By Billie Pollisotto

The division of assets in divorce involves identifying marital property, determining its value, and distributing it according to state laws and individual circumstances. These assets can range from family homes and bank accounts to retirement funds, investment portfolios, business interests, and outstanding liabilities, making it important to understand how property is divided to protect long-term financial stability and achieve a fair settlement.

One couple spent years building a comfortable life together, purchasing a home, growing retirement accounts, and accumulating valuable assets. When their marriage ended, they quickly discovered that dividing property was far more complex than simply splitting everything in half.

In 2023, almost 2 million Americans divorced, which shows how many families face difficult decisions about finances, property, and future stability. Understanding how the division of assets works can help individuals approach the process with greater confidence, reduce disputes, and make informed choices during a significant life transition.

What is a Division of Assets?

The division of assets in divorce helps establish how each spouse will move forward after the marriage ends.

Asset division often requires examining years of:

• Financial decisions
• Ownership records
• Household contributions
• Property transfers
• Savings and retirement contributions
• Business activities and growth

What Is Considered Marital Property?

Marital property generally includes assets acquired during the marriage, regardless of which spouse earned the income or whose name appears on ownership documents. Courts often view these assets as part of the couple’s shared financial partnership and, therefore, subject to division during divorce.

Examples of marital property may include:

• Employment income earned during the marriage
• Retirement savings accumulated while married
• Real estate purchased after the wedding
• Investment accounts and portfolio growth
• Business interests developed during the marriage
• Vehicles and recreational property
• Bonuses, commissions, and profit-sharing benefits
• Household furnishings and valuable personal belongings

Identifying marital property is one of the most important steps in the marital property division process because it establishes what may be included in settlement negotiations or court proceedings.

Assets That Remain Separate Property

While much of the focus in divorce is on dividing shared assets, identifying property that is not subject to division can be just as important. Separate property is generally excluded from the marital estate, which means it is not typically distributed between spouses during the divorce process.

The ability to establish separate ownership often depends on documentation and the history of the asset. Items that may qualify as separate property include:

• Preexisting savings and investments
• Family inheritances
• Personal gifts from relatives or friends
• Trust assets designated to one spouse
• Certain legal settlements
• Property covered by divorce settlement agreements

Disputes frequently arise when there is limited evidence showing when an asset was acquired or how it was maintained throughout the marriage. Records that demonstrate a clear chain of ownership can help distinguish separate property from assets that became intertwined with the couple’s finances.

Equitable Distribution Versus Community Property

The way assets are divided during divorce often depends on the laws of the state where the case is filed. States generally follow either an equitable distribution system or a community property system.

Under equitable distribution laws, courts divide marital assets in a manner they consider fair based on the circumstances of the marriage. An equitable distribution divorce is not always an equal division.

Judges may evaluate factors such as:

• Each spouse’s financial situation
• Future earning potential
• Contributions to the marriage
• Overall economic needs

Community property states take a different approach. In these states, most assets and debts acquired during the marriage are generally viewed as jointly owned and may be divided equally between spouses.

Documenting Your Finances

Accurate financial records can play a major role in the division of assets in the divorce process. Organized documentation helps establish what assets exist, when they were acquired, their current value, and how they were used throughout the marriage.

It can also reduce disputes and make settlement discussions more efficient. Important documents to gather may include:

• Tax returns
• Bank account statements
• Retirement account records
• Investment statements
• Mortgage documents
• Credit card statements
• Business financial records
• Insurance policies

Keeping detailed records becomes especially important when assets have changed over time or when spouses disagree about ownership. Financial documentation can also be useful for couples considering the difference between legal separation and divorce.

Both situations may require a clear understanding of income, assets, and financial obligations.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Frequent Flyer Miles and Rewards Points Considered Marital Assets?

Frequent flyer miles, hotel loyalty points, credit card rewards, and similar benefits may be considered marital assets if they were earned during the marriage. Their treatment varies by state and depends on:

• The type of rewards program
• The value involved
• The specific circumstances of the divorce
• How the rewards were accumulated
• The terms and restrictions of the loyalty program

Some couples choose to divide the rewards directly. Others offset their value with other marital assets.

Because many loyalty programs have restrictions on transferring points, courts may consider alternatives.

What Happens if a Spouse Refuses To Disclose Financial Information?

Courts generally require both spouses to provide complete and accurate financial disclosures during a divorce. If a spouse refuses to disclose financial information, the court may:

• Order the production of records
• Impose sanctions
• Award attorney fees
• Draw negative conclusions about the missing information

In serious cases, a judge may reopen a settlement or modify a property division order if hidden assets are discovered after the divorce is finalized.

