One mother at Operation Breakthrough has turned down pay raises for years. She can’t afford to accept them.

There are mothers who have called the Center in tears when offered a promotion or a better job. They know the higher pay will immediately cut off their childcare subsidy from the state of Missouri. They will be worse off financially than ever if they suddenly have to come up with $100 or more each week for childcare.

“When I got the job offer, my heart swelled and sank all at the same time,” says Kelli Hamilton, a single mother of two who was working at Taco Bell when she was offered a job in an insurance company mail room. “I knew that I would lose all the support that was holding our little family together. ... I called Sister Berta and told her how afraid I was to take the job. Sister Berta told me, ‘Go ahead. We’ll work something out.’ Three days later I lost child care.”

Missouri’s income eligibility guidelines are so outdated that Missouri ranks 50th in the nation when it comes to giving working families access to childcare assistance. According to the Partnership for Children, the average annual cost of childcare for two children is over $7,000, yet if their single mother earns $18,500 per year, she would not qualify for any state assistance. (Kansas ranks 24th. There, a single mother with two children could earn $29,772 a year and still get subsidized care.)

Amia Jones says she felt “penalized” for getting more schooling. The 25-year-old mother of one lost her whole subsidy as soon as she completed training as a certified nurse assistant and went to work, making $10 an hour. Currently, there is no sliding eligibility scale. As soon as a parent’s income goes over the limit, she loses the entire subsidy.

Brandy Herr is the mother of two preschoolers and a waitress in a midtown diner, making $2.25 an hour, plus tips. Last time she met with her caseworker, she was told she was over-income for childcare assistance by $50 a month – or $2.50 per day.

“I was panicked,” Brandy says. She feared that without the subsidy, her children might not be able to come to Operation Breakthrough any more.

“I didn’t want them to go any place else,” she says.
Sisters Corita and Berta put Brandy on a sliding fee plan, as they have Kelli, Amia and about 60 other moms who lost their subsidies. Brandy pays $20 a week for five full days of care for her son, 4, and daughter, 3. Otherwise, Brandy says, “I would have had to quit my job.”

What these mothers pay “does not begin to cover what it costs us to care for their children,” says Sister Corita, “but it makes no sense for them to have to quit working because they can’t afford childcare.”

There are other centers that refuse to keep or enroll children whose parents are ineligible for the subsidy, says Sister Berta.

“I think about where those children go,” she says. “Some are with Grandma and some are with felons, I’m sure, and they watch soap operas all day.”

A proposal in the last session of the state legislature that would have updated the eligibility guidelines did not have enough support even to make it out of committee. This year, however, the issue is attracting supporters from both parties, thanks to help from the business community.

Last summer, a group of concerned corporate leaders, including members of the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and staff from the Mayor’s Office, began meeting about the childcare eligibility issue, says Operation Breakthrough Board Member Susan Stanton. “We worked to develop a strategy and identify whose support we needed. They helped make calls to urge legislators to come to the Center to tour.”

One of those who came to Operation Breakthrough is Sen. Chris Koster, a Republican from Harrisonville. He and Sen. Jolie Justus, a Kansas City Democrat, both filed bills in the Senate, which have now been combined into the Koster-Justus Child Care Assistance Act. The legislation would increase the current eligibility standard of 110 percent of the poverty level – a figure set by the federal government that takes annual income and family size into account – to 130 percent of poverty. Further, it calls for families to continue to receive benefits on a sliding scale up to 185 percent of poverty.

“No one should ever have to choose between taking a raise and being able to have their children in daycare,” says Sen. Justus.

“By giving these families a hand up and deferring their daycare costs, we help them to succeed in becoming fully employed,” says Sen. Koster. “This is a benefit to businesses as well as their employees.”
Rep. Jeff Grisamore agrees. A Republican from Lee’s Summit, Rep. Grisamore learned more about the childcare subsidy issue while touring Operation Breakthrough in December with other freshman legislators. He filed legislation identical to the Koster-Justus bill in the House on Jan. 30.

“This is not simply a social welfare bill,” Rep. Grisamore says. “It is more fully a jobs and economic development bill, an education bill, an anti-crime bill…. It will reduce the recipients’ long-term dependence on social services and welfare and increase the education and employability of their children.”

Research by the Partnership for Children and others shows that every dollar invested in quality early childcare programs returns almost $2 to the state economy in the short term by increasing working parents’ earning potential. The long-term return could be up to $17 because children are more likely to be successful in school and, later, in the workforce.
Since the bills were filed in the Senate and the House, Gov. Matt Blunt has said he has identified funds to support raising income limits to 126 percent of poverty.

The staff and families of Operation Breakthrough are hopeful that the pending legislation, which includes the sliding eligibility scale, will pass this session. If it does, Missouri’s rank will then rise to 46th in the nation

“We need people to write to their legislators,” says Susan Stanton. For updates on the legislation, go to www.pfc.org.

Kelli, whose children have remained at Operation Breakthrough even though she is over-income for childcare subsidies, says she “was lucky. But there are tons of moms (in Missouri) who are not. We need people to support our cause.”