Child care providers say new state rule is delaying their payments

SALEM, Ore. -- Some people who provide child care so parents in low-income families can go to work say new precautions by an Oregon state agency are delaying their payments.

In Oregon, such child care is subsidized at a rate ranging from $2.64 to $2.85 per hour per child.

Officials say the state Department of Human Services expanded its background checks earlier this year for people who provide child care in their own homes. Now, the checks include anybody in the home who is over 16, not just the care providers, said Perrin Damon, spokeswoman for the department.

The Salem Statesman Journal reports that the new background checks have led to a backlog of reviews. People with mistakes or omissions on their application forms complain that they are denied payments for weeks or months while the department rechecks their records.

The background checks include both criminal history and abuse and neglect complaints, and the paperwork appears to have challenged the child care providers, many of whom either failed to return the forms or failed to disclose their backgrounds.

"In some instances, we're talking about workers who are new to the work force and not always sophisticated in terms of filling out forms," said Ed Hershey, spokesman for Service Employees International Union, which represents child care workers. "Others are not made to understand that if they omit even a single thing that's liable to pop up for 25 years ago, it will put them into failed status."

Officials emphasized that the new rules were put into place over a concern that children could be exposed to harm. "Remember, we did this because we wanted to better protect children," Damon said.