AP Exclusive: Hundreds of thousands of eligible kids are waiting for childcare assistance

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — There's the mother of two who needs a full-time job to keep up with the bills, but can’t afford full-time childcare. There’s the medical technician who stopped buying groceries and turned to food banks so she could pay for her infant's care.

There’s the baby who remained in foster care, even after his mother completed the steps to bring him home. She had found a job, as the state required, but couldn't afford his childcare.

It’s hardly news that childcare is expensive, straining the budget of even middle-class parents. But these families all qualify for government-funded childcare assistance, intended to drastically reduce the childcare bills of needy parents so they can work or go to school. Instead, Indiana's program, which had run short on funds, wait-listed them.

Hundreds of thousands of children were sitting on childcare assistance waitlists in 23 states and the District of Columbia as of this spring, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. In three more states, many eligible families who applied were simply turned away.

Childcare assistance, funded by the federal government with help from states, is supposed to aid working parents who are low-income, homeless or caring for foster children. But waitlists have ballooned since 2023, when eight states had them, according to the AP analysis. Reporters collected waitlist and enrollment data from 47 states and the District of Columbia.

Many of the waitlists first started after $28 billion in pandemic aid expired in the fall of 2024. The Republican-led Congress declined to extend the extra money. Some states have increased funding to try to fill the gap, but families' need for childcare assistance has only grown, as they've faced mounting costs for food and gas.

While eligible families sit on waitlists, untold numbers of adults are sidelined from education or the workforce because they can't afford childcare. Those parents who remain in school or keep working make difficult tradeoffs. In interviews, parents described forgoing necessities, falling behind on bills or relying on acquaintances to watch their children. Unable to find viable childcare, some have resorted to bringing their children with them to work or class.

For Meygan Maloney's family in rural Indiana, waiting for childcare assistance means month after month of falling short financially. Maloney was working as a caregiver for adults with disabilities before she had her second child in 2023. Around the same time, the family took emergency custody of a close relative’s newborn daughter.

The next three years were marked by deepening financial struggles. Maloney only received $300 a month to care for her foster daughter, and both toddlers were put on a waitlist when she applied for childcare vouchers for 2025.

While the girl returned to her family in the fall, Maloney and her husband are still behind on bills. They recently refinanced their home, and her husband is working seven days a week as a tire technician and delivery driver. A local childcare provider gave her a steep discount, allowing her to leave her son four mornings a week so she can clean at a local hospital.

“We’re trying to get out," Maloney said. "But for us to get out, we need the assistance."

Indiana started its waitlist in December 2024, a few months after pandemic aid ran out and it became clear the state would struggle to support families already in the program. Until May of this year, it put virtually everyone who applied on the waitlist, including foster parents. By spring 2026, nearly 37,000 children were waiting for assistance.

Maloney and other Indiana foster families feel like they were misled by the state, which had for many years paid for childcare for foster children. Malinda Cox, an Indianapolis mom who took in a newborn last year, said she was forced to dip into her family’s savings to pay for the baby boy's childcare so she could return to work. At one point, she considered giving up custody of the boy because her family could not afford his childcare bill.

In the meantime, the boy’s biological mother was completing the requirements she had to satisfy to take him home. She had taken parenting classes and gotten a job. But she could not afford daycare, and because the boy could not get childcare assistance, he had to remain with Cox.

“He should be home with his mom, but (because of) this massive system upset, he’s not,” Cox said.

In April, Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, a Republican, announced the state would send $200 million in surplus funds to the state’s childcare assistance program. So far, the money has allowed it to move roughly 8,000 children off the waitlist. The state says it plans to use the funds to give assistance to an additional 6,000 children.

There are stark differences of opinion on whether the government should provide help with childcare — or how much. This year, 40 congressional Republicans called for “robust” funding of the federal program that underwrites childcare assistance. Instead, it received the same money as the year before. President Donald Trump said during his campaign that he could make childcare more affordable by using tariff revenue, but this spring he told a White House audience that paying for childcare should be up to states.

“We’re fighting wars," Trump told people gathered for an Easter luncheon. “We can’t take care of daycare. You got to let a state take care of daycare, and they should pay for it, too.”

