Folts Home Child Care Closing
By: Rachel Polansky
Updated: August 8, 2012
The need for child care in our area has been an issue for years, but it's getting worse. The shortage of subsidy funding has not only affected area parents, it's also left a tremendous impact on child care programs across Oneida County. The Folts Home Child Care Program in Herkimer is closing its doors at the end of the month.
"For about the last 10 years, Folts Homes has been subsidizing the cost of the program. And it's just gotten to a point that we're subsidizing it so much. There's special insurance you have to have, worker's compensation, so many things that just add up to be so much more," says Ralph Reed, CEO Folts Homes.
Reed says about 10 years ago, New York started penalizing nursing homes, like Folts Homes, that have child care programs in the complex. This includes taking money from their medicaid rates and he says unfortunately, the funding is just not there.
"For about the last 10 years, Folts Homes has been subsidizing the cost of the program. And it's just gotten to a point that we're subsidizing it so much. There's special insurance you have to have, worker's compensation, so many things that just add up to be so much more," says Ralph Reed, CEO Folts Homes.
Reed says about 10 years ago, New York started penalizing nursing homes, like Folts Homes, that have child care programs in the complex. This includes taking money from their medicaid rates and he says unfortunately, the funding is just not there.
