Shortchanging Child Care (Part 3): Angelica Cruz wants the same for her children as any mother, regardless of her own income.

"They deserve to grow up knowing as much as other kids do, as wealthy kids, rich kids," Cruz said.

Currently, Cruz's two daughters are on the waitlist to get government subsidized child care. They've been there for six months, with no end in sight.

"My daughter is almost 3 already. She's not going to learn [as much as other children]," Cruz said.

Cruz works at a grocery store deli making $9 an hour. She doesn't have the $1,000 a month to put two kids in day care, she said. Cruz uses an unlicensed provider instead.

"I don't have no choice," she said.

Unregulated child care providers cater to parents who fall through the subsidy safety net. The state does not keep records on the size of that market, but a 2005 study done by Family Connections found that 86 percent of child care advertisements in Travis County were for unregulated providers.

"It's not the most ideal situation that we would want for our parents, but, unfortunately, it's a reality," Cristela Perez of Workforce Solutions said.

Perez’ agency handles child care subsidies in Travis County, and it currently has 2,400 children on its indefinite wait list.

When Cruz does get off the waitlist, her child care options are limited. Only 30 percent of providers in Travis County take subsidized children. Those providers are listed in a packet parents get when they leave Workforce's office.

That's how Zuri Jackson found Sweet Dreams, a child care center in northeast Austin.

"I pick somewhere with a space for them to play, looks like things around them they can learn," Jackson said.

But looks don't always tell the whole story, as shown by the 63 pages of state violations Sweet Dreams has racked up in three years. Information about the violations is technically accessible to parents via the state's website, but Jackson said she had no idea the website existed.

The Department of Family and Protective Services, charged with enforcing day care standards, informed Sweet Dreams it would be put on probation the same week News 8 contacted the center for this story.

The director of the child care center has since asked for an administrative review. She declined an interview, but had Sweet Dreams' Public Relations Spokesperson Jessica Hiler speak on her behalf.

Hiler said she was not aware of the center's pending status with the state.

"If that has been aware, you know, but centers, you know, with ratios, and stuff like that, but it's, we're working through it. We're taking it day by day, and that's all we can do," she said.

Jackson said neither the center, nor the state informed her of Sweet Dream's problems.

"I'm kind of thoroughly pissed right now," she said. "They should have taken them off the [subsidized providers] list."

Child care providers are eligible to participate in the subsidy program as long as they have a license, Perez of Workforce Solutions said.