Mothers sue over New Mexico's child care assistance program

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Single mothers and an advocacy group sued New Mexico, saying its child welfare agency is using vague regulations to deny child care assistance to thousands of low-income families.
The complaint was filed late Tuesday in state district court by several women and the nonprofit organization OLE.
The plaintiffs contend the Children, Youth and Families Department is illegally denying child care assistance to families with incomes over 150 percent of the federal poverty level, which amounts to a yearly income of $31,170 for a family of three.
They argue that parents with incomes up to 200 percent of the poverty level are eligible to receive the help.
The agency also is accused of not informing families of their right to appeal decisions denying aid.
Monica Ault, an attorney with the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, said her clients are frustrated with how the agency has been administering the program.
"We know as New Mexicans that child care is a basic necessity for any family that would like to work or to go to school," Ault said during a news conference.
Yet many families are forced to choose between paying rent, buying groceries and diapers, and paying for child care in the state that has some of the highest rates of poverty and unemployment in the nation, she said.
The Children, Youth and Families Department has yet to respond to the lawsuit.
The agency in July unveiled a new app to help families apply online for the assistance program, with the goal of making the process easier and faster.
Cabinet Secretary Monique Jacobson has described the program as one of the greatest tools in the fight to improve the quality of life for New Mexico children. She has said child care assistance lets parents leave their children in a safe place so they can go to work or school.
In recent years, the department has boosted participation in the program by more than 4,000 additional children and was awarded $25 million during the past legislative session to maintain funding for early child care services.
State officials acknowledge that less than one-third of the people eligible for the program take advantage of it. Fewer than 20,000 are now served.
Annette Torres, a single mother with a full-time government job, is among the plaintiffs. She applied for assistance when her daughter was born three years ago and was denied three times.
She described feeling ashamed and helpless.
"My heart sunk because I didn't know what I was going to do," she said.
Her family helped when they could, paying at times for child care and sending her home on Sundays with extra food as buying groceries became a luxury, she said.
Torres also juggles a house payment and the regular expense of buying gas to get to work and taking her daughter to daycare.
"I've had to learn how to stretch every penny," she said.
Lawyers for Torres and the other plaintiffs are asking the agency to adopt standards for the child care assistance program through a public rulemaking process that makes it more affordable and predictable.
The lawsuit also targets co-payments that some families are required to make toward their child care.
The plaintiffs say there is little information publicly available about the way the payments are calculated.