The Trump Administration is drafting a major change to federal child-care policy that would allow some married parents to collect government assistance for staying home and raising their own children.
The proposal, championed by Vice President JD Vance, would create a new category of “parent-based child care” under the roughly $12 billion Child Care and Development Fund, according to a draft reviewed by The New York Times.
Under the draft, one married parent could receive assistance to care for the couple’s child as long as the other spouse works at least 35 hours a week and the family meets existing income requirements.
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Unmarried couples with a stay-at-home parent would not qualify under the current proposal. Nonworking single parents would remain ineligible.
The change would mark a significant departure from how the program generally operates today.
The Child Care and Development Fund primarily helps lower-income parents pay for outside child care while they work, attend school, or participate in job training. Families generally must earn below 85% of their state’s median income, although states can impose lower limits.
Instead of treating only outside providers as subsidized child care, the Vance-backed proposal would recognize a qualifying parent caring for his or her own child at home.
Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, praised the idea.
“A two-parent family is the best place in which to raise a kid, and certainly it’s a sacrifice,” Miller-Meeks told Just the News. “But our job is to raise good children who become good citizens, and so I think that this is an important initiative.”
Vance has increasingly tied family policy to the administration’s broader economic message.
Speaking at a rally in Marietta, Georgia, over the weekend, Vance said Republicans should give families “a stake in the American dream” and argued that government policy should invest more directly in parents and children.
The administration would not need Congress to pass a new child-care program. Instead, officials are seeking to change eligibility rules governing an existing federal fund.
The draft still must clear the White House regulatory process and undergo public comment before it could become final. Reporting on the proposal says it could take effect as soon as 2027.
More over at Just The News:
Trump, Vance push to reward parents who stay home with kids by reversing LBJ-era policy https://t.co/zxfwchg6DO
— Just the News (@JustTheNews) September 9, 2026
