Class Action Lawsuit Challenges State Child Care Co-payment Regulation

November 2, 2009

Author: Susan C. Antos

Every year, federal child care funds of nearly one billion dollars provide child care subsidies to low income families in New York State.

Parents are required to pay a portion of the cost of child care, which is called a family share or co-payment.  New York Social Services Law §410-x(1) and (6) require that copayments be based on the family’s ability to pay and be set at a level that provides equal access to all low income families.  Nevertheless, the regulations of the Office of Children and Family Services allow local social services districts to set their own parental  co-payments by choosing a multiplier of between 10 and 35% which is applied to the amount of a family’s income over the poverty level.  18 NYCRR 415.3(f).  As indicated by the chart on page 10, this results in families with identical incomes paying dramatically different co-payments simply because of where they live.

On September 15, 2009, the Empire Justice Center filed a class action lawsuit, Williams v.Carrión, in Monroe County Supreme Court on behalf of all families in New York State who are eligible for child care subsidies and who are required to pay more than 10% of their gross income as their share of child care costs.  The plaintiffs seek a declaration that the copayment regulation violates state law and the equal protection clauses of the state and federal constitutions. Plaintiffs also seek an order directing the respondent to develop co-pay regulations which are based on a family’s ability to pay as required by law. Class representative come from three counties with the highest parental co-payments – Monroe, Schenectady and Erie.  There are over 200,000 children in New York State who receive child care subsidies.  This lawsuit would provide relief to those children who live in families in the 36 counties that have co-payment multipliers that are so high that families with incomes at or above 150% of poverty pay more than 10% of their household income as a co-payment. In eighteen counties, co-payments are so high that families at 200% must pay 17.5% of their income to receive a child care subsidy.

The named plaintiffs come from Monroe, Schenectady and Orange counties.  They are represented by Michael Mulé in the Empire Justice Center’s Rochester office and Susan Antos, Saima Akhtar, and Barbara Weiner in the Empire Justice Center’s Albany office.  Interested intervenors should contact Susan Antos at 518-462-6831, x105.
 

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