CYFD app helps families sign up for child care program

Rick Nathanson
Albuquerque Journal
On Monday, the state Children, Youth and Families Department formally will launch an app

ALBUQUERQUE - On Monday, the state Children, Youth and Families Department formally will launch an app, allowing families for the first time to apply for the Childcare Assistance program online.

The intention is to make it easier and faster for eligible families to get the application process started.

"Childcare Assistance is one the greatest tools we have in the fight to improve the quality of life for children in New Mexico," said CYFD Cabinet Secretary Monique Jacobson. "We all too often see that tragedies occur when parents leave their children with an inappropriate caretaker or when parents themselves reach a breaking point."

Childcare Assistance also allows parents to leave their children in a safe place while they work or go to school, and child care centers provide an additional level of oversight to "ensure these children's basic needs are being met, " Jacobson said.

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CYFD got an economic boost during the last legislative session with the allocation of an additional $25 million.

"Childcare Assistance is a program that will help us break the cycle of poverty that occurs when our parents are unable to work or go to school," she said.

In the past few years, CYFD has increased participation in the Childcare Assistance program by more than 4,000 additional children.

But there is still work to be done, Jacobson said.

Currently, less than one-third of those eligible for Childcare Assistance take advantage of it. By adding the online application to the PullTogether.org website, which has been accessed by more than 100,000 people, CYFD expects ever more families to sign up for the program.

To apply for Childcare Assistance online or to get more information on other services parents may be eligible for, go to PullTogether.org.

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