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A Niskanen Center report recommends that states revive At-Home Infant Care programs, which gave eligible low-income parents time-limited payments to care for newborns at home. The authors propose using unused Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds and adapting eligibility to include middle-income households, but the source does not provide detailed cost estimates or a current legislative proposal.
A new Niskanen Center report argues that states should revive At-Home Infant Care programs, which previously provided time-limited payments to eligible parents who stayed home with newborns. The proposal revisits pilots in Minnesota and Montana and comes as policymakers debate how to support families who cannot afford infant care or do not have access to paid leave.
The report, “Bridging the Infant Care Gap: Reviving America’s At-Home Infant Care Programs,” was written by Josh McCabe and Sanya Bahal. It describes programs that allowed low-income parents who qualified for state child-care subsidies to receive payments for a limited period while caring for a newborn at home. The report’s authors propose finding a more stable funding source and updating the model for current circumstances.
One funding option they propose is using unused Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) dollars. They also suggest adapting the program so that middle-income households could qualify. The source does not give a specific benefit amount, eligibility thresholds, program duration or state-by-state cost estimates, so the proposal’s exact design remains unspecified.
In an interview published by The 74, Bahal said the aim was to give parents the flexibility to stay home with an infant if they wanted to, including families who could not afford to do so. She described the model as distinct from both paid family leave and conventional child-care subsidies: it is intended to address a gap between those forms of support, not replace them.
A Third Option for Infant Care
The proposal addresses a policy problem that affects both household budgets and public child-care spending. The source says infant care is expensive to provide in licensed settings, in part because it requires low adult-to-child ratios. For families, that can make formal care difficult to afford; for states, subsidies for infant care can put pressure on already limited child-care budgets.
Payments for at-home care could offer some eligible families another way to manage the first months of a child’s life. But the model also presents policy choices: lawmakers would need to decide who qualifies, how large payments should be, and how to preserve access to paid leave and licensed care. The report’s proposal is therefore part of a broader family-policy discussion, not a replacement for those systems.
Whether the approach could serve families beyond the original low-income eligibility group depends on its eventual design and funding. The report’s recommendation to include middle-income households signals a proposed expansion, but the available source does not establish how many families would be covered or what the fiscal impact would be.
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Lessons From Earlier State Pilots
Minnesota and Montana piloted At-Home Infant Care programs in the early 2000s. The article’s author says the programs worked on the ground and that parents valued them, while the report authors say they saved states money. Those assessments are presented in the source as the authors’ account; it does not include independent evaluation results or detailed figures on participation, savings or outcomes.
The pilots ended largely because states did not establish sustainable funding, according to the article. The model has also appeared in federal policy discussions: in 2004, Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro and Democratic Sen. Max Baucus introduced bills to support it. The article says Republican state legislators were involved in the earlier Minnesota and Montana efforts, but it does not describe the bills’ outcomes or any current congressional action.
The report frames At-Home Infant Care as a complement to paid family leave. Bahal said access to leave remains uneven across states and employers. The source gives estimates that about one-third of workers have access to paid parental leave through state programs and about one-fourth through their employers; it does not specify the underlying date or methodology for those estimates.
“All parents should have the flexibility to stay home to care for their infant, if they wish to do so.”
— Sanya Bahal, co-author of the Niskanen Center report
Funding and Eligibility Still Open
The report’s recommendation is not the same as an enacted program. The source does not identify any state or federal legislation currently moving to revive At-Home Infant Care, nor does it provide a launch date. It also does not specify how much funding would be available through TANF or whether that funding could support a program at the proposed scale.
Important design questions remain: the length and size of payments, income limits, how eligibility would interact with existing subsidies and leave benefits, and what safeguards would prevent the program from reducing access to other forms of support. The source reports favorable descriptions of the earlier pilots but supplies no detailed evaluation data that would show how results might translate to a new program.
State Lawmakers Face Design Choices
The immediate next step is for state and federal policymakers to assess the report’s proposed funding approach and decide whether to develop legislation or pilot programs. Any proposal would need clear rules for eligibility, payment levels and duration, along with a funding plan that does not rely on an uncertain stream of money.
Readers should watch for public responses from state agencies and lawmakers, as well as further details from the report’s authors on projected costs and how a revived program would coordinate with paid leave and child-care subsidies. The available source does not name a sponsor, legislative hearing or formal government commitment.
Key Questions
What is an At-Home Infant Care program?
It is a proposed form of time-limited state payment for eligible parents who stay home to care for a newborn. Earlier versions were aimed at low-income parents who qualified for child-care subsidies.
Where were these programs tried?
The source says Minnesota and Montana piloted At-Home Infant Care programs in the early 2000s. It does not provide detailed participation or outcome figures.
How would the proposal be funded?
The Niskanen Center authors propose tapping unused TANF funds as one possible funding source. The report summary provided here does not give a budget, funding guarantee or final program design.
Would payments replace paid family leave?
Bahal said the proposal is intended as a complement to paid parental leave, not a substitute. The source does not set out detailed rules for how benefits would interact.
Has a new program been approved?
No approval or implementation plan is identified in the source. The proposal is a policy recommendation; whether lawmakers will pursue it remains unclear.
Source: the74million.org
