World's richest country plans to pay parents Rs 8.5 lakh to stay at home

United States is considering a plan that would pay married parents close to Rs 8.5 lakh a year simply for staying home to raise their own children, instead of sending them to daycare.

According to a report by The New York Times, which cited people familiar with the matter, the Trump administration is preparing a draft rule that would let one parent claim government support if the other spouse works at least 35 hours a week. The money would come out of an already existing federal fund, not a new pot of taxpayer money.

Where the money would come from

The New York Times reported that the proposed subsidy would be drawn from the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), a $12 billion programme run by the Department of Health and Human Services. Set up in the 1990s, the fund was originally meant to help low and middle income parents afford outside child care so they could keep working, studying, or complete job training.


Per the NYT report, the fund currently supports about 1.3 million children, most of them from homes led by single working parents, typically mothers, at a rate of about $9,000, or close to Rs 8.5 lakh, per child every year.

Who would qualify

According to the details shared with The New York Times, only married couples would be eligible under the draft plan. One spouse would need to work at least 35 hours a week, while the other stays home to look after the child. Household income would generally have to stay below 85 percent of a state's median income, though some states could apply a stricter 60 percent cutoff instead, the NYT reported.

Unmarried couples would not qualify under the proposal, regardless of their income or work arrangement. Single parents who are not employed would also remain ineligible, per the report.

The push behind the plan

The New York Times reported that the proposal fits into a wider effort by the Trump administration to promote traditional family structures and raise the country's birth rate, an effort largely driven by Vice President JD Vance.

Vance has long argued in favour of parents staying home with young children. In a 2021 essay cited by the NYT, he wrote that young children are "clearly happier and healthier" when they spend the day at home with a parent. He has also written online, as noted in the report, that "normal" Americans want a family policy that does not "shunt their kids into crap day care" just so they can stay in the paid workforce.

Concerns raised by experts

The plan has already drawn pushback from policy experts, who warn it could leave some families worse off. Joshua McCabe, director of social policy at the Niskanen Center, a think tank, told The New York Times that while he supports more help for stay-at-home parents, widening who can access the fund without increasing its overall size would mean more families competing for the same amount of money, particularly hurting single working parents who currently rely on it most.

The New York Times also reported that some administration lawyers are still debating internally whether it would even be legal to require recipients to be married in order to receive the subsidy.

What happens next

Per the NYT report, the proposed change does not need approval from the US Congress. If the White House signs off on the draft, it would be published online for a public comment period. If the rule is finalised, it could come into effect as early as 2027.