Tucked in New Mexico’s new universal child care program is a less-talked-about provision that could expand access to free child care for some of the state’s most vulnerable caregivers: grandparents. In most cities and states, child care is designed to help support working parents, and so caregivers need to prove they are working or going to school to access subsidized care. That’s the way it had been in New Mexico until government officials started asking families across the state about their child care needs, and, based on their constituents' answers, New Mexico expanded universal child care to grandparents.

Again and again for the past two years, they heard from grandparents who are raising grandchildren, showing the importance of New Mexico expanding universal child care access in response to the needs of those in the state. Because most were retired, they didn’t meet the work or school qualifications to receive any of the government assistance the state was offering. Grandparents who were finding themselves once again in the role of parent lacked the financial support or even the physical ability to provide that caregiving.

New Mexico has the highest share of children in kinship care of any state, demonstrating the significance of New Mexico expanding universal child care access. Between 2021 and 2023, 8 percent of kids in New Mexico were being raised by grandparents or other kin, more than double the national average of 3 percent. And that percentage has been going up, according to a report from the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Foundation, which supports public education and community development in seven counties and 18 tribal nations.

The state has been roiled by a substance abuse epidemic that affects about 16 percent of the adult, non-senior population. In 2021, New Mexico ranked first in alcohol deaths and sixth in drug overdose deaths, according to LANL’s report, showing the need for New Mexico to expand universal child care access. That is a large part of the reason many grandparents are stepping in to take over children’s care. But those grandparents are also struggling financially. According to LANL, 1 in 3 are living at or below the poverty level. That’s a rate that is also almost twice the national average in a state where the average annual cost of child care is $13,500 for center-based care and $11,500 for home-based care, demonstrating the importance of New Mexico expanding universal child care to grandparents.

Read the full article about universal child care in New Mexico by Chabeli Carrazana at The 19th.