Thank You Policymakers: Pandemic Stories

To address the needs of families and the child care community during the COVID pandemic, Indiana received nearly $1.2 billion in federal funding following the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, which prioritized stabilizing and strengthening Indiana’s child care sector. The State of Indiana administered these funds through grants such as Build Learn Grow, CARES, and more.

How funding impacted families during the pandemic

In 2023, Child Care Answers, with funding from Child Care Aware of America, showcased how federal relief funding positively impacted child care programs, families, and the community. Using stories from the community, we extended a “thank you” to Indiana’s senators and U.S. representatives for their work to make these funding opportunities a reality. Nearly 138,000 children and over 4,000 child care programs benefited from this support.

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Thank You Policymakers

Here's just a sample of the families and child care professionals whose lives were changed by support of federal relief funds for child care.

See the full set of stories below for Hamilton, Hendricks, and Marion counties.

Federal Funding Impacts

Indiana was one of the first states to distribute relief funds successfully, and Child Care Answers was a part of this effort in our role in distributing CARES dollars.

2,777

Programs supported through stabilization grants

15,980

Children supported with scholarships to help families access quality care and education

$4.3 Million

Increase in child care subsidies resulting from CCDF voucher policy updates

Supporting Indiana's Early Care and Education System

COVID-19 Federal Funding Report

Indiana's Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning outlines the funds received from CARES, CRRSA, and ARPA and how they were distributed to Hoosiers throughout and after the pandemic.

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Hamilton County

High quality child care leads to positive social and emotional outcomes for all children. But high-quality care comes at a price. In Hamilton County, quality infant-toddler care often costs families more than their rent. Federal relief funding helped families who typically cannot afford high-quality care access higher rated programs for their children.

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Jamie and Cory's Story

Virginia's Story

Hendricks County

Each year, businesses lose $1,640 per working parent due to child care related issues (Bishop, 2023). Workplaces’ care and benefits policies can improve work-life balance for parents, helping them support their families and, in turn, be better employees. In fact, 86% of workers wish their employer offered child care benefits, but only 15% actually do (Paidner, 2020).

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Thank You Policymakers: Starla's Story

Starla describes how federal relief funds helped her keep her child care program's doors open and created quality opportunities for families and children in her care.

Abbi's Story

Matt and Jamie's Story

Kaitlin's Story

Marion County

Comprehensive, high-quality, birth-to-five early education realizes a 13% return on investment to communities through: decreased need for special education and academic remediation, increased lifetime wages and tax base, and decreased crime and spending on criminal justice services. (Heckman, 2021). Many Marion County families with children are ALICE families, just missing cut-offs for public assistance. Funds like the Build Learn Grow scholarship supported these families by offsetting the cost of care and keeping working parents in the workplace.

Latashia's Story

Natalie's Story

Monica's Story

The Build Learn Grow grants helped my doors stay open for service. The funds were used for operation cost and supplies. I was also able to purchase new equipment to accommodate the children that were enrolling in my program.

Monica Jones

Family Child Provider

“Alice & Poverty Data.” United Way of Central Indiana. Accessed January 30, 2024. https://www.uwci.org/alice-poverty-data.

Bishop, Sandra. “$122 Billion: The Growing, Annual Cost of the Infant-Toddler Child Care Crisis.” Council for a Strong America, February 2023. https://www.strongnation.org/articles/2038-122-billion-the-growing-annual-cost-of-the-infant-toddler-child-care-crisis.

“Consumer Expenditures for the U.S., Regions, and Selected Metropolitan Areas.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Accessed January 30, 2024. https://www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/data/consumerexpenditures_selectedareas_table.htm.

“Data Center.” Brighter Futures Indiana. Accessed January 30, 2024. https://brighterfuturesindiana.org/data-center.

Paisner, Emily. “Back-to-School 2020: Care.Com Survey Reveals What’s Really on the Minds of Working Parents.” Care for Business, August 5, 2022. https://www.care.com/business/workingparentssurvey/.

“Price of Care: 2021 Child Care Affordability Analysis.” Child Care Aware® of America, June 1, 2023. https://info.childcareaware.org/hubfs/Child%20Care%20Affordability%20Analysis%202021.pdf. .

U.S. Census Bureau. “Median Income in the Past 12 Months” and “ACS Demographic & Housing Estimates”, 2021.

“U.S. Census Bureau Quickfacts: Hamilton County, IN.” Median Gross Rent, 2017-2021. Accessed August 21, 2023. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045221.

“State Policy Dashboard.” Child Care Aware® of America, January 26, 2024. https://www.childcareaware.org/state-policy-dashboard.

Solomon, Catherine. “13% ROI Research Toolkit.” The Heckman Equation, October 14, 2021. https://heckmanequation.org/resource/13-roi-toolbox/.