Nebraskans describe frustration with state handling of childcare subsidy

OMAHA — Josh Wigginton and his wife each went to work Friday. One dropped off daughter Nayeli at their childcare center, which transports the 7-year-old to school and back. The other parent picked her up after the work day. 

It’s a longtime routine that nearly collapsed earlier in the week due to what Wigginton said was an unusually long delay by the state to reauthorize the family’s annual childcare subsidy. 

“We’ve never had this problem before,” Wigginton said Tuesday, the day before they had to pay out of pocket or lose their spot at a Millard area childcare center. “An email to our caseworker came back undeliverable. I’ve been calling. I get hung up on. … I’m nervous.”

The parents said they started the reauthorization process more than two months ago and were perplexed at the wait and complications because a subsidy was built in as part of their arrangement years ago when they adopted their then-foster child Nayeli. He said the couple eventually sent a second submission as a backup, and at one point his wife went in person to a state office and was told she needed to see someone else.

After the Nebraska Examiner inquired to the state Department of Health and Human Services Tuesday, the Wiggintons hours later got a call that their situation was resolved. That spared them from alternatives, which included a parent taking time off their job or calling on a grandparent to help.

But Nebraska advocates and service providers said other families statewide also have faced increased delays and communication barriers when seeking approval or reapproval for a childcare subsidy. It comes at a time when businesses, government leaders and policymakers are shining more light on rising childcare costs and inadequate access to quality and affordable services that help keep parents in the workforce.

“All of a sudden everything just kind of got backlogged,” said Shannon Burks, who owns Creative Corner Child Care in Grand Island. “I have some very frustrated parents.”

‘Big, beautiful’

The DHHS website states that approval of a subsidy for eligible families “may take up to six weeks to complete.” The full cost may be covered. Depending on income, some may owe a monthly fee paid directly to a qualified provider. The provider bills DHHS for the remainder. 

A DHHS spokesman acknowledged a “temporary” increase in processing times for programs including childcare subsidy approvals — and said it stems partly from stepped up eligibility restrictions called for in President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill,” which Congress approved in July 2025.

Spokesman Jeff Powell said some resources that previously went to childcare subsidy applications have shifted to satisfy more stringent verification processes in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. SNAP now mandates all states to keep their error rate below 6% (Nebraska’s is at 5.9%) or face paying a greater share of the public benefits. 

Powell noted a focus on preventing fraud, protecting taxpayer dollars and ensuring benefits go to those who “truly need them.” 

“The move away from the honor system to verification for certain eligibility criteria is requiring more staff time to process,” he said.

Powell said DHHS, however, is “aggressively recruiting and hiring additional staff, which will soon alleviate workloads and improve processing times.” He said the agency has that green light, despite a hiring freeze that Gov. Jim Pillen requested of agencies to address a state budget deficit, 

Addressing the Wigginton case specifically, Powell said his team was reviewing the circumstances “and identifying any opportunities to improve communication and response times.” He said privacy requirements prohibit the state from discussing specifics, but a DHHS representative reached out to the family directly on Tuesday after the Examiner’s query.

Wigginton said he learned at that time that the family’s caseworker was no longer employed with the state, and that he has a new liaison.

“It’s a big pressure off of me,” he said afterward. He works in Fremont in a human relations role. His wife, Amanda, is a teacher. They have other kids and the childcare subsidy helps the family’s financial equation. “I feel bad for people who don’t know the process.”

Advocates at First Five Nebraska, which focuses on improving early childhood care through policy, said the most prevalent frustrations they’ve heard from service providers in the past several weeks are application processing times of 45 days to two months, sometimes longer, and phone calls with state representatives that have taken a couple of hours.

The First Five advocates said they recognize the complexities in verifying employment and other details. They cited one central Nebraska daycare facility and another in Omaha that each had about a third of their families awaiting subsidy approval at a given time. 

‘Hold my breath’

Tasha McNeil, director of Brilliant Brains Learning Center in Omaha, said she recently stepped in to help one of her daycare workers deal with her own family’s subsidy and was on the phone call for three hours and 41 minutes providing and verifying information to the state representative. The worker ultimately was reauthorized, but had to submit even more documentation. 

“They’re probably short-staffed,” McNeil said of the state. “But a lot of us are. That doesn’t stop us from having to do what we have to do.”

Burks, the Grand Island childcare operator, said she’s noticed more of  “a mess” and longer processing times in the last six months, which she said can put providers in a bind. 

Quick turnarounds are important to struggling families, advocates and providers said, noting that a lengthy wait for a subsidy approval could mean the difference between a parent taking a job or not.

Burks noted one father whose subsidy was up for renewal. She said he had just started a new job.

“He has two full-time kids here,” Burks said. “He has to pay (out of his own pocket) or I have to hold my breath and hope he gets covered.”

Justin Shapland, manager at the Wiggintons’ childcare center, said he appreciates the family but had to ask for private pay if the state didn’t approve the subsidy renewal by a certain date.

“I feel like everything is getting slow,” he said of state processing, including background checks for new hires. “I’d love to know what to do to make this go faster.”