KY system upgrade causes angst among daycare providers

Daycare providers in Kentucky are suffering financially as a result of a glitch in processing government payments, reports the Lexington Herald Leader.

Some providers haven't been paid for children in subsidized care since June, due to a change in the payment system which has slowed payments in foster and daycare for low-income families. The providers are owed thousands of dollars and the problem has impended their cash flow.

"It's really put us in a hurt," said Coston, who is the child-care director at Virginia Place, a Lexington, Ky., program that provides housing and day care for single parents who are in college or vocational school.

A spokesperson for the director of the state's Division of Child Care, said the payment system is in an "interim process" while being upgraded. It is expected that it will take at least a month to get all the issues sorted on and have things running smoothly again.

In the past, referral agencies processed the payment paperwork and dispensed the payments. When the process was moved to Frankfort, Ky., the payments began to be delayed.

Some providers are critical of the new system for obvious reasons.

"Savola Marks, of Children's Tree House had to take out a line of credit due to the delays. She would like to see the old system should be reinstated. "The state just needs to do an immediate turnaround," Marks said. "If we don't get paid, no one else will get paid."