“The first time I talked to Amy Lee Funes, our conversation left me stunned.
“In spite of the fact that she earned only $35,000 a year and lived in one of the most expensive cities in the world, Funes made too much to qualify for public assistance paying for child care. Her only option was to take a pay cut, a city official told her in late 2019. Funes, who had recently moved far away from her mother (a free source of child care) to escape an abusive relationship, desperately needed child care. She felt she had no choice but to quit her job to get that voucher.
“I had reported on child care subsidies before, but hadn’t realized the magnitude to which state eligibility policies — including, in some states, income criteria that flew in the face of federal recommendations — were trapping families like Funes’ in poverty. As I reported more on Funes’ experience and these policies, I learned her situation is surprisingly common. Across the country, parents often quit jobs or turn down raises to qualify for child care assistance, a reality that has immense consequences on children and families.”
— “Quitting jobs to qualify for child care: How child care eligibility rules trap families in poverty,” by Jackie Mader, The Hechinger Report, January 9, 2025