City Of Seattle Expands Child Care Assistance Program, Making 2,000 More Families Eligible

By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium

Effective immediately, the City of Seattle and the Department of Education and Early Learning have expanded eligibility for the Child Care Assistance Program, making an estimated 2,000 additional families eligible for co-pay support at licensed childcare providers.

The program expansion comes at a time when Seattle-King County families are spending, on average, 20 percent or more of their household income on childcare, according to a 2023 report. The policy goal of the Child Care Assistance Program is to reduce that financial burden and increase access to early learning for more families.

“From our experience with families, we know that the cost of childcare is really expensive. Our hope is that when families reached the end of our previous income thre