Effective immediately, the City of Seattle and the Department of Education and Early Learning have expanded eligibility for the Child Care Assistance Program, making an estimated 2,000 additional families eligible for co-pay support at licensed childcare providers.
The program expansion comes at a time when Seattle-King County families are spending, on average, 20 percent or more of their household income on childcare, according to a 2023 report. The policy goal of the Child Care Assistance Program is to reduce that financial burden and increase access to early learning for more families.
“From our experience with families, we know that the cost of childcare is really expensive. Our hope is that when families reached the end of our previous income threshold, even if they were no longer eligible, they still paid a significant amount,” said Janet Thomas, Program Intake Manager for the Child Care Assistance Program. “So, the expansion really is to ensure that we can serve more families once they have reached that end point.”…