We Asked to Ensure Kids' Safety, No One Listened; There Was A Cash Discrepancy and Child Care Receives National Attention.
Understanding The National Child Care Freeze
There’s a particular kind of irony happening right now, one that would almost be funny if the stakes weren’t so high.
For years, parents and child care providers have been saying the same thing: the system is strained, families are stretched past the limit, and there is a need for accountability in child care to keep kids safe. We’ve asked for reform in the interest of children and families, and for laws to protect children and safeguard them. But most often, those pleas are ignored.
Now, as the country hears reports that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is pausing/freezing child care payments and requiring states to provide proof that funds are being spent legitimately, the attention is suddenly loud.
Child Care in the U.S. has always needed attention. Dana Suskind’s Book, “Parent Nation”, uses a metaphor that fits this moment perfectly:
“Their boats are leaking, and they are struggling to ferry their children across the river to a bright future.”
That’s the truth that many families have lived with for a long time. Parents have been patching holes, making impossible choices, and trying to build stability for their kids inside a system that often feels impossible, with child care costs now costing as much as rent.
Nationally, among children, 55% of those aged five and under who are not enrolled in kindergarten were in at least one weekly non-parental care arrangement. Among those children, 66% were in center-based care, 34% in relative care, and 17% in non-relative home-based care. There is clearly a need within our country for care, specifically, in Utah, where data proves that licensed child care program capacity is only sufficient to serve only about 36% of all children under six whose parents are working.
And yet, when we’ve called for reforms based on children’s needs, we’ve frequently been ignored.
But now? Suddenly, there is urgency. Not because children’s safety is a priority or the livelihood of families is at risk, but because of a discrepancy in funds. Now 1.4 million children and families will pay the price.
What does The Freeze Mean for Americans?
Most states receive the vast majority of their child care funding through the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (CCDBG Act, as amended), which is the primary federal law governing child care programs for low-income working families. CCDBG funds are awarded to state, territorial, and tribal lead agencies to subsidize the child care expenses of eligible children and to improve the overall quality and supply of child care.
Federal child care dollars don’t usually arrive as a simple monthly check. States typically draw down CCDF funding through a federal payment system as they spend money or pay providers, and those drawdowns can happen weekly or monthly, depending on the state. If the federal government pauses payments or introduces new verification requirements, states that rely on frequent drawdowns can face immediate delays, which can quickly ripple into late provider payments and reduced access for families.
What does The Freeze Mean for Utahns?
Also, under the 2024 CCDF final rule, states must move toward prospective payments and enrollment-based payments (paying in advance/beginning of service period, more like private pay). Utah is listed among the states that have implemented or are in the process of implementing prospective payment approaches. In layman's terms, if there’s a federal pause, Utah may need cash upfront at the start of the month to maintain stable provider payments.
Utah DWS says child care subsidy payments are made directly to the provider “at the beginning of each month.” That’s important because it means disruption tends to show up on a monthly cycle. Also important to note is that providers receiving funds can be child care centers and in-home providers, which do not always require licensing. This has been a concern for child care advocates, who have pushed for the creation of more safeguards for in-home providers, but these concerns have been largely ignored.
In Utah, approximately 81,000 children qualify for the child care subsidy program; however, with the cuts, they will have no option available to them. This will impact families, child care centers, and businesses.
As a single mom, I rely on child care subsidies to be able to work. If those funds are cut, I’d have to pull my son out of care, and as a single parent, that isn’t a real option. This would be devastating for families like mine who are already struggling to make ends meet. It raises a fundamental question:
"Is this really about protecting federal dollars, or is it another opportunity to harm the most vulnerable?"
Utah is Already Implementing Safeguards for Tracking Monetary Spending For Child Care, and Some of Them are Worth Recognizing.
According to KSL News, in response to the federal scrutiny, Gov. Spencer Cox posted on X that Utah’s GRIT operating principles mean zero tolerance for fraud, waste, or abuse. He said,
“Utah’s child care system includes safeguards like provider regulation, verified eligibility, limits on benefits, direct-to-provider payments, electronic attendance tracking, and agency monitoring and audits.”
Those safeguards matter, and Utah should be commended for implementing them. Payments going directly to providers reduces the risk of money being diverted, and Utah’s ARISE attendance system provides a digital record of care that can be checked and audited. In a system where fraud allegations can trigger significant federal responses, Utah’s ability to document attendance and track payment flows is a real layer of accountability. I hope for Utahns that this will be enough to get funding back as quickly as possible.
But it’s also important to name what those safeguards are designed to do: they primarily address financial integrity: who gets paid, how payments move, and whether the billed activity is real. What they do not automatically guarantee is something families care just as deeply about: consistent child safety protections across all care settings.
SB 221: A Child Safety Bill that Didn’t Survive the 2025 Legislative Session
In Utah, in-home care centers (residential centers) are not required to have background checks, licensing, or first aid training, creating a huge safety issue for children regarding child sexual abuse, an ongoing problem in Utah.
During the 2025 legislative session, Sen. Luz Escamilla sponsored SB 221, Child Care Revisions, a bill aimed at strengthening safety and accountability for certain residential child care settings.
SB 221 focused on basic safety restraints:
- Training for providers
- Licensing required for a certain number of children in care
- Background checks
- Home inspections
- CPR Certification (previous version)
The bill passed the Senate. It did not make it through the House, highlighting a gap in priorities. Utah’s leadership is now emphasizing accountability protocols because federal dollars are under scrutiny. Yet, when lawmakers had a chance to strengthen protocols aimed directly at child safety, not just financial compliance, the votes weren’t there.
This is the Contradiction Families Can’t Ignore.
Utah’s message right now is that it takes stewardship seriously, following protocols, monitoring spending, and rooting out fraud.
But SB 221 is a recent reminder that “protocols” are not deeply valued unless they are associated with monetary value. There needs to be a shift in what we require, and what we refuse to require, in the environments where children spend their days.
That’s why this moment matters beyond the politics of a federal review. If our country is capable of moving this quickly to reinforce guardrails when funding is threatened, we should also be willing to reinforce guardrails that prevent unsafe care before it turns into tragedy.
Accountability Shouldn’t Only Appear When Money is on the Line.
Utah has built guardrails around taxpayer dollars; now it should be just as serious about guardrails around child safety.
What do we do now? We should absolutely push back on sudden disruptions to child care funding. We should demand clarity and accountability. We should reject any approach that treats child care as a suspicious expense instead of an essential public good.
We also shouldn’t waste the attention this moment is bringing. I am calling on Utah lawmakers to reintroduce bill SB 221 and take children's safety as seriously as funding discrepancies. If funding cuts (or funding freezes) are what it takes to get people’s eyes on child care, then we need to use this moment to say:
"This system has needed reform all along."
A reform that includes: guard rails for children's safety, accessible and affordable child care for all, necessary training for caregivers, and increased livable wages for the people who have the most important job in the world, caring for our children.
As Parent Nation puts it, the work is bigger than one program or one moment. It’s about building a society that supports children from the beginning:
“What we need is to recognize that we can lighten the parenting load by sharing it, by demanding what we need, and by asking society to help.”
Because parents can’t carry this alone, providers can’t carry this alone. And children shouldn’t be the ones who absorb the consequences when policy decisions shift.
