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City, ACS and advocates spar over child-care vouchers, foster care rates and voucher wait list
Summary
ACS told the Council its FY27 preliminary budget aims to protect continuity of child-care vouchers but cannot immediately clear a roughly 17,000-child wait list without additional funding; members pressed the agency on staffing, program integrity and state reimbursements for Raise the Age costs.
New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services told the City Council’s Children and Youth Committee that it expects to maintain the city’s current child-care voucher policy in fiscal 2027 — but it would not have the funding to clear the voucher wait list immediately.
Interim Commissioner Melissa Hester said ACS has grown the number of children enrolled in ACS-issued child-care vouchers from about 7,500 in 2022 to roughly 71,000 today, and credited recent state executive budget proposals for additional childcare funding. She said the governor’s proposal would allow ACS to continue its current approach to re-certifying most families and to preserve continuity of care for those already enrolled.
Council members pressed ACS on the roughly 17,000 children who remain on the voucher wait list. ACS officials said the number of families on the list is fluid, many families already have other child-care arrangements such as DOE seats or DYCD after-school slots, and ACS lacks a reliable, single number for how many on the list truly still need a voucher. ACS pledged to work with HRA and DOE to produce scenarios showing the likely cost to clear the list under different assumptions.
The agency also proposed $1.1 million in city funding to add 10 positions for a new child-care program-integrity unit. That unit will oversee use of federal and state childcare block-grant funds across ACS, HRA and DOE, perform application audits, make site visits and ensure compliance with state and federal requirements, ACS said.
Council members pressed ACS about statewide Raise the Age reimbursement funds that New York City has not historically received. ACS officials described statutory and administrative barriers — including a provision in state finance law that has prevented New York City from accessing some Raise the Age reimbursements — and said they are continuing to advocate in Albany for the city’s share. Separately, ACS said it has been notified of a state ‘‘youth at risk’’ funding package (about $194.5 million in FY26 attributed to ACS and larger $300 million adjustments across agencies) but detailed guidance from the state on eligible uses remains outstanding.
ACADEMIC AND PROVIDER SUPPORTS: ACS also highlighted programmatic investments that would remain or grow under the preliminary plan, including baseline city funding to meet state-mandated foster care rates (ACS cited multi-hundred‑million dollar baselines across FY26–FY28 to cover foster-parent stipends, adoption subsidies and kinship supports) and $4 million in FY27 baseline funds to add staff and supports at the Nicholas Capetta Children’s Center.
What’s next: ACS told council members it will continue to produce analysis and scenarios for both the voucher wait list and the cost implications of Raise the Age and other state cost shifts. The council requested more concrete projections and more granular outreach data for families on the wait list.
