EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KKTV) – The Colorado Child Care Assistance Program, or CCCAP, is moving from an enrollment freeze to an enrollment wait list in El Paso County.
The program has been frozen since November 2024. The Department of Human Services cited funding challenges as a reason behind the freeze.
During the freeze, families who were not already enrolled in CCCAP could not join the program.
The county said this was necessary to make sure they could keep serving families already enrolled in the program.
After some time, though, there are families that have transitioned out of CCCAP, and the department has room to enroll new families.
El Paso County Division Director for Adult, Family, and Economic Services, Yesenia Torres, said the county asked the state back in December to approve the move to a waitlist.
Torres said once the state figured out the best way to go about this, the request was approved last week, and families were notified.
The department said those who applied to CCCAP during the freeze have received an email showing how to join the waitlist.
Once all of those people have joined the new waitlist, Torres said that is when all other families can apply.
Torres said there are certain circumstances that prioritize who gets enrolled first.
“Families that have children with special care needs, families that are homeless, and then our temporary assistance needy families population,” said Torres.
Torres added that in order to fully get rid of the waitlist, more state and federal funding for the program is needed.
Child care provider, Springs of Life Children’s Center, is ready to serve more CCCAP families.
The provider’s Financial Administrator, Danielle Kautz, said when the freeze first started, 80% of the families Springs of Life served were on CCCAP.
Kautz said over the years, some of the families have transitioned out of the program, but new families are not coming in to fill those spots, which has taken a toll on the business.
To make up for the profit loss, Kautz said the children’s center has had to raise prices for private-pay families.
On top of this, Kautz said the center is still absorbing costs, which limits its involvement in the community and what the center can provide for the kids it serves and its staff.
Kautz said about 75% of people who contact the provider are unable to get services without CCCAP. She said this is hard for staff to see because they just want to help as many families as possible.
“If we have 30 families that wanted to start with us today, we could start them today,” Kautz continued. “We have the open slots; it’s really just waiting for the government side of things to get rolling.”
DHS expects movement with enrollment to begin sometime after May 26th.
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