Our nation’s childcare crisis has reached a boiling point in Indiana. The state has frozen its childcare voucher waitlist until 2027, leaving nearly 31,000 children without access to the financial assistance their families rely on. At the same time, the state has lowered reimbursement rates to “close a financial gap,” which cuts the funding providers receive for taking vouchers by up to 35 percent for school-age children, with additional reductions across younger age groups. This crisis is not just an Indiana problem — it’s rooted in systemic underinvestment at the federal level. The federal Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), which helps fund these voucher programs, chronically underfunds the true cost of childcare. Because of that, states like Indiana are being forced to make painful cuts, leaving both families and providers bearing the burden.

Local reporting shows that these changes could cost Indiana’s childcare providers almost $4 million every week. The result is that many centers are closing classrooms, cutting staff, or preparing to shut down entirely because they just can’t afford to stay open with such a drastic drop in funding. Families, in turn, are being forced to make impossible choices between their children’s safety and their own ability to work.

But Indiana’s childcare providers aren’t backing down, they’re organizing with Community Change Childcare Changemakers. The people caring for Indiana’s children are fighting to keep their doors open, keep kids educated, and keep parents from losing their jobs.

“Our enrollment is down 30 percent. We’ve closed rooms. I’m worried about how long we can stay open.”

At Adventure Academy in Indianapolis, owner Lisa Gross has been tracking the impact of the state’s cuts in real time. Her enrollment has fallen by about a third, and her income has dropped even more because of the reduced reimbursement rates. Two rooms at her center have already been closed. She is now evaluating staffing, trimming expenses wherever possible, and hoping that enrollment grows before it becomes impossible to remain open.

Lisa is not watching numbers on a spreadsheet. She is watching families she knows personally struggle to keep their routines and their jobs intact. Some have been waiting more than a year for vouchers, and now they have been told the waitlist will not be addressed until 2027. “Parents are left with difficult decisions as they are forced to forgo income or leave their children without adequate supervision,” Lisa shared. 

“I am borrowing money to stay open.”

In Lebanon, childcare owner Holly Maxwell is in a similar position, and she describes the situation with painful clarity: “It has made it unsustainable.” She is currently borrowing money just to keep her center running.

Holly has taken every possible advocacy route she can think of. She has written and called state legislators, emailed the governor, spoken repeatedly to the media, and joined protests. For her, this fight is not only about her business but about the children in her care. “Children are our future,” she said. “They have no voice and we need to fight for them.”

She also wants state leaders to understand something many policymakers overlook: childcare is not only a social issue. It is an economic one. When families cannot afford care, parents must reduce their work hours or leave their jobs entirely. She has already seen this happening with families on her waitlist who cannot access high-quality care without vouchers.

Providers Are Organizing Because They Have No Other Choice

When I asked Lisa why she began organizing with other providers, she pointed to something many early educators feel but often struggle to articulate. “As one owner at one center, my voice is small,” she said. “But as a group, our voice grows.”

She believes legislators may not understand the impact of childcare on the overall quality of life in Indiana, or perhaps they understand but are choosing to ignore it. Either way, the consequences are the same. Families are feeling the strain. Children are losing safe and consistent environments. Providers are being pushed out of work they love.

Lisa told me that the Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning (OECOSL), the state office responsible for early childhood systems, is now “in direct competition with their basic responsibilities.” She believes they are leaving children behind, hurting families, and “attacking providers” through choices that undermine the very system they are meant to support.

The Families Caught in the Middle

Both Lisa and Holly are hearing the same things from parents: fear, frustration, and confusion about how to move forward.

Parents on frozen voucher waitlists are delaying employment, quitting jobs, or relying on family members who cannot safely or consistently watch their children. Some are juggling irregular work hours without consistent care, leaving households unstable.

These struggles are not isolated. They ripple outward. A parent who leaves the workforce to care for a child earns less in the long term. A parent who reduces hours to afford childcare loses wages that support housing and food. Children whose routines are disrupted lose valuable early learning opportunities and stability.

Lisa warned that if these cuts continue, families will face increased food insecurity and will become more reliant on other state systems, many of which are already under-resourced because of the federal spending bill Republicans passed last summer.

What Happens If Nothing Changes

Holly summed it up simply: “They will lose childcare. Parents will be forced to quit working.”

Lisa offered a broader warning. She told me that the choices being made now “will change the landscape of childcare forever.” She worries Indiana is creating a system where only the wealthy can afford quality care, increasing inequity and damaging the future of the state’s children.

A Crisis Created by Choices, Not by Chance

Indiana’s childcare crisis did not appear out of nowhere. It is the result of policy decisions and skewed priorities. And those decisions can be reversed.

Listening to providers like Lisa and Holly makes it clear that the state’s current path is not sustainable. The people caring for Indiana’s children are doing everything possible to stay open, but they cannot fill a budget gap with borrowed money, shrinking classrooms, or unpaid labor.

Families need a system that supports them and is affordable. Children need care that is safe, reliable, and nurturing. Providers need wages that reflect their professional skillset.

Indiana also has the opportunity to set an example for other states that will soon face budget shortfalls and difficult choices. The state can show what is possible when we invest in families, support the workforce that makes all other work possible, and prioritize the needs of everyday Americans over tax breaks for the wealthy.

But Indiana cannot and should not have to do it alone. The federal government must also step up and do its job—ensuring that every family in every state has access to affordable, high-quality childcare and that providers everywhere earn a living wage. No child’s future should depend on the ZIP code or state they happen to be born in.

Indiana’s leaders have the power to fix this now, and families and providers across the state are working together, organizing, and urging them to act before even more children lose the safe, nurturing environments they deserve.