Cayuga, Wayne and Yates counties are among 26 New York counties that cleared Child Care Assistance Program waitlists or resumed accepting applicants, according to a statewide expansion announced Monday by Gov. Kathy Hochul. Livingston, Madison and Onondaga counties also appear on the administration’s list.
The governor’s announcement said approximately 13,000 additional children statewide have enrolled in subsidized child care in recent months, bringing the total served to about 183,000. It did not give enrollment gains or remaining waitlist counts for the individual Finger Lakes counties, so the statewide total should not be read as a local count.
The 26 counties named in the release had either cleared prior waitlists or previously stopped accepting new applicants. The release does not say which of those two circumstances applies to each county or establish that every eligible family can immediately obtain a child care placement. In all, the state said 43 counties have expanded access through the program.
How the assistance works
The Child Care Assistance Program subsidizes child care for qualifying low- and middle-income families. The state says most participating families pay no more than $15 a week out of pocket. Eligibility depends on household circumstances; the administration said it raised the income threshold for a family of four from roughly $55,000 to roughly $116,000.
Hochul said the state secured $1.2 billion earlier this year to expand the program. Her administration said the number of children served has nearly tripled since she took office. Those figures describe the statewide program and do not identify how much funding reached each of the listed counties.
The announcement also said more than 10,000 children in New York City were moved off the city’s child care voucher waitlist. That city figure accounts for most of the reported 13,000-child statewide increase; the state did not break out the remaining additions by county. The Finger Lakes counties’ inclusion on the waitlist and enrollment list is the local development, separate from the New York City voucher action.
Local families and next steps
Assemblymember Sarah Clark of the Rochester area said expanding access matters, but families still need to receive the assistance for which they qualify. Rochester-based child care advocates also welcomed the added enrollment while urging broader access for families still waiting.
Families in Cayuga, Wayne, Yates, Livingston, Madison and Onondaga counties can check current eligibility and application availability with their county social services office. The governor’s release did not provide county-specific application dates, available child care slots or a timetable for any remaining waitlists.
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