What Is Asset Tracing in a Divorce Case?

Asset tracing is the process of tracking the origin, movement, and ownership of money or property during a divorce. It is often used to determine whether an asset should be classified as marital property or separate property.

This process can become important when assets have been mixed together over time. For example, if one spouse used an inheritance to purchase a home or deposited separate funds into a joint account, asset tracing may help establish how much of the asset remains separate.

Understand the Division of Assets in Divorce Today

The division of assets in divorce is a complicated process. Make sure you understand the laws and work with the right experts for an easier time.

Do you need more help managing your finances? Explore some of our other articles.

By Liz Bell, EdNC.org

Rachel Nelson has worked in child care since she was a 19-year-old college student at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. She worked for two decades across multiple states, including several years in Onslow County, North Carolina, providing technical assistance to increase program quality.  Nelson thought she had seen it all — a child care program in a warehouse without walls, a program in a converted auto repair shop, mom-and-pop programs, and large chains.  Then she went onto a military base.

In 2013, Nelson took a child care job on Camp Lejeune, the largest Marine Corps base on the East Coast, in Onslow County. It was a whole new world. “I had a wish that all child care had the resources and supports that installation child care has,” said Nelson, now the deputy director of the Marine and Family Programs Division, which oversees eight child development centers (CDCs) on base.

The military child care model, established by Congress in 1989, is widely considered to be the best publicly supported system in the country, with the Department of War (DoW) investing about $1.8 billion annually as of 2024. Even still, families’ needs are outpacing the model’s capacity.

In Onslow County — home to Camp Lejeune, Marine Corps Air Station New River, and several training schools — the on-base and off-base child care systems stand in stark contrast. A worsening off-base child care crisis, local leaders say, is threatening both the local community’s health and workforce and, as military families’ needs evolve, the country’s military readiness.  The country’s biggest employer-sponsored model — amid a desert

Since October, local Onslow County leaders, from business to education to government, have been meeting to explore solutions to their unique child care needs. One Place, the local Smart Start partnership, launched a task force to bring ideas across sectors to the table. “No one’s coming to save us,” said Dawn Rochelle, CEO of One Place, at a meeting in February.

Off-base, the community has lost 32% of its licensed child care sites in the last decade, according to One Place. In the time since the local child care task force started meeting, six programs have closed, with another center closure expected this summer, One Place staff said. Programs are serving about 3,000 children, 200 fewer since October. 

Licensed care in Onslow County is meeting roughly 45% of the potential need, according to a national analysis from the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska. The average annual cost for infant care in the county is $12,168, according to a task force presentation.

Providers, as is the case in the child care industry across the country, are stuck. They cannot pay their teachers competitive wages and keep care affordable for families. “This is not an issue that (we) can wait any longer to solve,” Rochelle said.

On-base, eight CDCs are serving about 1,452 children, according to a local meeting presentation. With the military’s investment, teachers receive higher pay than their off-base peers and are offered benefits, including free child care for their own children. Parents pay on a sliding scale based on their family’s total income. Priority is given to children based on their parents’ rank and working status. 

The investment translates into kinds of access and quality that are often difficult to provide in private care, Nelson said. For example, CDCs can offer more care for infants and toddlers, which is particularly difficult to come by in the private industry because of its low ratio requirements. At one of the larger CDCs on base, Nelson said eight of its 24 classrooms serve infants. Twenty out of the 24 rooms are for children under 3 years old.

“You don’t see that (off-base) because the cost of care is so expensive when you have those smaller group sizes and ratios,” Nelson said.

With the military’s investment, CDCs are also able to hire personnel outside of classroom teachers to meet children’s needs. Centers have child care health consultants and behavioral health staff, for example, which helps serve children with special needs. “Military child care is able to support, in many cases … children that programs out in town would really struggle with supporting — special medical needs or those emotional regulation needs — and not because the folks out in town care any less, but because they don’t have those additional supports that are so helpful,” Nelson said.

As of 2015, 97% of CDCs were nationally accredited, according to a 2020 report from the Congressional Research Service, compared to about 9% of civilian centers.  Raising quality all comes back to fairly paying and investing in people, Nelson said. On top of higher pay and benefits, Nelson said the on-the-job training CDCs provide to teachers through online modules removes barriers to entering the profession.

“Quality doesn’t come from the store,” Nelson said. “Quality comes from the people. And so when you invest in the staff, in the workforce, that’s how you increase quality.” ‘I’m always conflicted. Do I do it for the staff? Do I do it for the families?’

