Mothers tell governor they’d be unemployed, homeless without childcare vouchers

“I feel like it has helped my kids have stability, and they have learned a lot, from crawling to graduating pre-K,” Williams told Braun. “… I wouldn’t be able to do it without Minnie Hartmann and CCDF. I don’t think I make enough at home to pay for this every week, plus all my bills.”

Braun spoke to the mothers after a tour of the facility.

He is pushing to increase the state’s contribution to the Child Care and Development Fund, a mostly federally funded program that provides vouchers to children from low-income families, in the next biennial budget. The legislative session begins in January.

“If you want to keep growing the economy, that’s going to be a central part,” Braun said of childcare.

Until recently, CCDF had been closed to new children since December 2024, when enrollment peaked at 69,000 and a waitlist was created. Braun’s administration previously said the program would not expand until 2027, citing funding constraints after a dismal revenue forecast.

But more recent forecasts are markedly rosier. Braun in April secured a $200 million injection from the state’s General Fund to reopen CCDF to an estimated 14,000 children. Enrollments began late May — when the waitlist numbered about 35,000 — and are expected to continue through September.

The Braun administration will propose adding another $200 million per year to the budget line item for early childhood learning, Family and Social Services Administration officials have said.

Kendra Chavez said her oldest child, Ella, began attending Shepherd during the pandemic, after being abused at an in-home daycare. It was a “struggle,” Chavez said, to cover childcare costs for a younger sibling who was on the CCDF waitlist until recently. She is a single parent.

The voucher “meant a lot to me, because that helped put more funding towards my children’s future, making sure that they’re fed, making sure … our bills are paid,” Chavez told Braun. “A little bit less stress on me as well. And it’s also in a nurturing environment where I know they’re taken care of.”

Sarina Donahue, who is also a single mother, said she has the “minimum” left for groceries after paying her bills.

“Without CCDF … my child and I would either be living with a family member or on the streets,” she said. “… Hopefully, it gets me back on my feet to where I can get a better-paying job and maybe not have to rely on it. But for now, that’s my rock.”

Providers have also struggled, with some closing infant-specific rooms or entire facilities when children that would’ve gotten CCDF vouchers did not during the freeze.

Jay Height, executive director of Shepherd Community Center, told Braun that the childcare facility has 60 to 70 kids but has the capacity for up to 140 — “if the funding is there.”

Assistant Executive Director Andrew Green said about half of enrolled children are receiving vouchers, which is less than the usual 75%. Some of those without can still receive discounts.

The facility serves largely low-income working parents and their children.

Braun has also called on businesses to do their part, highlighting a recent law expanding eligibility for Indiana’s employer child care tax credit to small businesses with up to 500 employees.

“Every business in this state ought to be interested in that, if they’re complaining about not having the workforce,” he told reporters. “… They should be interested, again, in paying for a good portion of it, and that’s why we’re going to try to offer them incentives to get involved broadly across the state.”

“Government can only do so much,” Braun added. But, he said, Indiana is “probably in the best position of any state, per capita” to help out.

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