State officials have informed foster parents that Alaska Health and Human Services will cover the cost of a federal program that fully funds their child care after pandemic-era funding runs out in July.

The news is a boon for the foster care system, which foster families and child care workers say has struggled to find families who can afford care because of the high cost of child care in the state.

Ashli ​​Mackey is one of those foster parents, currently caring for two foster children in addition to her five adopted and biological children. Without the child care, she says she couldn't afford foster parenting.

“I would no longer be able to take in children in need or support family reunification. In terms of long-term planning, it would also affect my ability to adopt children,” she said.

Four of Mackey's children require care, two of whom are her foster children. She is a teacher in the Anchorage School District and said childcare costs for the other two account for 35% of her salary.

“Doubling it would be impossible. So if there is a loss of full child care subsidies for foster parents, I expect that foster homes like mine will have to cancel their licenses,” she said.

Mackey said the change means her foster children will continue to receive an early education. If the money had run out at the end of this month as planned, she would have had to hire a nanny – depriving her children of the contact with other children that teaches them basic skills they will need as future students and community members.

The state has long subsidized child care for foster families, but during the pandemic, the entire cost of care has been covered by federal assistance funds. A Department of Family and Community Services spokesperson said the state will provide $350,000 for the effort in the next fiscal year, which would provide full funding for about 530 families.

Supporters say the change means more families will be able to care for the state's most vulnerable children, improving health outcomes and keeping siblings together. And they welcome covering the entire cost of care instead of the “market rate,” which is typically lower and often doesn't cover the full cost, leaving parents to pay the difference.

Christina Eubanks, the director of the Hillcrest Child Care Center in Anchorage, was one of the people who brought the issue to the public's attention. Hillcrest serves several families with foster children, including Mackey's, and Eubanks had to warn parents that they would have to cover part of the $1,850 it costs to place a child in her care center.

“The costs were much higher than the reimbursement rate,” she said. “If the costs go back to the old levels, we're looking at costs of $500 to $600 a month for child care.”

She expressed concern that if the government did nothing, the number of children in foster care would decrease and therefore more children would be in state care.

Rabbi Abram Goodstein of Congregation Beth Sholom is one advocate who amplified their message. “Many of us came together and realized that we should really push the state to support what I think are the most vulnerable Alaskans in our state,” he said. “These are children under the age of six who don't necessarily have stable child care, who don't necessarily have stable homes, who could really benefit from quality early education — and if it were free for them, that would be an incredible boost to their success in life.”

When the issue came up at an Alaska Children's Trust hearing, stakeholders banded together. ACT Director Trevor Storrs said state officials took up the issue after stakeholders raised it.

“This is really thanks to the leadership of our commissioners and we thank them for their continued support of children and families because they really made it possible,” he said.

Storrs added that the solution underscores the importance of investing in families.

“This is just a small step toward truly universal child care, which is the ultimate solution to address the child care crisis,” he said.

The letter to the foster parents stated that the state authorities would endeavour to continue the support in the future.