In off-base community-based programs, providers are trying to do just that with limited resources. Without the kind of consistent and robust outside investment that military programs receive, they are often bending over backwards to pay teachers and keep care affordable for families.  It’s a math problem that has become harder to solve since the end of pandemic stabilization funds, providers told EdNC. Stabilization grants were first provided to child care facilities by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and then extended at a lower rate by the state legislature through March of 2025.

“It’s much more challenging now — much more challenging,” said Gina Shepherd, director of New Beginnings Child Care, which owns three child care sites and one private K-12 school in the area. The program was able to raise base teacher pay by about $4 while receiving stabilization grants, Shepherd said, which administrators have maintained. Without that outside funding source, the budget is tight month to month, she said. And finding quality staff who will stay has gotten harder.

At the time of EdNC’s visit in March, Shepherd had an empty 2-year-old classroom and was waiting to find a qualified teacher to open another NC Pre-K classroom. “I can say with certainty that staffing has never quite been the same,” Shepherd said.

At Quality Childcare and Preschool, with locations in Sneads Ferry and Holly Ridge, owner and director Shannon Pope said she is balancing the same math problem. Pope is continuously looking for grants and extra funding to support and retain teachers. “The margins are tight,” Pope said. “If you want to treat your staff well and make sure that the morale is high and they stay with you, that is where your entire budget goes, is to your staff.”

The program participates in the TEACH scholarship program, which covers teachers’ tuition to go back to school. Pope also signed the centers up for the early childhood apprenticeship program to allow teachers to work while earning credentials. She, like Shepherd, also increased teachers’ wages with stabilization funds. She provides health insurance and paid time off, unique benefits in the field. It is a constant struggle to find the funding to support staff and not price out families, she said.

“I’m always conflicted. Do I do it for the staff? Do I do it for the families?” she said. “Well, if we didn’t have families, I wouldn’t be able to pay my staff and wouldn’t have staff. But if I don’t have happy staff, then I have angry families. I don’t know what to do.”  “I want us to thrive, and not just, you know, tread water all the time,” she said.

Shannon Pope, owner and director of Quality Childcare and Preschool, shares her workforce strategy at a January roundtable discussion for child care providers, convened by One Place. ‘We need to tap into community-based child care’ Despite consistent investment and high quality, the military has struggled to keep up with families’ demands for care, running out of space on installations. In recent years, branches have launched new programs that utilize community-based providers to meet families’ needs.

In the last two years, commanders across North Carolina’s bases have raised child care as one of the top quality of life concerns, said Joseph Speranza, a retired senior chief corpsman and member of the North Carolina Military Affairs Commission. When Speranza was in the service, his spouse stayed home to take care of their children. They were able to survive on one income, which is not the case for most military families today.

“We always had issues; however, I think they’re getting worse,” said Speranza, a member of the local task force. In a 2025 survey from national nonprofit Blue Star Families, 68% of military family respondents said having two incomes is “vitally important to their family’s financial well-being.” Respondents listed child care as one of their main challenges, with 86% citing high costs, 67% citing long waitlists, and 52% citing concerns with the quality of care.

In Onslow County, a relatively low cost of living, older on-base facilities, and Hurricane Florence damage have all factored into many families’ decisions to live off base in recent years, Speranza said. That also impacts families’ care preferences.  “So what … more of the military service members do is they end up flooding our local communities,” Speranza said.

In some cases, a lack of child care leads to military families making tough decisions, like choosing for a spouse to juggle work and care or drop out of the workforce. When Shannen Downing’s husband was stationed as a pilot at Marine Corps Air Station New River in 2022, she had already struggled to find care for her first child in Texas and Florida. She wanted to return to the classroom as a teacher as soon as she could, so she and her husband sped up having children. “Family planning wise, (we thought), ‘Let’s have our children closer together so that I can get back into the workforce faster,’” Downing said.

In Onslow County, things didn’t get any easier. Downing, who was living on base at the time, checked out the CDCs and found waitlists between six and nine months long. She took a remote job and tried to work full-time and care for her children. When she had her third child in the summer of 2025, she decided it was time to try to find care again. Though her family was no longer living on base, she tried the installation’s CDCs, putting her children on waitlists at each one.

“I couldn’t get child care reliably enough to accept a position,” Downing said. When she did find off-base care, it was a larger monthly expense than her family’s mortgage. With space limits and growing demand, the military has used fee assistance programs as another strategy to connect families with the care they need to serve the country.

“There’s not enough on-post child care, but also it’s not necessarily accessible to where families are living,” said Susan Gale Perry, CEO of Child Care Aware of America, a national nonprofit that administers several military fee assistance programs. “And so that is why, at a certain point, the military said, ‘Gosh, you know, we’re not going to solve this just with on-installation care, we need to tap into community-based child care.”

