Advocate prioritizes expanded child care access for Hoosiers before the upcoming legislative session

Access to affordable child care remains an ongoing issue in the state. Advocates hope they have more success addressing the problem in this upcoming Indiana legislative session.

The Indiana Community Action Poverty Institute advocated for many bills during the last session. One of them would have created a $500 tax credit for some Hoosiers with newborn babies, but it did not pass.

READ MORE: Senate lawmakers advance an up to $500 newborn tax credit for Hoosier parents.

Institute Director Erin Macey said early parenthood can be challenging and expensive — especially for parents who work.

"You're really limited on options unless you have a spouse or partner who can fully support your family, and that's just not a reality for a lot of families in our state," Macey said.

Macey said she wants to see more financial support for the state's Child Care Development Fund program, which helps lower-income parents pay for child care so they can work, go to school or attend training. Indiana stopped issuing new vouchers for the program last December, which left nearly 31,000 children on a wait list.

"Can we look at Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Funding," Macey said. "What else could we do? Or ... looking at some of the tax decisions that we need to make to conform to the federal tax changes to make sure the state's in a position to serve more of those families who need support to be able to go to work."

Macey said she wants to work with lawmakers to find a solution to Indiana's lack of affordable child care.

Timoria is our labor and employment reporter. Contact her at tcunningham@wfyi.org