COUNTYWIDE : O.C. Slated to Get Child-Care Funding

Child-care advocates estimate that Orange County will receive at least $7 million this year in federal child-care grants--the largest influx of money for the expansion of child-care services since World War II.

They say the money provides a rare opportunity to meet the needs of increasingly desperate families. “With thousands of children on waiting lists for subsidized services, there is an enormous need,” said Nancy Claxton, director of children’s services for the Orange County Department of Education.

The funds, stemming from a bill passed by Congress in October, will come from a total $113 million expected to be funneled to the state starting in September, said Dianne Edwards, director of adult and employment services for the Orange County Social Services Agency.

The windfall is expected to arrive after several steps have been taken: Gov. Pete Wilson’s naming of a lead agency statewide, passage of legislation, public hearings and approval of a local plan.

However, Orange County Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez and an unofficial “kitchen cabinet” of child-care authorities are already scrambling to put together a local proposal, anticipating that it will be required by July.

Planners said they are considering expanding all types of child care, including public, private and church-related infant/toddler care. Preschool as well as before- and after-school care is also included.

The expansions will benefit both middle- and low-income parents, they said, because federal regulations require 75% of the funds to be used for subsidies to low-income families, and activities to improve the availability and quality of child care.

In Orange County that could mean increasing subsidized day-care centers, or giving low-income families subsidies they can use at the center of their choice, Edwards said.

Claxton said she is urging money be set aside for summer programs for school-age children. “A lot of parents can handle the school year OK, but then in summer they must use full day care and it becomes too expensive for them,” she said.

Gloria Guzman, coordinator of the child-development centers at Rancho Santiago College, said she is pleased that the federal programs will provide money for teacher training and quality improvement.

She said she hopes that the money will also be used to boost the salaries of day-care staff. She said her students report making $6 to $7 as an average hourly wage, a major factor in high staff turnover rates at day-care centers.

While the money is the largest chunk targeted for child care in memory, it is also the only funding advocates expect to see for a long time. Simply the prospect of improvements on the horizon has brought feelings of relief.

In recent times, the economy has forced some financially strapped parents to pull their children out of day care altogether. Others have joined waiting lists of thousands for subsidized spaces.

The money “won’t do it all by any means,” Claxton said, “but it’s a big help.”

The new programs also represent a moral victory of sorts for advocates who have been lobbying for federal help since the Nixon era.

Beyond the funds and programs, the new government support, according to Guzman, is a statement about “whose responsibility children really are.”