After finally finding care, Downing heard about the Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood (MCCYN) program, which helps families with the cost of community-based care. Her three children are now all enrolled in New Beginnings Child Care. Her family went from paying $2,300 to $1,600 for two children per month (the oldest child is in a free public preschool classroom). 

Each branch provides fee assistance for community-based care, covering a portion based on rank and spouse status, with the family covering the rest. Since 2023, North Carolina has participated in MCCYN PLUS, which allows child care programs meeting a certain level of quality based on state ratings to participate, rather than only nationally accredited programs. 

Fee assistance is one of several ways the military model is trying to partner with bases’ surrounding communities to serve families’ needs. Fayetteville’s Fort Bragg, for example, is part of a pilot that helps families with the cost of hiring individuals to provide full-time in-home child care. In Norfolk, Virginia, the DoW partnered with the Armed Services YMCA to open three new centers in the last year for military families waitlisted for care. In other instances, the DoW has bought out slots at other community-based programs to reserve them for children of military families.

A connection to care is particularly important for military families without extended family close by, experts say. Child care can also provide consistency amid change and stress. That’s been the case for Downing and her children, she said. “They are our support system,” she said, speaking about her children’s child care teachers. “They are my shoulder to lean on when my husband is gone, and I’m kind of just holding it all together with a piece of dental floss.”

When her husband deploys, Downing said she notifies her children’s teachers so they can provide a little extra support. “I feel like they’re part of our team, like they’re part of our family team.” ‘All of those puzzle pieces working together’. Even with new strategies, military families’ needs cannot be solved in a vacuum, experts told EdNC. Fee assistance programs, for example, cannot keep community-based providers open or create enough slots.

“Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood is a very important piece of the puzzle; installation child care is an important, vital piece of the puzzle; but child care in our community is another piece of the puzzle,” Nelson said. “And it takes all of those puzzle pieces working together to help meet the overall need. Not one of them could stand alone.” In Onslow County, child care shortages are being felt by commanders, as well as local employers across industries, from education to law enforcement.

Across the local economy, child care shortages are costing an estimated $83 million per year, which is mainly from employee turnover and absenteeism, according to a presentation from Neil Harrington, NC Child’s senior director of policy and research. “Workforce issues at child care centers themselves really drive a lot of these access issues,” Harrington said.

When all is said and done, young children’s learning is also at stake. Teachers are missing out on opportunities to identify problems and intervene early, local K-12 teachers shared at roundtables hosted by the local task force. 

“During the task force, we heard from kindergarten teachers from Onslow County Schools,” said Stacey Knox, chief growth officer at One Place. “They know the difference. They see it in the child. They see it in how they are doing when they arrive at kindergarten if they have not been in early learning programs.”

Some families, unable to afford or find licensed care, are instead piecing together half-day programs and informal arrangements. Catie Hollis, a mother of an 8-month-old and a 4-year-old, relies on an unlicensed half-day program at the YMCA and a trusted neighbor. She said she’s noticed parents turning to similar options on Facebook groups.

“We have a lot of families in this community that are in a real desperate pinch that need the care,” Hollis said, “and if they see somebody post on Facebook that they can do it for $150 a week, I think that that sounds more appealing to them than waiting on subsidy or paying $250 a week at a center.”

Onslow County child care providers share their challenges and ideas at a roundtable convened by One Place in January. Liz Bell/EdNC. Local leaders are recognizing the problem as one in need of a systemic solution. In some ways, they are pulling inspiration from the military model. At the final local task force meeting, members discussed cost-sharing models that split the cost of child care among multiple entities, including employers, parents, and local or state governments.

“You can’t fund it without additional funding coming … from outside. It can’t just be parents,” Knox said. Knox said her own family benefited from “probably the strongest share model that came to be, and that was after the passing of the Military Child Care Act of 1989.”

“When you think about sharing the cost, there are ways to do this that make the investment a better outcome for children (and) a better outcome for an employer,” Knox said. Local leaders are also considering a substitute pool to help address staffing instability, a fund that would cover tuition for the children of child care teachers, and pre-built in-home child care models.

One Place staff are spreading awareness about the federal Employer-Provided Child Care Credit (45F), which was made permanent in 2025 and provides tax credits to businesses that help their employees with child care. They are also advocating for flexibility from the state on how to spend their Smart Start funding in order to back local initiatives.

“I believe that we have to always look at what is the money that we have, and how can we spend it differently?” Rochelle said. At the state level, advocates are requesting additional subsidy funding from the legislature to increase the amount programs receive to serve eligible children. Low rates are contributing to staffing challenges and, in some cases, closures, advocates say.

