Nearly a month after the state began giving parents debit cards to pay for subsidized child day care, system glitches have caused everything from minor headaches to major problems. Some day care providers have gone without pay for weeks.

“I know eventually it will work out,” said Anne F. Craigs, executive director of the YWCA in Lewiston. “But right now, it’s a bit of a mess.”

Between 2,000 and 2,500 Mainers get state subsidies to help pay for child care. Families qualify by meeting income guidelines and by working or attending school.

The state had contracted with 11 voucher management agencies to deal with child care providers and pay child care bills.

At the beginning of October, Maine cut out that middleman in an effort to save about $1 million and make the program more efficient.

The state began loading debit cards with money and making parents responsible for paying the day care directly bill each week.

But the system is having problems. Some child care providers aren’t listed in the computers correctly. Some families aren’t listed correctly. Information is missing.

“I think it’s going well. I’m not saying it’s going perfectly,” said Barb Van Burgel, director of the Office of Integrated Access and Support, which determines who gets assistance for the Department of Health and Human Services. She admits the switch to debit cards “has had its bumps.”

Those “bumps” mean some providers are getting payments late, while others are only getting paid part of what they’re owed. Some aren’t getting paid at all.

The YWCA cares for 100 children a day, half of whom get help from the state. Like many other child care providers, the YWCA asked parents to consent to automatic withdrawals so their payments could be credited electronically. But for three weeks, Craigs said, the state failed to load parents’ debit cards with money so the prearranged transfers didn’t happen.

The YWCA recently received a lump sum electronically credited to its account and accompanied by a list of families, but the amount was wrong and the child care center had no way to tell which week the money was supposed to cover.

“We hope to be able to sit down with them (DHHS) so we can figure out how to account for all of it. But we can’t let it go on for too long because then it’s a big wad of mess,” Craigs said. “We can’t do that to our parents and we can’t do that to the state. It’s just not fair on either side.”

At Kids Camp I and Kids Camp II, a pair of child care centers in Turner, owner Heidi Naylor has had similar problems.

Of the 100 children cared for by her centers, about a dozen get state subsidies. The state hasn’t transferred money to some families’ debit cards, Naylor said. In one case, the child care center hasn’t been paid at all in three weeks; in another, it’s only received part of what it’s owed.

“I’m chasing DHHS every day,” Naylor said.

Other area child care providers say there have been problems, but their issues have been minor.

“It’s a work in progress,” said Estelle Rubinstein, executive director of Androscoggin Head Start, which received payments a couple of weeks late.

Although they’ve struggled with getting paid, the YWCA, Kids Camp, Head Start and other area child centers haven’t turned any children away.

The payment problems haven’t been the families’ fault, they say.

“They’re sort of stuck in the middle,” Craigs said.

The child care providers say DHHS is working to correct the problems, and they believe the issues will be resolved. Eventually.

“I think they’re trying to do what they can,” Craigs said. “It’s a huge system.”

DHHS is working with day care providers to solve individual problems. It also plans to hold quarterly meetings with providers as a group to answer questions and deal with issues that arise.

So far, Van Burgel said, providers have been both understanding and patient.

“We’re working through cases one by one,” she said.