STAFF REPORTNorth Country This Week

CANTON — St. Lawrence County has received a waiver allowing the Department of Social Services to continue child care assistance for certain families as the county faces an ongoing shortage of state funding for the program.

The waiver allows the county to continue authorizing child care assistance when families come up for recertification if they fall within at least one of three federally mandated priority populations: families experiencing homelessness, families with income below 300% of the State Income Standard, or families with children who have special needs.

The county Department of Social Services administers the New York State-funded Child Care Assistance Program, which helps eligible families pay for child care. The program is intended in part to help parents and guardians work, attend school or participate in other qualifying activities.

But state funding allocated to the county is projected to remain insufficient to serve all eligible families.

That shortage has already resulted in families being denied benefits because of a lack of funding during the past two fiscal years, according to DSS.

County legislators raised concerns about the funding situation in April, when they approved a resolution calling on the state to increase funding for the program. At the time, county officials warned that increased eligibility and demand for child care assistance had outpaced available funding.

Who can get help?

The newly approved waiver addresses how the county will handle some cases as funding remains limited.

Families who are already receiving child care assistance and meet one or more of the three federal priority categories will be eligible for a new authorization period if they remain eligible at recertification and funding is available.

Families receiving assistance who do not meet any of the three priority categories will be denied assistance at recertification if funding is unavailable and placed on a waiting list.

The same will apply to families determined eligible when they initially apply for child care assistance: They will be denied assistance because of the lack of available funding and placed on the waiting list.

When funding becomes available, DSS will use federal and state priorities to determine which families are moved off the waiting list.

Families meeting one or more of the three federal priority categories will be considered first. Eligible families will be authorized according to how long they have been on the waiting list, with priority given to those who have waited the longest.

The county will then consider cases according to state-established priorities, with recertification cases prioritized before initial applications.

Remaining eligible cases will be authorized according to the length of time they have been on the waiting list, with the order corresponding to the date of application.