01:00 AM EST on Thursday, February 26, 2004

Nearly 800 families who receive child-care assistance through a nationally lauded welfare-to-work program would be excluded if Governor Carcieri's proposed new, lower eligibility ceiling takes effect.

Among Carcieri's suggested cuts to the Family Independence Program is lowering the eligibility ceiling for child-care assistance, from 225 percent of the federal poverty limit to 200 percent.

The state's 60-month term, during which welfare clients receive cash assistance, education, job training, and child-care opportunities "is the most generous in the country and the maximum allowed under federal statutes," says Carcieri. "These programs have been costly."

Under the new regulations, a family of three with an annual income of up to $31,340 would still be eligible for child-care subsidies. The current annual income limit for a family of three is $35,258.

Proposed cuts to the FIP program have drawn recent public protests.

Department of Human Services director Jane Hayward says, "I'm not going to argue that 200 percent is a lot . . . but given what we have to work with, we are keeping core services."

-- KAREN LEE ZINER