In Onslow County, this would mean programs would receive between $150 and $275 in additional funding per child per month, according to estimates from NC Child. “The bottom line is until we have both supply and demand side investment — and that does mean more public investment — we’re not going to get underneath the fundamental problems,” Perry said.

In April, One Place held its annual State of the Child breakfast in Jacksonville and presented its findings from months of discussions with task force members, child care providers, business leaders, military personnel, and educators. They told community members about challenges of access, quality, and affordability. They shared potential solutions. Then Rochelle, executive director of One Place, turned to the audience.

“What role will you play? What tables will you sit at for our community?” she asked. Nelson told EdNC that child care is both infrastructure and a shared responsibility “in a caring community. Laurette Leagon, president of the Jacksonville Onslow Chamber of Commerce, agrees.

Regarding the need for more high-quality and affordable child care, Leagon said:  “I don’t know what the answer is, but we’re going to keep trying until we find it.”

Editor’s note: This EdNC article originally appeared at https://www.ednc.org/5-13-2026-with-two-child-care-systems-onslow-county-looks-for-a-way-forward-to-meet-military-and-civilian-needs/.

Support for this article was provided by the Better Life Lab at New America as part of its Child Care Innovation Reporting Project. The lab awarded grants for “solutions-oriented stories focusing on how and why care issues matter to families and children, our communities, and a thriving economy with thriving families.”

By Stephanie Heron

The task of planning a family reunion is often given to younger generations now since digital tools make planning easier for them, and they’re more geographically mobile and connected. Older generations are also stepping back due to time and energy constraints, and younger generations focus more on experience-driven and inclusive events.

A Pew Research Center survey found that Black adults turn to their family for emotional support more than other American adults; for example, 34% say they would turn to a grandparent vs 15% for other adults. The survey also found that Black adults are far more likely to lean on extended family, which shows how important blood ties are.

This is why you’ll see people getting together for a family reunion every few years.

Why Are Younger Generations Handling Family Reunions?

While family reunions are still popular, there’s been a shift in who plans them. The younger generation is now in charge, and this is why.

Digital Tools Make Planning Easier for Them

Younger generations are much more comfortable with digital tools; Millennials and Gen Z organizers are more likely to use:

• Group chats
• Shared calendars
• Spreadsheets
• Event platforms

These tools simplify tasks like collecting RSVPs and sharing updates. Older generations relied on phone calls or paper-based planning, which were more time-consuming and harder to track.

This digital fluency allows younger people to manage complex logistics with less stress and more organization. This naturally makes families turn to younger members who can streamline communication and keep everything centralized.

They’re More Geographically Mobile and Connected

Even though younger generations are more geographically dispersed, they still remain highly connected. Their mobility gives them a stronger incentive to organize reunions, since these events may be one of the few chances they can reconnect with extended family in person.

Younger generations are also more used to maintaining relationships digitally through messaging apps and social platforms. This makes coordination across distances easier.

Their familiarity with remote connection allows them to do the following things more efficiently, too:

• Gather input
• Manage schedules
• Negotiate travel logistics

Older Generations Are Stepping Back Due to Time and Energy Constraints

Older family members may no longer have the time, energy, or capacity to manage large events. Planning a family reunion can take months of coordination, budgeting, and communication.

Retired or semi-retired relatives may still want to participate in decision-making, but they may prefer not to handle the logistical workload. Younger adults are often already managing professional and personal responsibilities that involve similar organizational skills, so this makes them more comfortable stepping into planning roles.

These younger family members may also want to allow their older relatives to enjoy the reunion experience without stress. This helps ensure continuity while preventing burnout among long-time organizers.

They Focus More on Experience-Driven and Inclusive Events

Traditional gatherings focus solely on meals and conversation, but younger generations want more experience-driven and inclusive events. They often incorporate activities like:

• Games
• Group outings
• Themed events
• Shared experiences

They’re also more conscious about things like dietary restrictions, accessibility needs, and diverse family structures. This allows them to emphasize personalization and meaningful experiences over formal or rigid traditions.

What’s great is that younger planners often seek input from multiple relatives to design events that feel collaborative rather than top-down. This results in fresh energy and creativity at family reunions.

How to Properly Plan a Family Reunion?

To properly plan a family reunion, you should start by setting clear goals and forming an organizing committee to share responsibilities. Decide early on the budget, location, and date. Once these things are established, you should create a guest list and begin sending out save-the-dates in advance.

The next step is to secure a venue that accommodates your group size and has suitable amenities. If needed, sort out outdoor party rentals and explore other event rental services. With that taken care of, you can plan activities that appeal to different age groups.

Communication is key; use tools like group chats, emails, or planning apps to keep everyone informed. If you feel overwhelmed, delegate tasks so there’s a smoother, more enjoyable event for everyone.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Are Family Reunions a Thing of the Past?

