6,200 Wake children on waiting list for daycare assistance

The county has a program that helps low-income, working parents pay for day care, but state budget cuts are putting a strain on that help.

The state created the five-star rated license system to help parents identify quality childcare. One star means that a day care meets North Carolina's minimum standards. Two to five stars means it has met higher standards.

More than 5,000 Wake County children get their day care subsidized through the program. With a $4.2-million budget cut, the county’s human services department can't take on any new families in need.

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More than 6,200 children are on the waiting list, which “continues to grow,” and there is no guarantee they will get any day care assistance, according to Gloria Cook, a child care subsidy program manager with Wake County Human Services.

“It just depends on when funding would become available,” Cook said.

The county also had to reduce its level of service and no longer pays day care registration fees or for transportation, she said.

Cheryl Riley’s 4-year-old son Gabe is one of the 5,000 children who use the program. She sends him to a four-star center, with Wake County paying part of the cost.

“If I had to pay regularly, it would cost way too much, like $800 to $900 (a month),” Riley said. “I wouldn’t be able to work if I didn’t have it, or at least not as much. I’d be limited in what I can provide for Gabe.”

WRAL News reached out to Republican state lawmakers about the budget cuts. Sen. Richard Stevens, R-Wake, says the state was facing a $3-billion deficit, so cuts were made to almost all programs.

Sen. Neal Hunt, R-Wake, says he and other lawmakers did all they could “to minimize the impact on services that help at-risk families and some of our most vulnerable citizens, including making programs more efficient."