On a rainy May day in Indianapolis, Cox bundled up her foster son and delivered him to a social worker. The boy’s biological mother still had not gotten childcare assistance, but Cox had negotiated a deal with a childcare provider to offer a massive discount. When even that was out of the mother’s reach, Cox agreed to pay half.

She arrived at the boy’s new home to watch him reunite with his mother. She felt a mix of grief over parting with him and elation over seeing his delight with his mother.

Three weeks later, the mother got notice: He had finally been approved for a voucher.

This story has been updated to correct the total number of children being helped by Indiana’s childcare subsidies. An estimated 8,000 children have come off the waitlist and 6,000 more are projected to move off the list, bringing the total to 14,000, not 8,000.

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Meygan Maloney does a Mickey Mouse puzzle with her son Callum Wilson, 3, Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, at their home in Hartford City, Ind. (AP Photo/Cara Penquite)

Meygan Maloney looks through a toy with her son Callum Wilson, 3, Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, at their home in Hartford City, Ind. (AP Photo/Cara Penquite)

Meygan Maloney goes through flashcards with her son Callum Wilson, 3, Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, at their home in Hartford City, Ind. (AP Photo/Cara Penquite)

Meygan Maloney and her son, Callum Wilson, 3, play with figurines Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, at their home in Hartford City, Ind. (AP Photo/Cara Penquite)

Meygan Maloney poses for a portrait with her son Callum Wilson, 3, Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, at their home in Hartford City, Ind. (AP Photo/Cara Penquite)

An investigation by The Athletic has concluded that former NFL reporter Dianna Russini violated the company’s standards because of her relationship with New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel that led to her resignation in April.

The report drew no conclusions about the nature of Russini’s relationship with Vrabel, who said he took accountability for his actions without addressing photos released of the coach and the reporter at a resort in Arizona. He stepped away from the team on the third day of the NFL draft to begin counseling and returned soon afterward.

“We neither completed an investigation nor reached any conclusion about the nature of the full relationship between Vrabel and Russini, but the totality of the public photographs are enough to conclude a violation of company policy,” the report said.

Steven Ginsberg, executive editor at The Athletic, a New York Times-owned sports outlet, addressed the report in a message to employees Thursday.

“We undertook this review to ensure the integrity of our journalism and to maintain the trust our audience places in us. Nothing is more important than our credibility,” Ginsberg wrote.

Mike Semel, editorial director for standards and quality at The Athletic, conducted the review of Russini’s work, examining 903 stories, 204 episodes of her podcast and 77 videos.

“The review found that the vast majority of Dianna’s stories were unrelated to Vrabel, and most of those that mentioned him did not raise concerns,” Ginsberg told the staff. “We have, however, added editor’s notes to four stories — one written and three videos — that did not meet our standards.”

The photos of Vrabel and Russini were taken in Sedona, Arizona, before the annual NFL meetings that began in Phoenix on March 29, according to the New York Post. Vrabel and Russini are both married. The NFL did not investigate Vrabel’s actions.

“Russini’s relationship with Vrabel was in clear violation of The Athletic’s standards,” Semel wrote in the report. “Regardless of whether the relationship was romantic, it was a breach and should have been disclosed."

Vrabel led the Patriots to the Super Bowl in February, where they lost to Seattle. He was the AP NFL Coach of the Year in his first season in New England, finishing 63 points ahead of Jacksonville’s Liam Coen.

Russini told the AP on Thursday that she stands by what she wrote in her resignation letter in April.

“I have covered the NFL with professionalism and dedication throughout my career, and I stand behind every story I have ever published. When the Page Six item first appeared, The Athletic supported me unequivocally, expressed confidence in my work and pride in my journalism. For that I am grateful. In the days that followed, unfortunately, commentators in various media have engaged in self-feeding speculation that is simply unmoored from the facts,” Russini said then, adding she was stepping away "not because I accept the narrative that has been constructed around this episode, but because I refuse to lend it further oxygen or to let it define me or my career.”

Vrabel said Thursday he didn’t have any reaction to the report on Russini, adding he’s “moved on” as he prepares for this season.

AP Sports Writer Kyle Hightower contributed to this report.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel listens to a question after a preseason NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)

FILE - ESPN reporter Dianna Russini stands on the sidelines before the start of an NFL football game between the Oakland Raiders and the Denver Broncos on Sept. 9, 2019, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)