Initiatives boost family care situations

Because the very makeup of the family is shifting, the needs of the family are changing. As they do, UUP is continuing to work with the state as couriers of care, bringing new services to members and their families.

Today, many people have children later in life, many more adopt and many families are taking care of both young children and elderly parents. Finding child and elder care that meets personal criteria, financial needs and geographic needs remains a challenge.

Sifting through the most essential needs of state employees are representatives from seven unions — including UUP — and the state of New York that belong to a Joint Labor/Management Committee called Family Benefits Program. Essentially, you could say the committee’s primary effort is to put faces on your families.

“The focus of the committee is to bring unions together with representatives from the state to discuss money that has been allocated for family benefits,” said UUP member Jamie Dangler, an associate professor of sociology at SUNY Cortland who chairs UUP’s Family Benefits Committee. She formerly had a child enrolled in the campus child care center and served as parent liaison to the board of directors. She is also active on UUP’s family leave initiative. “I have been generally interested in seeing that the union maintain and expand the support that it gives to employees’ family needs. There have been changes in the work force with more family concerns,” she said.

UUP has been a part of the Family Benefits Committee since it was formed in 1981. Also belonging are Civil Service Employees Association, Public Employees Federation, New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association; Council 82; District Council 37; and the Graduate Student Employees Union.

The committee has crafted a three-pronged program to benefit families: on-site child care centers, the Flex Spending Account and the Resource and Referral Service.

There are now 17 child care centers at SUNY sites, all independent, not-for-profit, and hosted by the SUNY campus where they are located, according to Deborah Miller, staff director of the Family Benefits Program under the state’s Governor’s Office of Employee Relations. SUNY locations make up the bulk of the state’s child care centers, which now number 45. Fewer than half of those are nationally accredited.

At one time, the state put money directly into child care centers to help fund them, but now it gives members money directly for child and elder care through the Dependent Care Advantage Account (DCAAccount).

“In the past, money went to the child care centers, but this stopped because the majority of union members didn’t benefit,” said Dangler. “Now, family needs encompass child care and elder care. Most employees don’t have a person at home taking care of family. It’s important for the union to do what it can to help employees with the ability to care for family members.”

“There was a big shift to broaden initiatives to serve more employees,” said Miller, adding that some state employees who do need child care did not live or work near the worksite child care centers; others faced a waiting list; some could not afford it.

State employees can enroll in the DCAAccount to set aside pre-tax salary to pay for elder care, for a day care provider of their choice, for summer camp, for an after-school program or just for the employer contribution itself if they do not want to participate in payroll deduction.

“The vast majority are using it for child care,” Miller said. “It’s an incredible benefit.”

The DCAAccount is one of the components of the Flex Spending Account, as is the Health Care Spending Account, which allows state employees to contribute from $150 to $3,000 annually in pre-tax dollars to pay for medically necessary health care-related expenses not reimbursed by health insurance or other benefit plans.

The DCAAccount allows state employees to set aside up to $5,000 in pre-tax salary through payroll deduction to help pay for caregivers for a child, elderly parent or disabled spouse. Additionally, New York state will contribute up to $600 to each state employee’s DCAAccount (even if two employees are married to each other.) The employer contribution ranges from $200 to $600 per year, depending on the individual employee’s salary.

The response to the program has been “huge,” Miller said, noting there are now 6,600 enrollees, an increase of 62 percent from two years ago. More than 1,100 enrollees are UUPers.

Although the open enrollment period for DCAAccount has passed — it is held each fall — UUPers can still enroll if they have had a change in status. For more information, log onto www.flexspend.state.ny.us.

The on-site child care centers also receive some specific grants for health and safety, according to Miller, who said approximately $150,000 in grants were given out in 2001, including money for safety surfacing, new sinks, new playground equipment, air conditioning and soundproofing. There is also an allocation to enable the committee to award additional health and safety grants in 2002, depending on the applications received. Continuation of the program will depend on upcoming contract negotiations with the public employee unions.

The campus child care centers receive funding from SUNY as well.

The Family Benefits Program also has staff who provide technical assistance to the child care centers including financial management, marketing, training workshops, supervision and programming. Small training grants have also been available for attendance at conferences, on-site workshops and college courses in order for the child care centers to meet licensing requirements and to improve the quality of their program.

The Resource and Referral Service has operated as a pilot program for state employees working in the New York City area and Westchester County. This service will soon be expanded statewide. Currently, it provides city employees with expert consultation 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Specialists in areas such as child development, gerontology and special needs consult with employees and follow-up with books, tapes, and even family games and craft projects relating to the issues in question. Consultants also provide customized research to help employees find child and elder care.

Look for more information on the expanded Resource and Referral Service in a future edition of The Voice.

— Liza Frenette