Family reunions are definitely not a thing of the past; in fact, they’ve evolved. People have busy schedules, are separated by geographic distance, and benefit from digital communication, so these things have changed how families stay connected.

Many families now host reunions less frequently, but they tend to be more intentional and well-planned. Technology has also made it easier, with:

• Group chats
• Video calls
• Shared planning tools

Today’s reunions also blend traditional in-person gatherings with virtual participation.

How Long Should It Take To Plan a Family Reunion?

The ideal timeline for planning a family reunion is usually 6-12 months, depending on the size and complexity of the event. Larger families, destination reunions, and grander family reunion ideas may need up to a year of planning to secure venues, accommodations, and group rates for travel. Smaller, local reunions might be successfully organized in 3-06 months.

Early planning is crucial so that family members have enough time to:

• Request time off work
• Budget for travel
• Make necessary arrangements

It also increases the likelihood of securing better prices and availability for venues and lodging. It can help with smoother coordination, too, such as for catering, activities, and special items from companies like Parlani Party Rentals.

What Not To Do at a Family Reunion?

You should avoid overplanning every minute of the schedule, as the union should allow for natural conversation and relaxation. Don’t ignore dietary restrictions or accessibility needs, either, as this can make some loved ones feel excluded.

You should also take care not to let small family conflicts take center stage. Reunions should focus on connection, not past disagreements.

Most importantly, don’t place the entire financial burden on one person. Cost-sharing or fundraising can help keep things fair.

Younger Generations Are Transforming the Traditional Family Reunion

If you’ve been to a family reunion before, then you may have fond memories of eating and gathering with loved ones. Today’s family reunions are a bit different, though, as younger generations are transforming the experience. The result is more inclusivity and personalization, which puts a fresh spin on things.

Check out our other articles now to keep reading about fascinating topics.

In New Mexico, the economic barriers to child care may be gone for families, but the focus now shifts to supporting the workforce 

By Karen Fischer, The Hechinger Report 

This story was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet focused on education. 

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Like many families, Jessica and Adrian Garcia, who live in the mountain resort town of Ruidoso, had to cobble together different child care options for their son when they returned to work after his birth in 2023. 

In August 2021, New Mexico expanded subsidized free child care to households earning up to 400 percent of the federal poverty line — at the time, $87,840 for a family of three. The Garcias earned too much to qualify. 

Jessica, who works at the local branch of Eastern New Mexico University, and Adrian, a police officer, settled for a part-time day care schedule two days a week, which cost $300 a month for their son to attend daycare two days a week because they couldn’t afford full-time hours. Jessica’s mother also pitched in to help. At the time, Adrian had to bargain constantly with his boss to juggle graveyard shifts and child care, and if his schedule changed, his wife and mother-in-law both had to rearrange their own work on short notice to accommodate his. 

Before long, Jessica received an ultimatum from her job: If she couldn’t work full-time hours consistently, she would be demoted to a part-time position and lose the family’s health insurance benefits. 

Their luck turned last November when New Mexico became the first state in the country to launch free, universal child care for children from birth through age 13, regardless of household income. The expansion to a truly universal program “was just a big blessing to us,” said Jessica, who was able to enroll her son in full-time care. “It’s been a huge help.” 

Bottom of Form 

New Mexico garnered a wave of attention when Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced in September that all of the state’s families would be eligible for child care assistance. “Child care is essential to family stability, workforce participation, and New Mexico’s future prosperity,” she said at the time.  

In March 2026,  requirements for the program shifted. Families earning up to 600 percent of the federal poverty line are now eligible for free child care without copays, the equivalent of a four-person family earning $198,000 annually. Copays beyond that threshold are also contingent on whether the price of oil decreases.  Participating families can choose from a wide range of options, including center-based care, home-based providers, before- and after-school care, and faith-based centers. On average, the universal program is expected to save participating families $12,000 a year. (Private providers still have the option to not serve families receiving child care assistance and continue to charge tuition.)  

What has received less attention outside New Mexico, however, is the state’s attempt to fairly compensate the long underappreciated and underpaid early childhood workforce. 

Because the state is now in charge of early education through the universal program, it has also stepped into the role of being responsible for child care wages. It has had to decide questions such as how to weigh experience against education in child care wages, how to financially incentivize centers to adopt rigorous measures of quality, and a whole host of issues that have typically been left to the market.  

