‘It’s scary’ local childcare centers express confusion with childcare funding freeze

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ) - Last week, the federal government announced it would freeze funding for childcare assistance funds in California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York following alleged fraud concerns at day care centers in Minnesota.

On Friday, a judge blocked the funding freeze for now, but local day care centers are expressing concerns about how the funding freeze could affect parents and the daycare itself.

"How do we keep the doors open to make sure that the parents are able to go to work?" says Salina. She runs an in-home daycare in Palm Springs and says 90% of families she services receive childcare assistance funding.

Siouxsie Hart, a local parent, says that her childcare is fully funded by the government.

"I need this. If I didn't have daycare, I wouldn't have a way to make money," she says.