HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — More than 20,000 Connecticut kids will continue to be eligible and enrolled in the ‘Care4Kids’ program into the new year; but thousands of others (one estimate says 4,000-5,000), whose parents are on waiting lists, will slip through the cracks leaving their parents to fend for themselves.
Shadae Evans, of New Haven, is an example of someone who won’t be able to get into the program for her two month old son.
I don’t receive any assistance from the State. I have bills to pay, so I cannot afford 800 dollars a month for my child to attend a quality care center.”
So instead of a licensed day care facility, Shadae’s son will be passed around from relative to relative that’s willing to take him, or Shadae will have to give up working and go on some other form of state assistance.
It’s exactly what the ‘Care4Kids’ program was designed to avoid.
Many others, like Shadae, came to the Capitol Wednesday to make the same point; that without ‘Care4Kids’, they too may end up needing even more state assistance.
Nisrin Omar came to Connecticut from Sudan twelve years ago and says ‘Care4Kids’ allowed her and her husband to both work and get on their feet economically, “It helped me a lot, especially with my two little ones, so we need this.”
Steven Hernandez, the Executive Director of the Commission on Women, Children and Seniors noted that these are, “Families that will never get on the rolls for this care subsidy and will never begin to experience the affects of being able to move out of poverty through either educational or workforce opportunity.”
Children’s Committee member Rep. Melissa Ziobron (R-East Haddam) saying, “Unfortunately, it’s not just ‘Care4Kids’ that is having a deficit. So does the “Birth to 3″ program. so we have some
serious problems.”
We have been told that the Malloy Administration will continue to maintain a wait list for ‘Care4Kids’ and as people’s kids grow out of the program; those on the wait list could take their place.
Commission on Women, Children and Seniors 