Funding for COVID-19 child care
Montana allocates $50M to bolster child care amid pandemic
COVID-19 Family Scholarships
Parents and guardians, you may have children that cannot return to child care or school during the pandemic due to special circumstances. This might be because you have a unique work schedule, compromised health of someone in your family, or your child may be more vulnerable. $4,000 scholarships are available to help off-set the cost of in-home care during this time.
This special circumstance scholarship is available to help parents offset costs for children aged 0-18, such as individualized or specialized care, respite, increased food and supply costs for in-home childcare, increased cleaning needs, and support for remote learning.
Just because there is no ‘in person school’ is not necessarily a special circumstance. The intent of the scholarship is to provide a solution for those unique, special circumstances that cannot be served under the school or traditional child care/school age care model. These funds cannot be used to support attendance at child care facilities.
Applications can be found on the Child Care Resources website: https://www.childcareresources.org/parent/ (scroll down to CARES Act Grants ->In-Home Grants for Families). This page also has a lot of good information about rental assistance and supporting young children during COVID-19.
School-Age Provider Grants
Do you or someone you know run a school age program for kids during out of school time? Interested in providing this service to your employees or your community? If so, you may qualify for a state grant to support school age child care during the pandemic. Contact Childcare Resources (a nonprofit in Missoula that is our local Child Care Resource & Referral Agency) for more information and stay connected with your local school districts’ plans. Applications are available online at covidrelief.mt.gov
If you’re interested in applying, consider exploring this Out of School Care and School District Collaboration Toolkit from our friends at Zero to Five Missoula.
Click here to download this flier on COVID relief $$$ options for families in a larger size
Resources for parents during COVID-19
Our friends at local Seeley Lake nonprofit Sparrow’s Vine Pregnancy Resource Center can help provide baby/children's clothing, shoes, supplies, formula, diapers, etc: https://www.facebook.com/SparrowsVinePregnancyResourceCenter/
If parenting has been challenging and you’d like support, Healthy Start Missoula has created resource guides to help with pregnancy and parenting during COVID-19: www.healthystartmissoula.org/covid. For parents that want help with a specific question they have two free options:
If anyone is wondering whether their child’s development is on track you are encouraged to call the Child Development Center (406-549-6413).
Any development questions are welcome!If anyone is struggling with a parenting issues (like child tantrums, infant sleep, breastfeeding/nutrition, or other!) you can set up an appointment with a nurse, dietitian or parent support professional at the Health Department (406-258-4298). No enrollment or commitment required – just a conversation.
Click here to download this two page flier from Healthy Start Missoula
