Politics
Illinois Families, Child Care Providers Brace for Cuts as Trump Administration Withholds Social Safety Net Funds
The Trump administration announced Tuesday its decision to withhold billions of federal dollars from five Democrat-led states, including Illinois, intended to provide child care and support for low-income families.
The administration cited allegations of widespread fraud as the reason for the reversal. Those claims have not been independently verified.
Programs affected by the funding pause include the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Social Services Block Grant (SSBG).
Gov. JB Pritzker condemned the decision, saying, “Rather than making life easier and more affordable for our families, Donald Trump is stripping away child care from Illinois families who are just trying to go to work. Thousands of parents and children depend on these child care programs to help them make ends meet, and now their livelihoods are being put at risk. This is wrong, it is cruel, and we will take every step possible to defend the kids and families depending on all of us right now.”
Illinois is losing approximately $1 billion in federal funding, Pritzker’s office said.
Around 100,00 families — including more than 152,000 children — use the Illinois Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), which is partially funded through the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG).
For Tahiti Hamer, Illinois being cut out of federal social safety net funding is both a professional and personal concern.
The Chicago native is a mother of three and an early childhood education teacher at the North Lawndale YMCA where she works with infants and toddlers, many of whom have disabilities.
“I’m worried because not only are my families that we provide care and services for being affected by this, but me as a parent myself,” Hamer said. “My child attends a home day care, and without her (the day care provider), I wouldn’t be able to go to work.”
Tina Vanderwarker, executive director of the Early Childhood Alliance of Niles Township, said the Trump administration’s funding freeze will make it more difficult for families to care for their children.
“The families that we are helping in large part need child care for their children so that they can work to afford rent, to put food on the table,” Vanderwarker said. “In many cases, one parent is working full-time or two parents are working full-time. One parent may be taking classes as well, and simply can’t afford to not have both parents working to provide for themselves.”
The Early Childhood Alliance partners with 49 organizations, including child care and social service groups, to connect in-need families to resources they qualify for. While the alliance doesn’t directly receive funding through the paused programs, it assists families and organizations that do.
Child care programs received notice from the Illinois Department of Human Services on Thursday. The effect of the funding freeze will not be felt for about a month, according to IDHS.
“I can tell you that one of the letters that the administration sent to the state about one of those programs, the Child Care and Development Fund, doesn’t really make a lot of sense when I read it,” said Carolyn Shapiro, professor of law and co-director of the Institute on the Supreme Court of the United States at the Chicago-Kent College of Law. “The letter says, ‘We have concerns about systemic fraud,’ and then talks about the possibility that non-citizens or people who are not legally entitled to receive child care assistance under federal programs because of their immigration status are receiving these funds.”
The Administration for Children and Families has given the state until Jan. 20 to submit personal data for all TANF and SSBG recipients, and to prove that Illinois has verified the immigration status of recipients.
