Orange County NC Website
2 <br />The Day Care Task Force reviewed materials and data from the County Department of Social <br />Services (DSS) Day Care Unit, the Partnership for Young Children, the Orange County Child <br />Care Coalition, the Child Care Services Association and the Orange County Economic <br />Development Office as part of the process of developing recommendations. The data reveal <br />that, on average, nearly 600 children of employed parents receive subsidies and another 300 to <br />500 are eligible and waiting for subsidies in Orange County. Currently, for example, there are <br />363 children who are eligible for subsidy from the Department of Social Services who are not <br />receiving any assistance with their child care needs. Furthermore, over 200 employers in <br />Orange County have employees who receive or are waiting for child care subsidy, These <br />subsidies provide a significant economic benefit for the business community. <br />Since the Task Force formation was stimulated by a request from child care providers for relief <br />in the form of subsidies far their teachers, these needs, as well as the needs of other school <br />and government based employees, were of particular concern to the Task Force members. <br />Recent information from Child Care Services Association shows that the average pay of child <br />care teachers in Orange County is approximately $10.80 per hour. Families that rely solely on <br />the wages of a child care teacher would be eligible for child care subsidies. Low wages and <br />lack of comprehensive benefits have also resulted in significant turnover in the child care field. <br />Other information gathered by the task farce showed that working parents with low wages were <br />struggling to meet their child care needs. Employers with 20-75 employees who have child care <br />subsidies include UNC, UNC Hospitals, Chapel Hill/Carrboro City Schools and Wal-Mart. <br />Some parents in low wage service and retail jabs also do not have benefits. <br />After reviewing all of this information, the Task Force developed recommendations for the <br />$100,000 Day Care Trust Fund with two goals.. First, the Task Force felt it was important to use <br />the largest portion of this fund to reduce the length of time families have to wait to receive the <br />available subsidies from state and federal funds. If the waiting time can be reduced significantly <br />through the use of the Day Care Trust Funds, then families will be able to make better plans far <br />their children, The Task Force felt that all working families whose incomes are low enough to <br />qualify for subsidy experience these same hardships. For this reason, it is recommended that <br />children be served in the order they first were added to the waiting list. <br />A second goal of the Task Force was to recommend the use of a smaller portion of the funds to <br />address the needs of low-wage workers including child care teachers, at the same time <br />providing a stimulus for additional funds to be generated through scholarships. For this reason, <br />a portion of the funds were recommended to be used to pay half of the amount that Social <br />Services would normally pay for the time period these persons were waiting for subsidy. The <br />remaining costs would need to be paid by the employer or through same other sponsoring <br />organization. Since there were many other groups with similar issues, the Task Force <br />recommended this be available for any parents who had a sponsor or other means to meet <br />these costs, <br />As long as the amount of available subsidy funds is far below the need in Orange County, there <br />will be hardships for families who are trying to work and to provide appropriate care for their <br />children. Finding a fair way to direct these scarce resources was the primary work of the Task <br />Farce. Members of the Task Force were particularly pleased that the Board of County <br />Commissioners recognized this need and hope that its commitment to helping low wage <br />families through child care subsidies will continue. <br />