Child care workers protest over state budget decisions

An estimated 300 child care providers and dozens of their young charges marched through Winnetka 's Hubbard Woods neighborhood Tuesday, taking their protest against some of Gov. Bruce Rauner's child care budget decisions to the governor's home.

The workers, mostly from Chicago but some from as far away as Kankakee, are members of SEIU Healthcare, the union representing roughly 19,000 licensed and non-licensed child care workers in Illinois. Most care for children in their homes, although others work in daycare centers, said Brynn Seibert, vice-president of SEIU's child care division.

Seibert said union members are opposing what they called "back-door" cuts to Illinois'Child Care Assistance Program and also to changes to training requirements for care workers.

"We're not opposed to training in the least, but we are concerned about the way the state has rolled out planning. It has to be done in collaboration with caregivers, and that hasn't happened," Seibert said.

Representatives from Rauner's office were not immediately available for comment Tuesday.

Chicagoan Mary Carmen Macias, a licensed child care provider who works out of her Northwest Side home, said child care workers give parents the ability to work and provide for their families. The state assistance program should be strengthened, not weakened, she said.

"I know we have a budget, but it's been constant work for child care workers and poor parents to come out and give voice to the voiceless," she said. "If [Rauner] would understand that, he really would make a move to promote fully funded child care ? and invest in our communities."

Her daughter Diane Macias, a licensed child care provider who also works out of her own home not far from her mother's home, said the training requirements end up forcing some providers out of the child care assistance program.

"They opt out, or shut down because they can't afford to take the time for the training," Macias said.

Protestors also want Rauner to roll back changes made in 2015 to the program's income provisions for parents, Seibert said. The changes cut about 40,000 children from the program, she said.

Winnetka resident Susan Dwyer watched as the marchers left Hubbard Woods Park to make their way to the governor's Rosewood Avenue home. The march didn't bother her, she said. As a working mother, she understood the needs of parents who must have child care, she said.