Monsey Caregivers Demand Clarity on Daycare Funding

By Gillian DeStefano

On Tuesday night, during a regular meeting of the County Legislature, half a dozen women working in various daycares across Monsey petitioned the local lawmakers for answers on withheld federal funding. The ladies came equipped with over 500 signatures supporting their cause.

According to the Office of New York, The New York State Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) provides grants for childcare throughout the state. The program is overseen by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) and administered through local social services districts, like Rockland County. Spending on CCAP relies significantly on federal funding, which comprised three quarters of about $12.9 billion in spending from April 2015 through March 2025.

In SFY 2025, federal funding totaled more than $1.1 billion, comprising $290 million in transfers from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant and $838 million from the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF). CCDF is generally composed of the Child Care Development Block Grant and the Child Care Entitlement to States. In recent years, pandemic relief funding has also supported child care services; as a result, the federal share peaked in SFY 2022 at 94.1 percent of total CCAP funding.

Miriam Kraus, Director of Kinderhouse Inc, Monsey, brought the issue of lack of effective communications to the attention of legislatures. She told the legislature, “Rockland County is strongly affected by the confusion, instability, and lack of funding in the Childcare Assistance Program. After a meeting between the representatives of the childcare assistance unit of Rockland County and the Providers, where providers were supposed to get some clarity in the situation, things still seem to be very unpredictable.”

Kraus continued, “At the time of the CCAP approval, funding is guaranteed for one year. Upon recertification, families are denied due to lack of funding and placed on a waitlist to be approved. In the meantime, more families get onto the waitlist to be approved. There are insufficient funds allocated in Rockland County’s budget for childcare.”

From a provider’s perspective, Kraus said, “Families that are eligible for CCAP cannot afford to pay the childcare market rate. By signing the provider form, parents and providers commit to send and provide services. If approvals are not given at the time of submitting, providers can’t hold that slot and parents can’t hold their job invalidating that agreement.”

“There’s still so much we’re not clear about. We understand there is so much to do, but the way that this is going right now, the fact that no one is getting answers, no commitments, we need some sort of help,” said Sarah Bayer , NSIC Daycare Center.

Margolis Hirsch, teacher at Guly Daycare, said, “I’m an employer of the many mothers in the community, or rather our county, who rely on daycare to be able to help make a living for their families.”

The RCT reached out to the County Executive’s for comment on the complaints raised at Tuesday’s meeting, but did not receive a response at time of publication.