Illinois child care providers on edge amid ongoing uncertainty around federal funding : NPR

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The year 2026 was tough for child care providers in five Democratic-led states. They are grappling with uncertainty over what had been a promise of federal funding. NPR’s Andrea Hsu reports.

UNIDENTIFIED MOM: You need to learn to say baba.

ANDREA HSU, BYLINE: It’s 8 a.m. drop-off time at Michelle’s Place, a daycare in Granite City, Illinois, on the Mississippi River. A mom apologizes for handing over a baby with a dirty diaper. It happened in the car.

UNIDENTIFIED MOM: I always change it before leaving the house.

UNIDENTIFIED WORKER: No worries.

HSU: The staff happily intervenes. They know mom has to get to work.

MICHELLE WRIGHT: It’s okay. We know it.

HSU: That’s the owner of Michelle’s Place, Michelle Wright. She says these parents are hard-working people.

WRIGHT: We have people working at gas stations, clinics, local clinics, grocery stores. We have a few clerks from there.

HSU: Also, fast food workers, car wash attendants, people who don’t make a lot of money. In fact, 90 percent of the children at Michelle’s Place qualify for child care subsidies, paid for by the state with federal funds. So when news broke of Illinois’ child care funding freeze, parents panicked.

WRIGHT: All of a sudden I hear parents saying, Hey, are you going to close? I’m like, closed? What do you mean? Will you take my child? I was like, yeah, what’s going on?

HSU: What was happening was that allegations of child care fraud had arisen in Minnesota, more than 500 miles away. In response, the Trump administration announced it was freezing funds for several programs that help low-income families, not only in Minnesota but also in California, Colorado, New York and Illinois. The administration said it needed to review how the money was spent. The state sued, arguing that it was not fraud, but that they were targeted for political reasons. A court has blocked the freeze for now, but the legal battle continues. And Michelle Wright clearly sees what a funding freeze would mean for her.

WRIGHT: If it freezes and freezes for too long, yes, we would close.

HSU: And not just this center, but another one she owns half an hour from here. Almost its entire budget depends on these subsidies.

WRIGHT: There will currently be 78 children who will immediately lose care. And there is nowhere to refer them, nowhere to send them. I don’t know where they would end up.

HSU: Before opening in Granite City, Wright says there was no daycare nearby. That’s why she chose this place. She could have opened a daycare in an affluent community, where families don’t rely on subsidies, where she could have charged more for each child in her care. But she believes her calling is to serve those in need. In the past, she herself relied on childcare subsidies.

WRIGHT: Years ago, my first child. So I know the struggle.

HSU: And it’s not just families who depend on Wright. Between its two centers, it employs 21 people. She already says that they don’t earn enough. Many rely on public assistance themselves. And now she fears the added uncertainty will scare them away.

WRIGHT: They also need to be able to earn a living.

HSU: Now, in the toddler room, Summer Skanina (ph) says goodbye to her 3-year-old.

SUMMER SKANINA: I love you.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Give a muffin.

SKANINA: OK, go eat your muffins (laughs).

HSU: It’s an easy deposit. No tears.

SKANINA: She loves it. She loves her friends. She likes the teachers. She talks about it at night. She prays for them at night.

HSU: Skanina cleans houses for a living. She is grateful to have reliable child care and financial assistance.

SKANINA: If I didn’t have daycare, I wouldn’t make money, I wouldn’t pay my bills.

HSU: And now, with another baby on the way, she’s counting on Michelle Wright to stay open.

SKANINA: (Laughs) I wouldn’t send it anywhere else. I’m so scared.

HSU: And Wright wants to stay open.

WRIGHT: If nothing, I’d rather do it.

HSU: But in this political climate, she knows that nothing can be taken for granted.

Andrea Hsu, NPR News, Granite City, IL.

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