Notions On Okdhs Child Care Coverage For Parents Attending School Essay Examples

Understanding the Possibility of Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS) Child Care Coverage for Parents on Study Time and Online Classes

Introduction

Parents are required to exert a great deal of responsibility since the overall well-being of their children relies on their fulfillment of a sensible set of parental roles. Ideally, it is crucial to secure the future of all children with the kinds of assistance he needs from both his parents and the government, especially if the former is burdened with other undertakings. Due consideration of the fact that parents also have to tend to their own responsibilities to become better equipped in providing a better future for their children is something that the government must look into closely. In that case, it is noteworthy to look into the case of children whose parents attend school – a matter where child care finds due application. While there is an understanding that attending school may improve parents in terms of harnessing their parental knowledge, it also takes up much of their time in exercising responsibilities on their children, hence the role of the government in providing for child care services.
In Oklahoma, United States (US), child care is a matter promptly provided for by the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS) and it expressly serves children whose parents attend school. The OKDHS itself states that “If eligible, OKDHS will pay all or part ofchild care costs directly to a licensed and contracted child care provider while [parents]attend school[parents] may be required to pay a portion of child care costs based on [their] household income” (“Frequently Asked Questions”). Controversially, however, one may find difficulty in having a definite understanding on the child care coverage the OKDHS offers to parents who attend school. Should qualification for OKDHS child care coverage be understood as one that includes school work and online classes, or should it be limited strictly to actual school attendance? This Rogerian argumentative paper seeks to provide a resolution to the matter at hand that is lenient to the overall welfare of children. While the issue is specifically limited to Oklahoma, this study may also serve as an instrumental precedent in resolving cases outside the state.

Child care coverage provided by the OKDHS benefits children in Oklahoma with subsidies for child care services if their parents are attending school (“Frequently Asked Questions”). The OKDHS have since intended its child care coverage to prevent parents attending school from resorting to welfare. At the same time, with the understanding that some, if not most, of parents attending school also hold part-time jobs, the OKDHS bases the subsidies for child care services it provides through its child care coverage on household income amounts. Parents attending school, given their peculiar circumstances, are thus justified in qualifying for OKDHS child care coverage, not least because of the fact that their endeavors inevitably take much of their time supposedly dedicated to caring for their children and, for some, accumulating household income through jobs (“Selecting Quality Child Care” 20-23; “Selecting Quality Inclusive Child Care Parent’s Guide” 3-4).
Indeed, the fact that the endeavors of parents attending school are crucial to success in carrying out responsibilities to their children (“Briefing Paper” 2) rationalizes the child care coverage provided by the OKDHS. It is important for parents attending school to finish their studies, regardless of the degrees they are pursuing, because it “yields positive short and long-term gains for children, higher earnings, greater access to resources, more involvement in their child’s education and greater likelihood of their child pursuing a higher educational degree” (“Briefing Paper” 2). Given the foregoing, it is undeniable that the child care coverage coming from the OKDHS is helpful for parents attending school, as it enables them to balance two things – their studies and the overall well-being of their children. Under OKDHS child care coverage, parents attending school need not to worry about child care costs amounting between $300 and $800 monthly while they study, given the subsidies it provides relative to their household income. In that respect, parents attending school holding part-time jobs need not to devote too much time working just to increase their household income, henceforth enabling them to concentrate on their studies more as their children receive the best professional child care services with the help of the OKDHS. (“Selecting Quality Child Care” 20-23; “Selecting Quality Inclusive Child Care Parent’s Guide” 3-4).
As the foregoing stands, it is clear that the child care coverage provided by the OKDHS stands to help children whose parents are attending school. However, the definitive extent to which the OKDHS provides child care coverage to parents attending school remains unclear. Given the growing prevalence of numerous modes through which schools transmit learning to students such as online classes, alongside occasional homework specified as crucial components of course grades and going through readings for recitation, the question as to whether time parents attending school spend on those are included under child care coverage afforded by the OKDHS is one that has yet to incorporate a definitive answer. Although some may find a strict interpretation on the matter helpful in terms of avoiding abuses to the child care coverage of the OKDHS, including study time and online classes therein is undoubtedly more considerate of the needs of both children and their parents attending school (“Briefing Paper” 2; “Selecting Quality Child Care” 20-23; “Selecting Quality Inclusive Child Care Parent’s Guide” 3-4).

Discerning Study Time and Online Classes

Understandably, parents attending school inevitably bring with them homework and online classes they need to fulfill as part of their course grades. Thus, study time and online classes done outside school also take much of the time parents attending school have for their children. Parents attending school also need a great deal of attention in working on study time and online classes, especially if they wish to get high course grades. However, parents attending school will definitely be affected in the foregoing respect if they have to take care of their children without the help of child care services subsidized by the OKDHS, presuming the strict interpretation is in effect. In that case, it helps to interpret the qualification of parents attending school to OKDHS child care coverage more loosely, albeit with attached conditions. Applying a strict interpretation on the matter would only undermine the capacity of the OKDHS in providing the best it could for children with parents attending classes through its child care coverage (“Briefing Paper” 2; “Selecting Quality Inclusive Child Care Parent’s Guide” 3-4).

Should Parents on Study Time and Online Classes Receive OKDHS Child Care Coverage?

The fact that as with all others, parents attending classes are required to be highly responsible in their roles on caring for their children suffices for the demand for documentary evidence recommended as a possible move by the OKDHS in providing its child care coverage. Given the fact that parents also have to devote time for caring for their children, they must religiously follow planned schedules accommodating study time and online classes for them to become effective in making the most out of what the OKDHS provides them in its child care coverage. Parents attending classes must make sure that they make the most out of their time both for their studies and children as the child care coverage of the OKDHS enables them in doing so. In that way, parents attending classes may fully make themselves effective in terms of accomplishing a higher educational attainment that would inspire their children to reach greater heights in the future. At the same time, parents attending classes could also prevent themselves from becoming ineffective in their roles to tend to the primary needs of their children (“Briefing Paper” 2; “Selecting Quality Child Care” 20-23).

Conclusion

Parents endowed with a higher educational attainment and responsible enough in tending to the primary needs of their children are, indeed, more effective ones. With that, the OKDHS has a very instrumental role to undertake through its child care coverage – to assist parents attending school through subsidizing child care services for their children. Given the nature of parents attending school as well as the current demands sent unto them, it is just reasonable to qualify study time and online classes under OKDHS child care coverage, subject to the responsible submission of documentary evidence to prevent abuses.

Works Cited

Briefing Paper: College Students with Children are Common and Face Many Challenges in Completing Higher Education (IWPR # C404). Washington, DC: Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), March 2013.
“Frequently Asked Questions." Benefits: Child Care. n.d. Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS). 09 March 2015. <http://www.okdhs.org/programsandservices/cc/asst/docs/faq.htm#1>.
Selecting Quality Child Care: A Parent’s Guide. Oklahoma City, OK: Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS) and Oklahoma Child Care Services (OCCS), n.d.
Selecting Quality Inclusive Child Care Parent’s Guide: Frequently Asked Questions (Supplement to DHS Pub. No. 87-91, Selecting Quality Child Care: A Parent’s Guide). Oklahoma City, OK: Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS), n.d.