In 2025, New Mexico became the first U.S. state to offer free child care. And a unique provision in the legislation allows grandparents with legal custody or kinship guardianship to qualify for the universal child care program, too.
The provision is especially important in New Mexico, which has the highest rate of grandparents caring for grandchildren in the nation.
“We wanted grandparents to see that we see them and that we recognize they are doing hero’s work by taking care of their grandchildren,” Elizabeth Groginsky, New Mexico’s cabinet secretary for early childhood education, told The 19th.
While 21 other states have exemptions that allow grandparents to access child care assistance, experts say New Mexico’s plan is the most comprehensive measure of its kind yet.
“New Mexico’s approach is simpler and more universally applicable to grandparents, helping reduce confusion and barriers for grandparents seeking child care access for their family,” said Anne Hedgepeth of Child Care Aware of America.
Currently, the program’s biggest obstacle is capacity; the state needs 55 new child care centers to meet demand. So, New Mexico is investing in loans and higher reimbursement rates to address provider shortages.
The new measure is still a major win for “nontraditional” households and the children who grow up in them.
“In New Mexico, grandparents and kin are playing critical roles in improving outcomes for some of our most vulnerable children,” said Kersti Tyson, the director of research and evaluation at Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation. “Supporting their success with a more comprehensive and coordinated response is a vital necessity for our state.”
A version of this article originally appeared in the 2026 Feminist Edition of the Goodnewspaper.
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