Over 100 Delaware day cares still waiting on Purchase of Care reimbursement

Over one hundred Delaware child care centers have had their purchase of care reimbursement payments for October withheld by the state because of problems with the way some of them filed their taxes earlier this year.

In the state low-income families can apply for purchase of care and the state will pay a portion of their day care fees.   47 ABC got in touch with one of the day cares,  Good Beginnings in Laurel, Del. to hear how it was affecting them. 

According to the director, Vonny Byrd,  almost a month ago she was notified that the state was going to have to stop making payments until they were able to verify information with the IRS.

“After, you know, two weeks had gone by without receiving payment I started making phone calls and those phone calls were not returned it took me four days of pretty much harassing them, leaving message after message for someone to finally contact me back from the state,” Byrd said. “I was told then that myself, along with another child care providers would just have to wait.”

As it turns out Good Beginnings Daycare and so far 22 other day cares have verified their information and will be reimbursed for their purchase of care from October by the end of the week.

Byrd said had the money not come in she would have had to explore the possibility of laying off staff or telling the families that use the purchase of care that they have to pay full price.    

Byrd adds that the current system could also use an overhaul.  That waiting until the end of the month to reimburse companies creates long stretches where the company must budget for those expenses.