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Some undocumented parents are now eligible for help with child care from Utah

Immigrant rights organizers say it’s a victory for the undocumented community.

Families of mixed-immigration status are now eligible to apply for the Utah Department of Workforce Services child care subsidy program.

The change occurred at the beginning of April. Undocumented parents with U.S.-born or green card-holding children are no longer required to show proof of work authorization or a social security number to apply for help with the cost of childcare.

Rebecca Banner, director of childcare at the department, said it’s been in the works for more than a year. She said this change occurred as they received input from organizations like Comunidades Unidas, a Utah nonprofit advocating for Latinos.

“We had an opportunity [to] look at some of our administrative rules and align with federal policy,” she said. “We got a lot of feedback from the advocate community to have us relook at this. And so we had an opportunity to go through that process and update our employment definition, which then allowed us to update our policies related to verifying employment for the child care subsidy program.”

To read more, visit KUER.org.

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This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aim to inform readers across the state.