Tarrant County excludes Fort Worth parents from $30-a-week child care program

Sep. 5--Tarrant County is excluding Fort Worth families from a program that provides child care for $30 a week during virtual classes.

The program, named Tarrant County School-Age Collaborative, runs Tuesday through Oct. 30. For $30 a week, parents -- except those who live in Fort Worth -- can drop off their kindergarten through sixth-grade child at any of the following locations: Clayton Youth Enrichment, Boys & Girls Club of Greater Tarrant County, Girls Inc. of Tarrant County or YMCA of Metropolitan Fort Worth. Registration is at claytonyouth.org.

Tarrant County is subsidizing the program through money it received from the federal CARES Act. It will pay $170 per child and equip the buildings with WiFi. Children must bring their own computers.

Judge Glen Whitley said the county is excluding Fort Worth families because the city received its own CARES Act package of $158 million and could use some of that money for the city's residents.

Whitley said this doesn't create any tension with the city nor should it between the residents and the county because it's simply about each local government deciding how to use the federal money. Whitley said small business grants and COVID-19 testing contracts have been done the same way.

Fort Worth schools open Tuesday with four weeks of virtual learning. Arlington schools, which have had virtual instruction since Aug. 17, will begin in-person classes Sept. 28. Most suburban schools will have a hybrid of in-person and virtual learning.

Victor T. Turner, director of Fort Worth's neighborhood services department, said in an email that the city has proposals from several nonprofits that would provide a similar service, and city staff will be making funding recommendations soon.

Jason Ray, president of Clayton Youth Enrichment, who heads the program, said registration is open to every Tarrant County resident. He is working on a proposal to seek funding from Fort Worth, which he is confident will go through. If it doesn't, he said, he will find a way to get funding. His organization will provide assistance for parents who find the $30 a week to be a financial burden.

Children will be kept in small groups. Temperature checks will be conducted, and children will be required to wear face coverings and follow social distancing guidelines. Children who show symptoms of COVID-19 will be isolated, and if a child is positive staff will work with the Tarrant County Public Health Department.

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