SULLIVAN COUNTY – The New York State Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) provides money for low-income families to help pay for child care, reimbursing either the total cost or partial cost of child care (such as daycares or other licensed caretakers). 

The program is administered by local social service districts and overseen by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS).

Residents must meet eligibility requirements to be enrolled in the program, such as income thresholds based on family size. 

Since July 1, Sullivan County has had to pause enrollment in CCAP, as well as pause re-certifying enrollees. Commissioner of Health and Human Services John Liddle says the pause is due to a lack of funding from the state’s budget. 

Liddle explained that Governor Kathy Hochul expanded CCAP, but that the funding can’t keep up with growing demand. 

“[The expansion] has allowed social service districts across the state to enable much more access to childcare for working parents and stabilize an industry that has been struggling to stay profitable for some time,” Liddle said. “Unfortunately, the accelerating utilization of this program has outpaced the large amount of money that has been provided for it.”

Other counties across the state are facing the same funding shortage, with a reported 21 counties currently not accepting applicants. 

Under the 2026 New York State enacted budget, $400 million in additional funding for the state’s CCAP was added to the $1.8 billion in the 2025 budget. This investment further builds upon the $7 billion that Governor Hochul has invested in child care from the beginning of her administration.

“Under Governor Hochul’s leadership, access to high-quality, affordable child care has expanded–supporting 170,000 children statewide,” a spokesperson from OCFS said. “As more families have become eligible for assistance, OCFS has continued to make supplemental funding available consistent with the funds appropriated in the budget, including $400 million in the 2026 budget alone. We are working with local governments–including Sullivan County, which has access to at least an additional $250,000–to use this funding to provide child care assistance to their constituents.”

Liddle says they expect to spend that share of the additional funding before the end of September, and cannot reopen the program to new or re-certifying applicants at this time. He expects to be able to re-certify current recipient families or add new families in two to three months as current recipients age out of the program. 

“The caseload has greatly exceeded our estimates for the year,” Liddle said.

According to the Sullivan County Child Care Council, in June of last year there were 583 children enrolled in CCAP, and in June of this year there were 1,344.

Donna Willi, Executive Director of the Sullivan County Child Care Council, said some parents have decided to leave work to stay home with their children, and that her office is trying to help some families with the limited funding that they have. 

Jessica Dean, MEd, owner of Jessica’s Daycare in Monticello, said she’s already had two families drop out due to not being able to afford the costs. She said that she works with families on solutions, such as payment plans.

“This put families in a particularly tough circumstance in the middle of the summer with children in daycare full time–it’s harder than if it happened during the school year, the timing was terrible,” she said. 

She added that pausing continuous childcare can have negative effects on children, especially those with special needs who thrive on regular schedules.

“There is a widespread ripple,” Dean said. “All of this affects our community as a whole, if people leave their jobs there’s less people in the workforce, that’s less tax dollars. It’s affecting child care programs–I know one provider who lost ten kids in two weeks [in Orange County].”

Dean echoed that the expansion of CCAP has been a positive move.

“The point is to make sure kids are safe and in quality programs so that the parents can go to work and not have to worry and it doesn’t hurt their budget, that’s the goal,” she said. 

Dean has been working non-stop to advocate for re-opening CCAP. She has been in contact with State Assemblymember Paula Kay, Congressman Josh Riley and the New York State Office of Children and Family Services to fix the funding issue. 

“I think there is going to have to be some middle ground reached… I think this will be resolved,” Dean said.

Jessica: Jessica Dean, MEd, owner of Jessica’s Daycare in Monticello has been an advocate for issues related to child care programs, and is working with state leaders to reinstate funding for the Child Care Assistance Program.