Mississippi sees spike in child care enrollment after abortion ban and child support policy change
By MICHAEL GOLDBERG
Associated Press/Report for America
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s human services director says the state has seen a consistent increase in the number of families accepting public assistance for child care since lawmakers banned abortion in almost all circumstances. The sharpest spike came after a child support policy change in May. Bob Anderson leads the Mississippi Department of Human Services. He says the agency has observed the steady increase in child care vouchers since October 2022. Back then the agency counted 24,500 families receiving the vouchers. That has since risen to 31,532 as of this month. Anderson says the upward trend might force the agency to implement a waiting period for child care assistance.
