This story was reported and written by VPM News.
Head Start centers are waiting for President Donald Trump's administration to explain how it expects them to enforce a new ban on enrolling undocumented students. The new rule reverses a long-standing policy of allowing them access to the childcare program.
Dawn Ault, executive director of the Virginia Head Start Association, said the directive is having a chilling effect on local programs.
"It's making a lot of people who are even here legally concerned," she told VPM News.
The rule is paused temporarily until Sept. 10 following court challenges, but so far no guidance documentation has been issued by the Trump administration. Ault said providers aren't sure how to proceed without guidance.
"For example, are you checking birth certificates, Social Security numbers? Are you checking the child? Are you checking the parent?" Ault said. "All sorts of those types of details have not been cleared."
If the Trump administration requires families to submit birth certificates, providers worry this would create an enrollment barrier for children here legally, especially those who are experiencing homelessness or are in foster care.
Nearly 800 unhoused children were enrolled in Virginia Head Start programs last year, and nearly 300 were in foster care.
Tommy Sheridan, deputy director of the National Head Start Association, told VPM News that he's also concerned about the potential impact a new documentation requirement could have on families in rural areas – where people may have to drive to faraway places and pay fees to access copies of birth records.
"As a result of that, we're nervous," said Sheridan. "We're concerned about the impact this would have on all children and families in Head Start, and that this would serve as a barrier to entry into Head Start and Early Head Start."
Sheridan said that Head Start has not required documentation of immigration status as a condition of enrollment for the last 60 years.
US Sen. Tim Kaine said the requirement would be burdensome for childcare operators who already have to do an "awful lot" of paperwork.
"You're forcing early childhood educators to take on a pretty significant additional responsibility," Kaine told VPM News.
US Sen. Mark Warner told VPM News this week that he sees the rule change as another attack on the Head Start organization as a whole; some conservative groups have pressured lawmakers to do away with the Head Start program entirely.
"I think they hope they'll be able to shut down some of these programs," Warner said.
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