But the child care “market,” as it currently exists in other states, has primarily produced poverty wages for workers and exorbitant costs for families. There’s a hope that if New Mexico can iron out these issues, it can lead the way for other places that might want to implement a universal program, such as New York City. Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced earlier this year that the city will create 2,000 free child care slots for 2-year-olds in the city on its way to scaling up a universal and free program for all young children, but the city would need 30,000 new child care workers to make that work.  

New Mexico has currently set aside $60 million for increased wages for the state’s child care workforce. A working group is now refining a “wage scale and career lattice framework” intended to support experience, education, and quality.  

“It’s so exciting to see New Mexico grapple with these questions,” said Lena Bilik, a senior program manager at the Roosevelt Institute, a left-leaning think tank that advocates for universal child care. “Other countries have realized this is a place where the government has to step in. If you’re going to expand your system, you can’t do it without increasing wages. That’s starting to be a bigger conversation.” 

Child care providers and advocates in the state have different opinions about the efforts thus far.  

Barbara Luna Tedrow, a child care center owner in Farmington, first opened her business, A Gold Star Academy, over 25 years ago with 60 children and 10 staff members. Farmington is oil and gas country surrounded by badlands and grayish sands. It’s also just outside of the Navajo Nation, making it a border town with a significant Native American population.  

Around 2012, Tedrow was approached by an oil field worker — New Mexico is the nation’s second-largest producer of oil — who offered to finance the construction of a second child care center. Over the next decade, grant funding and solid relationships with city officials helped her expand to five branches. Now, her team cares for 700 children, with 400 of those slots opened up in the past three years alone. Part of her success, she said, is because she worked to advocate for child care as a means of complementing oil and gas jobs. 

“If you want cities to flourish, they need high-quality child care,” she said. “All of these new employees want to go to work, but they can’t without it.” 

Tedrow’s employees receive medical, vision, and dental insurance as well as a 401(k) retirement program, which together cost $15,000 per employee on top of their salary. Therefore, Tedrow said she worries about what might happen if state reimbursement rates decline in the future or if the state increases the minimum wage for employees without increasing the state reimbursement along with it.  

“We’re dependent on the state for wages, benefits, and everything else to run a high-quality child care center,” she said.  

Mirna Polendo, the director of Imagination Station, a Christian preschool in the mountain resort town of Ruidoso, made some changes to her program when the state moved to a universal system. New Mexico pays enhanced rates to centers that are open at least 10 hours a day and that pay increased wages to teachers. Polendo extended her hours from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and bumped employee wages to $17 an hour to qualify for more state reimbursement.  

In return, Polendo receives $1,400 per month from the state to care for an 18-month-old infant, $1,075 for a toddler, and $890 for kids ages 3 to 5. Across the board, the state reimburses more for care than private tuition ever did.  

Bottom of Form 

If her center meets certain quality measures, the state reimbursements could be even higher. But one of those quality measures would require her to bump staff wages up to $18 an hour. That is right on the borderline of what Polendo can afford to pay staff while remaining in the black, she said — “I can’t do higher than that.”  

Olga Grays, a home daycare provider in Las Cruces, has worked as an early childhood educator for 20 years and is licensed to care for up to 12 kids at a time in her home. In her backyard and garden area, vibrant streams of papelpicado — colored paper with intricate perforated designs are taped up across the shaded patio. Colorful play structures and swings are a few steps away. The setup feels so personal, which Grays credits to the nature of the business.  

“Home daycares have this connection with parents that a lot of centers can’t,” she said. Some days, Grays opens up at 4 a.m. to accommodate a family and closes as late as 11 p.m.  

Grays has to pay her employees $16 an hour to accept state subsidies and has chosen at this time not to make the changes to her business that would unlock larger reimbursement from the state.  

“I’d rather spend my time in daycare with children providing the services they need,” she said. “I don’t believe that taking the time out to do that paperwork will help them.” 

But that means that any of her employees could leave for another center that is paying more, she said. She supports linking wages to years of experience and educational attainments instead of focusing solely on a center’s quality metrics.   

While the work that remains is complex, that should not overshadow the years of effort and advocacy that it took for the state to reach this point, said Jacob Vigil, the chief legislative officer for New Mexico Voices for Children, a state advocacy group.  

“It took over a decade for us to get here,” Vigil said. “It was a campaign that was broad-based, and that had a diverse base of folks that really understood and coalesced around the messaging of why early childhood is important.”  

This story about universal child care was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.  

By National Women’s Law Center

The National Women’s Law Center released its annual State Child Care Assistance Policies report, finding that the number of children placed on waiting lists for federally funded child care assistance nearly doubled between 2024 and 2025 — and that number has only continued to grow.

The report serves as a key resource for state lawmakers, advocates, and policymakers by tracking state child care assistance policies and identifying where states are strengthening support for families and early educators — or falling behind.

