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The child care sector in Ohio and nationwide is furiously pushing for federal leaders to walk back funding freezes for some states, and boost support in the next congressional budget for every state.

More than three dozen child care organizations around the country signed on to a letter urging the federal government to continue funding child care resources like the Child Care Development Block Grant, and bring back funding that was taken from certain states as fraud allegations in Minnesota circulated.

Ohio’s early childhood advocacy group Groundwork Ohio was one of the groups who signed on.

In the letter, the organizations ask the federal Administration for Children and Families to disburse the funding “without further disruption,” and for Congress to “protect and prioritize child care investments” as they continue to debate the next appropriations bill.

The letter said fraud “at any level is unacceptable and takes valuable child care away from eligible families,” and any funding should be used “wisely and as intended.”

“Simultaneously, it is essential that the strong oversight and internal controls already in place to govern these resources are ensuring the funding is being used properly, and that it continues to reach hard-working, eligible families,” according to the letter.

The Minnesota fraud allegations, first made by a right-wing social media influencer, were parroted by the Trump administration, to the point that the administration froze $10 billion in federal child care funds to select states: Minnesota, California, Colorado, Illinois, and New York.

The move caused leaders in other states, including Ohio, to make statements defending their child care systems, the audits and oversight that happen in their systems, and the need for the federal funding to sustain them.

Gov. Mike DeWine joined with Ohio Department of Children and Youth Director Kara Wente to lay out the verification processes used in the state, and fraud investigation methods that can be used, should any legitimate information come to light.

State data showed nearly 20,000 inspections of licensed child care providers in fiscal year 2025.

A federal judge temporarily blocked the funding freeze to the five states on Jan. 9 as a lawsuit continues, but advocates are still nervous about the future of child care funding.

The fraud allegations and funding freeze come as the child care sector in Ohio and nationwide is still strapped with high demand and high worker turnover, combined with low wages and a lack of access in many areas of the country.

Funding freezes related to fraud are just the latest in a heap of financial issues created on the federal level, from Jan. 2025’s fund-freezing executive orders, to congressional Medicaid cuts, and the impact the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history had on Head Start programs and SNAP benefits.

“Any delays in funding would be catastrophic to a sector already in crisis,” said Ali Smith, of Policy Matters Ohio, in a research brief on the situation.

National groups agreed in a Jan. 13 press briefing that the unpredictability and uncertainty of the sector is already causing problems that will ripple out for years to come, and continuing the losses will only further challenge a system in the country that parents rely on to stay in the workforce, and help families thrive.

“Shutting down federal social services and income assistance funding to selected states will hurt babies, and not fraudsters,” said Melissa Boteach, chief policy officer for Zero to Three, a national non-profit early childhood advocacy group.

Phil Fisher, director of the Stanford Center on Early Childhood said the most recent of the annual national surveys the center conducts shows record rates of hardship for those already struggling to afford what they need.

The center’s RAPID Survey Project was started in April 2020 to study the impacts of policy and programs on child care and early childhood education.

Fisher said in Oct. 2025, the research showed the highest rates of “material hardship,” with 60% of families saying they couldn’t afford at least one of their basic needs, which include utilities, food, health care, housing, and child care.

“At present, we’re actually seeing rates that are considerably higher than we ever saw during the pandemic, with more than half of all families consistently reporting that they can’t pay for things,” Fisher said.

As affordability continues to be a problem in America, the child care funding challenges will continue to impact family decisions on what they can and can’t pay for, according to Fisher.

“And yet, we know that policy, from what we saw during the pandemic, can take a big bite out of these issues if we show the self-discipline to really make sure that things happen,” Fisher said.

At the local level, Smith and Policy Matters Ohio argue that the child care crisis could be helped by moving to an enrollment-based payment system, rather than the attendance-based reimbursement that’s currently in place for Ohio’s Publicly Funded Child Care.

The Administration for Children and Families in 2024 pledged to implement a nationwide payment requirement that would be prospective (pre-paid) and enrollment-based. The Ohio General Assembly put $89 million into the state operating budget to implement the federal rules, but that implementation hasn’t happened yet.

Now, the Trump administration has pushed back the deadline to make those changes into 2028.

Since pushing back the deadline, the federal agency has also introduced a new rule that would rescind that requirement, and maintain the attendance-based rules. Public comment on the federal proposal lasts until Feb. 4.

Smith argued taking away the future enrollment-based payments “will continue the crisis in the child care sector” by maintaining financial instability for providers.

Original story can be found at https://ohiocapitaljournal.com