BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Thousands on a waitlist will soon start receiving aid from a Louisiana program that helps low-income parents pay for child care while at work, in school or in job training.
An infusion of nearly $40 million in federal money will add more people into the Child Care Assistance Program.
The program has 15,000 children enrolled. But it has been battered by reductions for a decade, swelling its waitlist to about 5,200 children.
The Advocate reports that the leader of the state education department's Office of Early Childhood Operations, Lisa Brochard, says about 4,000 of those youngsters will soon join the program.
The federal money will pay for new slots for children from birth to age 4.
It's uncertain, however, whether the federal aid will be available after one year.
