The Changing Landscape of Child Care and Development Funding in Indiana

Thousands of families in Indiana rely on the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) as payment for early care and education services offered by providers across the state.  Last year, pandemic-era funding ended, and faced with a revenue shortfall, the State announced its intention to significantly reduce CCDF expenditures. To achieve that target, the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration reinstated a waitlist in December 2024. There are now more than 29,000 children on the waitlist, which continues to grow.

In September of this year, the State announced that it would reduce the rates that it reimburses child care providers on behalf of low-income families by an average of 16%. However, the precise rate changes vary based on the provider type, their quality level and the ages of the children being served. Combined, the CCDF waitlist and reimbursement cut affect families and providers across the state, and there may be an outsized impact in counties that serve a higher number of children whose families rely on CCDF to pay for child care.

Early Learning Indiana created the dashboard below to estimate the loss of revenue by county, which will vary based on the mix of vouchers in use. The data is intended to help communities understand how they are affected and  enable them to adjust to this new funding environment.