Overview

Research demonstrates that children who attend reliable, high-quality, licensed early care programs that adequately address their early development needs are better prepared for school, have better educational outcomes, and require less social service interventions. As adults, they earn more income, have higher rates of home ownership, and pay more taxes than children who do not participate in such programs. However, access to high quality early care programs is unattainable for many low-income children who are most at-risk. According to the National Women’s Law Center, in 2006, 75 percent of states would not offer a child care subsidy to a family of three earning more than $32,200 a year. During the 2007 legislative session, the State of Missouri increased their maximum income criteria for subsidy eligibility for the first time since 1999, from 105% to 126% of the federal poverty level, moving the state from 50th in the nation to 46th. Over the next four years, 400,000 children are expected to loose their subsidy assistance as funding to the Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) will remain steady with no increases for inflation. These are in addition to the 250,000 children who have lost their coverage since 2000 due to overall decreased funding of the CCDBG.