Vance-backed plan would open federal child care subsidies to stay-at-home parents: Report

WASHINGTON, DC: The Trump administration is drafting a rule that would allow some married couples with a stay-at-home parent to receive federal child care subsidies, according to a report by the New York Times.

The proposal would use the existing Child Care and Development Fund, a $12 billion program designed to help low- and moderate-income parents afford child care while working or attending school. If finalized, the change would create the first federal subsidy specifically allowing parents to receive the benefit while staying home to care for their own children.

Proposed rule would expand eligibility for existing child-care fund

Under the draft rule reviewed by the newspaper, married couples in certain income brackets could receive assistance if one parent stays home with the children while the other works at least 35 hours a week. The proposal describes this as a new category of “parent-based child care.”

The Child Care and Development Fund currently supports care for about 1.3 million children and typically provides about $9,000 per child each year. States generally distribute the money through vouchers or payments made directly to child-care providers.

Current rules generally require parents receiving the subsidies to be working, attending school, or participating in job training, while their household income must fall below a specified percentage of the state median income. Under the proposed change, some married families would remain eligible even when one parent does not work because that parent is caring for the child at home.

However, unmarried couples with one stay-at-home parent would not qualify under the proposed draft. Single parents who are not working would also remain ineligible. The rule would not require congressional approval, but it would need White House approval. If finalized, it could take effect as soon as next year.

The proposal is a priority for Vice President JD Vance, according to sources familiar with the discussions cited by the outlet. The draft also incorporates policies from legislation previously written by Secretary of State Marco Rubio back when he was a senator.

Vance has repeatedly advocated for policies supporting parents who choose to stay home. In a Wall Street Journal opinion essay in 2021, he argued that young children are “clearly happier and healthier when they spend the day at home with a parent.”

Critics warn same funding pool could squeeze working families

The proposal reportedly could also change how the existing child-care fund is distributed. About 80% of the roughly 870,000 families currently receiving subsidies are single working-parent households, most of them mothers, according to the Pew Research Center. 

Family policy experts have warned that expanding eligibility without increasing the amount of money available could leave fewer resources for families who currently rely on the program to work or attend school.

“I am a big proponent of more support for stay-at-home parents. But this is not how I would choose to do it,” Joshua McCabe, director of social policy at the Niskanen Center, told the outlet. “Expanding the eligibility without increasing funding would mean more parents competing for the same dollars, and leaving more parents, particularly single working parents, worse off,” he said.