Single Mothers in Poverty on the Mississippi Gulf Coast: the childcare connundrum.

Throughout America, fully a third of all single-mother families live at or below the poverty level (Marriage and Family Encyclopedia, N.D.). This harsh reality may have even more striking effects on the Mississippi Gulf Coast which is still recovering, almost three years later, from the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina. When housing is short, and jobs are scarce, single mothers may face even greater challenges than normal. According to the Marriage and Family Encyclopedia, “for single parents the housing/employment issue is one of affordability and geographic proximity and access to jobs that pay a living wage” (Economics of Single-Parent Family Life, para. 1). Single mothers face more than just the challenge of housing and employment however.

Perhaps the lynchpin to the plan for breaking the poverty barrier is access to affordable childcare. Without childcare, a single mother cannot possibly spend hours a week at work or at school, and she most certainly cannot do both. The average cost of childcare in the United States is $679 monthly for infants and toddlers, with an average cost in Mississippi of $500 a month. (Baby Center). While the cost decreases slightly once a child is pre-school aged, it only decreases to an average cost of $535 per month nationally and $417 per month locally (Baby Center). When a woman’s average weekly earnings are somewhere between $332 and $707 (Pandey &Zhan, 2007) according to education levels, how is she to accomplish the goal of maintaining suitable childcare?

Child Care and Development Fund
Mississippi provides the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) program for its poor families. The CCDF is “a federally-funded program designed to provide quality child care services to eligible families of children transitioning off Transitional Child Care (TCC), children at-risk of going on TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) and children of all other eligible parents who meet the work and educational requirements set by the Mississippi Department of Human Services - Office for Children and Youth” (Child Care and Development Fund Program, p. 1). To qualify for this program, a family must not exceed the maximum income requirements. They must provide the CCDP with a birth certificate and social security card for the child and a full month’s worth of pay stubs including any additional income for working parents or an income statement and a letter from the registrar’s office for full-time students (Child Care and Development Fund). The program, whose goal is “to increase the availability, afford-ability, and quality of child care services” (Child Care and Development Fund Program, p. 1), issues a child care certificate to the parents who then pay a co-pay to an approved facility (Child Care and Development Fund).

Starting in 2004, the CCDF required proof of compliance with Mississippi child support regulations. When this policy was enacted, the waiting list for assistance from the CCDF dropped dramatically (Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative). While most people agree that child support is necessary or, at a minimum, beneficial to the poor single-mother family, there are many women who shy away from the CCDF program because of this requirement, and their reasons may be very valid ones. The Mississippi Low-Income Child Care initiative states:

However, we heard many stories of instances where fathers who were supporting their children voluntarily lost their jobs when child support payments were taken out of their paychecks. There are also instances where the father is unknown or his whereabouts are unknown. Finally, while there is an exception to the requirement in cases of abuse, this exception is not adequately publicized, and many women shy away from CCDF assistance because they are fearful of the child support requirement. (Key Reforms, p. 1)

Additionally, the Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative notes several areas where the regulations of the CCDF are applied inconsistently or incorrectly. There is an inconsistent application of the continued coverage for thirty days after a parent loses his or her job. ”It appears that [three district-level programs] generally give parents 30 days to find work before terminating their certificates. The responses in the other districts varied from immediate termination to 10 days to 2 weeks to 30 days or longer” (Key Reforms, p. 2) The Initiative goes on to describe these inconsistencies: “The variety of responses is inappropriate. This is an objective policy that should be enforced uniformly throughout the state. Parents have 10 days to notify the DA of a loss of job and 30 days to find a new one before losing their certificates. Under no circumstances should a parent be terminated immediately upon losing her job” (Key Reforms, p. 2)

As an alternative to the problems they may face, many women are choosing instead to place their young children in the State’s Head Start program, which has no child support requirements, and tends to be consistently accessible to working parents (Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative, N.D.). Additionally, Head Start and Early Head Start programs do not require proof that the parent is working. In fact, only two-thirds of parents who use the Head Start programs are employed (Office of Haley Barbour, 2007).
Given the income of poor single mothers and the expense of child care, a single mother must find options to provide adequate care for her children in an affordable way. Programs do exist to provide this care, but she must weigh the options. Head Start schools limit the mother in terms of facility, as only Head Start schools are available as options for this program. In Mississippi, she may choose the CCDF program and pay a small percentage of the cost of care, but she must first prove that she is working and receiving child support, and even then, she may lose coverage if her job situation changes. The problem of child care remains a hurdle that many mothers find difficult, and it will likely remain such a hurdle unless and until more effective programs are instituted to assist low-income single mothers in raising their families.



References

Baby Center. (2007). How much you’ll spend on childcare. Retrieved July 25, 2008, from http://www.babycenter.com/0_how-much-youll-spend-on-childcare_1199776.bc

Child Care and Development Fund. (N.D). Child care and development fund (CCDF) program frequently asked questions – fact sheet. Retrieved July 23, 2008 from http://www.cmpdd.org/Childcare%20forms/FAQs.pdf

Marriage and Family Encyclopedia. (N.D.). Economics of single-parent family life. Retrieved July 21, 2008, from http://family.jrank.org/pages/1578/Single-Parent-Families-Economics-Single-Parent-Family-Life.html

Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative. (N.D.). Key issues for reform in the Mississippi child care certificate program. Retrieved July 24, 2008, form http://www.mschildcare.org/key_reforms.pdf

Office of Haley Barbour. (2007). Mississippi early care and education programs: contact information and program data. Retrieved July 25, 2008, from http://www.governorbarbour.com/documents/EarlyCareandEducationInformation_000.pdf

Pandey S. & Zhan, M. (2007). Postsecondary education, marital status, and economic well-being of women with children. Social Development Issues, 29(1), 1-26, Retrieved July 23, 2008, from EBSCOhost Database.