For Immediate Release: September 25, 2007
Contact: Karen Clifton
Phone: (559) 445-5532
New Law Gives Farmworker Parents More Help With Child Care
Fresno, CA - Farmworker parents looking for work under the most strenuous conditions will now be able to receive help with child care, thanks in part to a new law that extends the amount time parents can take part in subsidized child care programs.
AB 905, authored by Assemblymember Juan Arambula (D-Fresno), allows the eligibility period for subsidized child care through CalWORKs Child Care Programs to be extended for 60 days when the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) deems it necessary. This extension is crucial for farmworker parents who struggle to find good child care for their children while they toil in the fields of the San Joaquin Valley, as well as times they are out of work and searching for new employment.
“We are pleased Governor Schwarzenegger realized the importance of this bill,” said Assmebly Arambula. “Because of this new law those parents working hard in the fields and making sure our agricultural industry is booming are able to extend their child care in times of disasters, no matter how small the disaster.”
According to Arambula, current regulations allow parents to participate in subsidized child care programs for 60 days while they are looking for work. The SPI is currently authorized to extend this eligibility for an additional 60 days under declared state of emergencies for specific areas.
AB 905 would allow the SPI to extend the eligibility period by an additional 60 days if the SPI determines opportunities for employment have diminished in an area where one or both parents cannot find a job. According Arambula, there doesn’t have to be a state of emergency for the SPI to grant an extension, but rather an extension can be granted when a high number of agriculture workers are unemployed due to a special circumstance, such as unexpected weather changes affecting certain crops during the year.
“The recent freeze put many families out of work and brought to light the need for more child care assistance when parents are out of work,” said Assembly Arambula. “An additional 60 days will ease some of the burden of parents looking for work, especially in the agricultural industry where the work is seasonal.”
AB 905 will go into effect in January of 2008.