“This deeply troubling increase in the number of children on child care waiting lists is the result of a failure to invest in this crucial sector,” said Karen Schulman, senior director of state child care policy and author of the report. “Since the expiration of tens of billions of dollars in federal child care funding in 2023 and 2024, an already fragile child care system has been pushed even closer to the brink.”

Key findings in the report related to waiting lists for child care assistance include:

• 17 states had waiting lists or a freeze on intake for child care assistance in February 2025, up from 13 states in February 2024.

• Approximately 106,700 children nationwide were added to waiting lists between February 2024 and February 2025, bringing the total to 225,500 children in February 2025 — a 90 percent increase compared to February 2024.

• The numbers climbed even further between February 2025 and summer/fall 2025, with more than 175,000 additional children added to state waiting lists in just a few months — a 78 percent increase.

• At least seven states newly began placing families on waiting lists or freezing intake, while at least 10 additional states saw their waiting lists grow, after February 2025.

The report also includes state-by-state data on key child care assistance policies, including income eligibility limits, parent copayments, provider payment rates, and eligibility policies for parents searching for work.

Click the link to learn more: Warning Signs: State Child Care Assistance Policies 2025.

An Interview With:   

Tonia McMillian, Black Californians United for ECE 

Black Californians United for Early Care and Education (BlackECE) is a powerful coalition of advocates, policy-influencers, civil rights organizations, researchers, university faculty, non-profit leaders, early educators, caregivers, providers, families, and community-based organizations.  

BlackECE members have intentionally organized our influence around a 10-point policy plan to serve over 490,000 of California’s Black children (Kids Data, 2020). BlackECE intends to create bridges to previous work and create equity-minded policies that focus on Black children, families, and the ECE workforce. 

National Newspaper Publishers Association interviewed Tonia McMillian, one of the leaders of the initiative.    

NNPA: Why is celebrating Juneteenth important for young children? 

Tonia: Young children need to learn about Juneteenth because, although it happened in the past, it helps children understand what freedom and resilience look like.  Even though the holiday stems from a terrible time in American history, it is a jubilant time in African American history.  That is why we (especially Black people) see it as the time to celebrate and uplift our culture, Black history, and the importance of family. 

NNPA: What’s the appropriate way to discuss complex topics like enslavement to young people? 

Tonia: The education system in the U.S. literally opened the door for this discussion.  Not so much for how it is being taught in schools, but more importantly, for how little of what actually happened during chattel slavery is shared.  Therefore, we can dissect, correct, and interject the truth about slavery in this country.  In my opinion, breaking down the history of Black people in America and how we came here and survived is one of the greatest stories ever told.  My grandchildren know about slavery and how bad it was.  They also know how strong and smart our ancestors were and how they are the reason we are here today.  

NNPA: What are the best ways to mark Juneteenth for those in the early years?  

Tonia: Children should look forward to celebrating our (African American) Independence Day, aka Freedom Day, by visiting museums, joining cookouts, enjoying parades, or any other celebrations that may be taking place in their communities.  Black culture honors a Juneteenth tradition by serving “red” food and drink on that day.  These foods include red Kool-Aid, red velvet cake, and watermelon.  The following month, they can celebrate Independence Day on July 4th with the rest of the country.   

NNPA: What does the Black Family Culture Kit offer for Juneteenth activities? 

Tonia: Even though food is definitely a center of attention in Black culture, the Juneteenth Culture Kit focuses more on language, history, and music.  Historically, music was used as a method of communication as well as a source of uplifting spirits during difficult times.  As a poet, I learned how poetry represents the culture in sharing prose and stories, elevating the voices of Black people, their triumphs, as well as their challenges.  The kit includes items such as children’s musical instruments, a book on Juneteenth history, and various activities that celebrate joy and our deep ancestral roots in the country. 

NNPA: Why is Juneteenth important for all young children, not just Black children? 

Tonia: All young children deserve to learn the importance of Juneteenth and its meaning so that they can celebrate freedom, resilience, truth, and African American heritage and culture.

NNPA: What does Juneteenth mean to you personally? 

Tonia: For me, Juneteenth helps me honor my ancestors with a deep respect for our place in this country.  I remove the idealized American narratives that history books taught me, which are held in the bosoms of the dominant culture, because Juneteenth demands that I do so.  Juneteenth allows me to see clearly the painful truths of what took place for over two years to my ancestors; therefore, I must pay homage and show respect to those Black people who came before me for the sufferings and lies that they survived.  There is a mixture of silent rage and grief in my heart, coupled with jubilation and pride in my spirit on that day.  They are reminders that I must offer libations to the ancestors as well as celebrate with my family and community on that day.