CARES Act Funds for Wyoming Child Care Relief Program Expended, Program Now Closed

The Wyoming Department of Family Services announced on Thursday that funds provided by the CARES Act, as part of the Wyoming Child Care Relief Program, have been expended and that the program is now closed.

With COVID-19 running rampant all across the world, the number of people affected by the collateral damage of the pandemic is astronomical. Health care workers, those in the service industry, and so many more are doing the best they can with what they have…which isn’t much.

This is especially true for parents. Once the coronavirus really started to heat up, parents had to, all-too-quickly, figure out how to be parents, teachers, and employees simultaneously. The Wyoming Child Care Relief Program, funded by the CARES Act, was designed to help offset costs of additional or unanticipated child-care expenses for children who would have otherwise been attending school.

Funding became available on Oct. 1, and the deadline to apply for the program was set for Dec. 15. However, the Wyoming DFS announced that the program was closed.

“As of now, all available funds have been expended and the program is closed,” the DFS website wrote.

The funds amounted to about $1.5 million and were to be distributed based on the criteria that applicants must have been Wyoming residents and had to demonstrate an increase in childcare expenses between March 13 and September of 2020. The program was not income based.

Congress is currently in the midst of deciding whether additional economic relief will be provided.

The CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) was first established and signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 27, 2020. It was designed to provide “fast and direct economic assistance for American workers, families, and small businesses, and preserve jobs for our American industries.”