Child care relief offered for Native American families

Staff Reports

The Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada, Inc. Child Care Development Fund program offers child care subsidies to eligible Native American families in Nevada.

The program hopes to relieve the financial strain child care fees can sometimes have on families.

According to a recent report issued by the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies, Parents and the High Price of Child Care: 2009, "Although child care is a necessity, it's also very expensive. The high price of child care strains household budgets and forces parents to make sacrifices - often in the quality of care their children receive. During this current recession, with more than 13 million Americans unemployed (as of March 2009) and another 9 million working part-time because they cannot find full-time work, child care becomes even more difficult for parents to afford."

The report also claims that child care prices are higher than other household expenses; the average amount families spent on food and higher than average monthly mortgage payments (www.naccrra.org/publications/)

The ITCN CCDF program hopes to alleviate some of that financial strain by offering child care fee assistance to any eligible family in the state of Nevada who can prove a lineage of Native American descent for their children.

"The ITCN CCDF program is designed to assist parents who are employed, going to an accredited school, college, or university. CCDF also accepts parents who may be in job training or involved with work search," said Michael Tinsley, CCDF program director.

"Our job is to offer eligible families with available, affordable and quality child care services. Our program works very similar to Children's Cabinet; however, we only offer our services to families who can prove Native American descent for their children," he said.

Tinsley said families can have a member of their family enrolled by a federally recognized tribe, be a descendent of a member of a federally recognized tribe, or possess a Bureau of Indian Affairs card that proves degree of Indian blood.

Children must be 12 years of age, or younger and enrolled in a licensed child care center, nursery school, pre-school, family/group home, before/after school program, or being cared for by a home provider. The parent has the option to choose which child care setting is best for their child.

The CCDF program services the Reno/Sparks, Carson City and 15 tribal communities in Nevada.

If eligible, assistance will be based on the family's monthly net income and family size. Based on those two factors, families will pay no more than 4-8.5 percent of their monthly net income for child care costs.

Families who think they may qualify for the child care subsidy program are encouraged to call or stop by the ITCN central office to request an application.

The ITCN CCDF office is at 680 Greenbrae Drive, Sparks. Call (775) 355-0600, ext. 290 to request an application.