ALBANY — While Susan Wawrzyniak qualified for some of New York's $1 billion in annual child care subsidies with her job in a box factory, she was rejected because she works at night and wanted a daytime break.
"That's kind of what they expected: me to be up till three in the morning at work, then be up with a 3-year-old at seven in the morning, then go back to work at 4:30 in the afternoon," said Wawrzyniak, who is responsible for her young grandson. "We tried it. ... It just didn't work. There was no way."
While all 62 counties offer financial help with day care for a family of three earning up to $36,620 — twice the federal poverty rate — a recent study by an advocacy group said 11 don't help those working at night who need to sleep during the day, and 18 cut subsidies when workers get laid off.
The Empire Justice Center also reported that under New York's long-standing rules and sliding scale, subsidies also can differ by thousands of dollars annually based solely on where someone lives.
"Many parents pay up to four times more for child care than parents with identical incomes in neighboring counties, simply because of the different copay multipliers chosen by their counties," said Susan Antos, who co-wrote the report. "Other parents lose their child care slots when they are laid off because 30 percent of the districts won't pay for care while they look for another a job."
Wawrzyniak, 48, said she was turned down for subsidies two years ago in Wyoming County in western New York. She wanted daytime child care so she could sleep. Her husband worked days then, though now he's unemployed, which helps them save the $32 a day for care that depleted money they'd saved to buy a house.
"Now we're living like every other American today, renting a home, unemployed," she said. Her daughter had left the military pregnant after an injury and has mental disabilities, and the child's father isn't involved, she said. "I'm like a mother all over again."
Wyoming County Social Services Commissioner David Rumsey said the county will pay subsidies, even above market rate, for child care in nontraditional hours, including at night. However, a previous commissioner decided against paying for sleep time because of past fraud. When funds are limited, decisions are based on variables including financial hardship, he said.
The Empire Justice Center claims the inequities under the state's sliding scale deny some caregivers "equitable access" to the childcare services in violation of federal and state laws. The group has a class-action lawsuit scheduled to be heard next month in state court in Monroe County.
At least two New York lawmakers are considering legislation to provide a fairer scale, Antos said.
Edward Borges, spokesman for the state Office of Children and Family Services, declined comment because of the pending lawsuit.
In its recent report detailing rates, the center noted a family of three earning $36,620 a year pays $1,831 for a year's child care in Livingston County while the same family pays $6,409 in neighboring Genesee County.
More than 80 percent of the $1 billion subsidy for this year comes from the federal government, which boosted child care funding as part of welfare reform in 1996 to help people get jobs, Antos said. However, copayment rates of between 10 and 35 percent of household income above the poverty line are set by the counties, and Erie County recently reduced eligibility because it was running low on money, she said.
In its report, the center said New York's unemployment rate continues to rise even after the nation struggles out of a recession. It advocates fairer reallocation statewide by changing Children and Family Services rules or legislation, which would include subsidies for overnight workers and people looking for employment.
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Empire Justice Center report: http://www.empirejustice.org/
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