the cost of care. Families are eligible for the Scholarship program if they have children under the age of 13, the family meets income eligibility limits and parents or guardians are working or in school.
The Scholarship program is an important support that helps families access quality early child care that is often too costly for many families to pay out of pocket without assistance. According to the NH Fiscal Policy Institute, for many NH families “with two children under five, $31,868 in annual child care expenditures will be their single highest annual expense, exceeding housing, food, and health care costs.”1
Legislative wins in 2023 resulted in expanded eligibility for the NH Child Care Scholarship for families earning up to 85% of the state median income. Since this change was enacted in January 2024 there has been a 31% increase in participation in the Scholarship program.
To further these wins for families and increase awareness of the program, Waypoint has undertaken several strategies to promote the changes in the Scholarship program to our staff and families. Our ECE Project Manager has been meeting with program staff to increase their understanding of the Scholarship program so Waypoint staff are able to assist eligible families in accessing this resource. At the same time, the ECE Project Manager is also working with program staff to collect information from families to better understand the barriers families face when accessing the Scholarship program and other services. These stories provide the insight needed to create policies and programs that fit the diverse and complex needs of New Hampshire families.
Many of our staff, from Home Visitors to Family Support Therapists, work with families that receive or are in need of child care resources. Even with support services in place, the Scholarship application process can be complicated, requiring a list of financial documents and an interview that can be challenging for families, according to Athena, a Family Support Specialist with our Healthy Families America (HFA) Home Visiting program in the Seacoast. HFA serves families with young children, prenatal to three, who may be at risk for adverse childhood experiences. One family that Athena works with has applied for, and been denied, the Scholarship program 4 times. This is largely due to the families’ seasonal employment causing their income to fluctuate during some months above eligibility rates and resulting in delays with verifying past employment.
Staff working with families referred to our Community Based Voluntary Services Program by the Division for Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) report that families have varied experiences applying for and using the Scholarship. When eligible families can find appropriate care that accepts payment through the State, the Scholarship program is a great resource, helping them maintain employment while their child is in an environment that fosters healthy growth and development. Unfortunately, the availability of programs that accept Scholarships varies greatly across the state.
It is clear by the increase in families using the Scholarship program that recent legislative accomplishments have increased access and made child care more affordable to many families in New Hampshire. This is a huge win for families. However, work remains to ensure the system is accessible to all families and that unnecessary administrative hurdles are resolved. Waypoint looks forward to continuing to advance efforts that better support children and families in New Hampshire and ensure all children have access to affordable, quality early care and education.
Resources:
1 https://nhfpi.org/blog/annual-price-of-2023-child-care-for-two-granite-state-children-under-five-averaged-nearly-32000/
