US families are facing “impossible choices” as the Trump administration pushes to freeze federal funds for childcare and family assistance in five states over claims of potential fraud and misuse of taxpayer funds.
Billions of dollars of funding are at risk in Minnesota, New York, California, Illinois, and Colorado, each with state governments run by Democrats.
Alice Dryden, a childcare worker in Chicago, Illinois, told the Guardian, freezing federal childcare funds would be a “disaster” for the families reliant on them.
“If we had to close our doors or close some classrooms, these families would be faced with impossible choices,” said Dryden. “It wouldn’t just be a disaster for the families and the children who don’t have daycare to go to any more. This is a support network for the entire community. Our workforce allows the rest of the workforce in the city and the state to function.”
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the funds affected by the freeze include nearly $2.4bn through the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), $7.35bn through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and $869m through the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG).
The claims of fraud that incited the freeze come in the wake of a viral video from a conservative influencer, who worked with Minnesota Republicans, who made claims about fraud at a Somali daycare center in Minnesota.
The allegations were debunked by media outlets which found no evidence of any of the childcare centers misusing federal funds.
The recent fraud claims have cited a 2021 Covid-19 fraud investigation over a meals program, Feeding Our Future, that did find widespread fraud and was first prosecuted under the Biden administration and led to the convictions of dozens of Somali-Americans.
“It was horrifying,” said Lily Crooks, a childcare worker in Minneapolis, Minnesota. “A lot of this reaction about fraud is actually about the Feeding our Future scandal, which has already been widely covered and having it brought up more broadly as fraud in childcare centers is extraordinarily misleading. Then to have that misleading narrative be picked up by our federal government, which would then freeze childcare funds to an entire state was extremely stressful and scary.
“I feel the childcare providers have been fighting for decades to be seen as more than babysitters, because we do so much more than that, and now we’re just fighting to not be seen as criminals,” added Crooks. “The funds are tied to families, so it’s actually cutting off childcare funds to families, not to childcare centers.”
She explained the impacts of freezing these funds would hurt “people who are working hard to care for, literally, the most vulnerable little humans who are also the future of our country, and being framed as criminal or fraudsters or people who are intentionally defrauding their neighbors, which is ridiculous.”
Crooks also noted working parents with young children reliant on these funds, would also be hurt, and would likely not be able to work without them, having ripple effects on local economies.
“It’s already extremely difficult for families to receive childcare assistance and to have it have yet another hurdle is going to drive people out of the workforce,” she added.
A timeline or details of the freeze were not provided by the federal government, which noted the funds will remain frozen until HHS’s Administration for Children and Families (ACF) “completes a review and determines that states are in compliance with federal requirements”.
Francis Ramirez, a childcare worker in Lancaster, California, for 27 years, said she was horrified to find out about the attempt to freeze childcare funds in her state by the Trump administration and immediately began worrying about bills.
“I was in shock. It’s my only income. I’m a single mom,” said Ramirez. “There are families that are not being approved by the program, and some of them are afraid of what’s going on right now with ICE.”
Claudia Alvarado, a childcare worker in Hollister, California, strongly criticized the Trump administration’s attacks on childcare funding.
“California’s childcare workforce is under unprecedented attack from President Donald Trump and his administration’s racist and hateful ideology,” Alvarado said. “Childcare is not a partisan issue.”
Pam Frank, a childcare worker in Springfield, Illinois, noted there is already a shortage of childcare providers throughout the US, and workers in the industry are significantly underpaid.
Childcare prices nationwide average $13,000 a year, costs that have been rising faster than inflation in nearly every state, and 45 states have fewer childcare providers than before the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We already have a shortage,” said Frank. “Most of the workers that work in the field already qualify for additional services. So it’ll be devastating, because parents won’t have anywhere to take their children. Myself. This is my sole income, so if there’s a freeze on the program, then I would have to try to go to find work, but this is my career. I’ve been doing this for 30 years.”
The impacted states sued the Trump administration to halt the freeze, securing a court order to temporarily block the freezing of the funds on 9 January and will be seeking a longer term injunction as a federal court hears the case.
The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services deferred to a post on X from HHS general counsel Mike Stuart who claimed the lawsuit was a “partisan political stunt” against freezing federal funds to the states.
“HHS stands by its decision to take this action to defend American taxpayers. We identified serious concerns in these states that warranted immediate review and action,” said Stuart. “These same officials were complicit in this perpetuation of this fraud and allowing it to happen. Waste, fraud, and abuse will not be tolerated in the Trump administration.”
The attorneys general from the five states argued the administration has not provided any evidence of fraud or justification for freezing the funds, and alleged the actions to freeze funds violate the law and US constitution.
