Parents Rally for Child-Care Subsidies
As the Waiting List for Funds Grows, Activists Urge Officials to Consider the Plight of Working Parents

By Chris L. Jenkins
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 29, 2007

Erika Austin never considered herself anyone's Erin Brockovich. A former security guard now going to school full time, the mother of three rarely has had a free moment.

But when she heard that funding for child-care subsidies for working parents had been cut in Virginia, keeping hundreds of children on waiting lists in Fairfax County, Austin, 34, joined a small group of parents who are hoping to pressure the state to add money to a program that helps defray the skyrocketing cost of day care. Although she receives the subsidy herself, she said, this is one issue worth taking time out for.

She said she knows how hard it can be to find quality, affordable child care. "This is such an important issue for us, for people who work in the county and are trying to make it," Austin said as she waited to pick up her youngest from day care after her own classes. "I can't imagine what I'd do without the subsidy, so I can feel for those who don't have it. This is for all of us."

Austin is one of 20 Fairfax County parents who have helped organize a Save Our Child Care campaign, designed to pressure state officials to increase money for the subsidy program for parents who work or are in school full time.

The budding activists are preparing a year-long push to cajole public officials -- from Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) to the Republican-led General Assembly -- to add funding for the program, which has a waiting list of nearly 3,600 children in Fairfax County.

Each member of the organizing team already receives the subsidy, and none is faced with having to find alternatives. That doesn't diminish their zeal.

"I know how hard it can be, and I just wanted to do anything I could to try and help," said Lura Woodlee, 29, a mother of three from Herndon. "If we don't step up, who will?"

Just 18 months ago, Fairfax did not have a waiting list because the county received additional money from the federal government that other jurisdictions did not.

But in the past seven months -- because the mechanism the county was using to provide additional funding dried up -- the waiting list has increased by an average of 200 children a month, according to county statistics.

The organizing began last year when Reston Interfaith, a nonprofit agency that offers services to the working class, poor and homeless, discovered that the chief concern of parents they work with was affordable child care. So, along with other child-care centers across the county, the agency began organizing available parents and developed a list of people who could speak publicly about the issue.

The activists worked with a statewide group, Richmond-based Voices for Virginia's Children, to educate politicians about the issue and to include activists from across the state. The broader goal is to chip away at the statewide waiting list, which stands at about 10,600 children.

As part of their efforts, the group hopes to get thousands of signatures and rally hundreds at the state Capitol during next year's General Assembly session. Because all 140 seats are up for grabs in the General Assembly this year, the group hopes to have an impact in key races.

Organizers said that because child care is something that affects a broad swath of people, they planned to develop a broad spectrum to chip in.

"It's an important issue that people should be able to get their arms around," said Kerrie Wilson, executive director of Reston Interfaith. "It's an issue that's easy to translate to everyday life. Any working parent can understand the challenge of child care and wanting to go to work and support their family. That's what led us to this effort."

Initial efforts culminated in a statewide rally at the state Capitol in January. And while they acknowledge that the effort was modest, they said that they plan to rally hundreds of low-income parents next year during the legislative session to demand that their interests are included in the state's budget.

But organizers said they still are trying to figure out how to effectively mobilize parents who are working full time -- sometimes with multiple jobs -- who don't have a lot of free time. "We're still learning," Wilson said. "We've got a long way to go."

State officials have said that they are aware of the waiting list and its disproportionate impact on Fairfax County families. But they point out that the county has much more generous eligibility requirements than other places -- which has partly contributed to the increase in the waiting list. In Fairfax, a family of four may make up to 275 percent of the poverty level and still qualify; in other jurisdictions, the cutoff is 185 percent.

State officials also say federal mandates for other social service programs have diverted money that might keep kids off.

Organizers say the average cost of child care in Fairfax ranges from $7,000 to $12,800 a year -- a cost that can eat up 21 to 25 percent of take-home pay for those with modest incomes.

As they talk to local and state officials, the parents try to explain the connection between child care and their ability to work. Research has cited the cost of child care as the main reason low-income families go back on welfare.

"It's become very critical, because we depend on this to work," Cynthia Gunera, 35, a mother of two, said at a public hearing on the county budget hosted by Supervisor Cathy Hudgins (D-Hunter Mill). Gunera's appearance was part of the effort on the local level by the organizers to keep them in mind during budget deliberations. In an interview, she added: "I can't imagine what I'd have to do without it."