05/29/2026
Today, our President & CEO, Kathleen Brady-Stepien, joined Governor Kathy Hochul for the signing of the NYS Budget.
Our CEO’s Statement on the Final Passage of the State Budget:
“We are grateful to see lawmakers make historic investments in children and families in this year’s budget. By allocating more than $4.5 billion for childcare and advancing universal pre-K and 2-Care, our state will support parents and caregivers, and ensure children have access to safe spaces for growth and play. And by enhancing the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, our state will alleviate key financial stressors for families. Taken together, these policies strengthen families and communities across New York State.
We appreciate the state’s 2.7% targeted inflationary increase for essential human services programs. The increase is necessary to recognize the cost of living increase for human services workers, and to help organizations maintain critical services amid rising costs. We will continue to advocate for further salary and inflationary increases in coming legislative sessions to account for significant workforce turnover and vacancy, years of inflation and increased operational costs.
Looking forward, we must ensure nonprofit foster care programs can continue their vital work on behalf of children and families amid a liability insurance crisis. With a constricting insurance market and rising premiums, the state has a responsibility to stabilize runaway costs for providers. For the remainder of the legislative session, we will be advocating for a state-backed insurance risk pool to ensure agencies can access required coverage and maintain financial solvency.”
