Families who have a child in child care, preschool, or elementary school have a regular place for their child while they work or attend school. However, there will be times when a child will get sick, and they won’t be able to attend their regular child care or school. Though inevitable, many families are faced with a last-minute decision about what to do when their child is sick hours before they must get to work or attend a class. 

Child care received $52.5 billion in temporary federal relief funding to help the sector recover and rebuild in the wake of the pandemic. Research shows that the investments have made a difference in lowering prices for families and increasing child care employment and wages, which helped stabilize the market in a time of turmoil. This funding, especially stabilization grants made available under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), gave each state an opportunity to make much-needed improvements to their child care system. States are required to spend any remaining amounts by September 2024 and, unfortunately, further federal investments have not been made. 

Currently, states are finalizing their FY 2025-2027 Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Plans. Every three years when states undergo this planning process, they must provide the public with an opportunity to comment. This must happen before submitting a final version to the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) by July 1, 2024. As states release draft CCDF Plans ahead of their required public hearings, CCAoA has been monitoring how they respond to questions, especially those aligned to new policy requirements in the 2024 CCDF Final Rule.  

This year’s CCAoA Symposium came at a turning point for the field. Never before has America been more child care aware. Never before have we had the opportunity to make child care strong. We did a lot of deep thinking and strategizing during the week, encouraging participants to engage with the sessions and each other.  

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), passed in March 2021, included $15 billion in supplemental Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) discretionary dollars and $24 billion to make child care stabilization grants available to providers.While states have until September 2024 to spend the supplemental CCDF discretionary funds, states were required to spend stabilization grant funding by September 2023. 

On March 23, 2024, Congress approved a FY24 appropriations package, ending a particularly long and turbulent federal funding cycle.  

Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA) applauds this hard-fought bipartisan deal aimed at protecting and prioritizing child care funding for families, children and communities across the country. This package builds on recent historic progress to lower child care costs for families and improve access to the high-quality care they need.