NEED FOR CHILD-CARE ASSISTANCE IS CRITICAL

Government and private agencies will need to work together to provide dependable child care in the aftermath of welfare reform.

Agencies are sending out the word that child-care assistance will be available as people make the transition from welfare rolls to employment rolls, but private institutions will be needed to help develop nontraditional child care for parents working overnight and weekend hours. Certified and noncertified day-care providers, preschools and other programs will be asked to pick up the slack as welfare rolls decrease and employment rolls increase.

"We're trying to get the word out to the communities that child-care funds are available even this year for anyone who needs them," said Tom Jones, deputy director of the state Division of Family Services. "We think private institutions are critical in helping get the child-care support they're going to need."

The Cape Girardeau Head Start preschool program is looking to expand its programming in order to help meet the increased need for child care and developmental programs in the future. Head Start is a national program that receives some federal funding.

Robert Fulton, executive director of the sponsoring East Missouri Action Agency, said the agency is hoping to expand programming of at least one class from half-day to full-day attendance due to increased demand for the services. The class would run from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. and would only be available to children of parents who work or are enrolled in school or job-training classes.

The agency would also like to launch an early Head Start program for 1- and 2-year-olds to assist working parents. The program would provide a safe, reliable place for parents to leave their children while developing school-readiness at the same time.

"We would like to work with day-care providers and provide some family support for them," Fulton said. "Our Head Start program in Cape Girardeau is being pressed to help respond to child-care needs, and we're reshaping our family support resources to help meet those needs."

The Division of Family Services has targeted three areas that will need to be developed as more people request child-care assistance. The capacity for caring for children throughout the state will need to be increased, as will the need for more providers for nontraditional hours. Jones said Missouri also will see an increased need for infant child care in the future.

Federal funding has already been increased to give more parents the opportunity for child-care assistance, and state legislators have received a budget from Gov. Mel Carnahan that also includes increased child- care funding. Jones said there were once waiting lists for this type of assistance, but the increased federal funding has eliminated those lists, and he expects the supply will outweigh the demand in the future as well.