Tag Archives: Child Care and Development Block Grant

Fewer Children, Fewer Providers: Trends in CCDBG Participation

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January 2017

The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) is the major federal funding stream for states to help low-income families afford child care and increase the quality of child care for all. CCDBG gives states flexibility in setting many child care policies within federal parameters. Over the past decade, the CCDBG program has been shrinking due to insufficient federal and state investments. States also have discretion to use funds from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant/program to support child care for low-income families. In 2014, the latest year data are available, combined TANF and CCDBG spending on child care fell to $11.3 billion, the lowest level since 2002.1 As a result, fewer children are getting help. Most recently, in 2015, fewer than 1.4 million children received CCDBG-funded child care in an average month, the smallest number of children served in the program since 1998. From 2006 to 2015, over 373,000 children have lost assistance—a decline of 21 percent.2 Within this context of declining investments and shrinking access, this factsheet explores trends among the child care providers receiving CCDBG funds and implications for the families served by this program.

Source: CLASP

Available at: http://www.clasp.org/resources-and-publications/publication-1/CCDBG-Provider-Factsheet-2006-2015.pdf 

Continuing Resolution is Signed, Keeps Federal Government Funded through April 2017

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12/12/2016

After last-minute action on Friday by the U.S. House and Senate, along with President Obama’s signature this morning, the federal government has a temporary spending bill that keeps the doors open for another 20 weeks, through April 28. The first “Continuing Resolution” (CR) for the federal Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17), which began October 1, 2016, expired on December 9. 

This temporary spending bill is the last action the current Congress took before adjourning for the year. The spending bill for the rest of FY17 (covering the period of April 29 to September 30), along with an FY18 bill, will be taken up by the newly elected Congress in the spring. Based on the proposals that Republican leaders in the House and Senate have made, those budgets could make deep cuts in core programs intended to address the needs of the 13.5 percent of Americans who live in poverty–woefully underfunding programs like Head Start, job training, and Pell grants that help low-income families, workers, and students. At the same time, Republicans will likely seek to sharply increase the budget for defense spending and reduce taxes for the richest Americans. As the new president and Congress act on the budget next spring, they must remember that investments in education, employment, young children, and anti-poverty strategies are crucial to America’s future. 

In the interim, CRs, which are used in the absence of an approved federal spending bill, typically continue the funding for discretionary programs at a rate or formula consistent with the previous fiscal year. This CR includes a 0.19 percent across-the-board cut, which is compounded by the fact that the FY16 budget was the lowest in a decade when adjusted for inflation—meaning that this latest CR represents a significant effective decrease. 

Specific examples of the consequences of temporary funding levels in the bill include the following:

  • Reducing current child care funding, which is already sharply inadequate, leaves states without the resources necessary to implement the critical improvements passed by Congress in 2014 to improve the health, safety, and quality of child care and to provide low-income working families with more stable child care assistance. Already, the number of children receiving child care funded through the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant program has fallen to a 16-year low, with just 1.4 million children being served in 2014, and more will surely lose access without new funding. 
  • Fewer workers will receive the skills training and postsecondary credentials they need to move toward better jobs, since this year’s funding level for adult education is more than 6 percent below the FY 2017 amounts authorized in 2014’s bipartisan reauthorization of the federal workforce development law. Moreover, current funding for key adult and youth employment and training is more than 3 percent lower than WIOA-authorized levels for next year. This would continue a decline in funding for these programs of more than 30 percent in real terms over the past 15 years.
  • Communities of color have been hit especially hard by federal disinvestment in key programs such as child care, workforce training, and Head Start. Youth of color, particularly out of school youth, simply don’t have the resources they need to succeed, and young children cannot get the start they need and deserve without help. With children of color soon to be half of all children—and already half of children under five—their success matters deeply to America’s future.

Our country can help offset the damaging prevalence of poverty and economic insecurity by making a strong commitment to addressing poverty. Such a commitment should start with the enactment next year of FY17 and FY18 spending bills that expand and invest in the crucial education, child care, safety net, and workforce development programs that help people get and keep a job, stabilize families, and promote success. In addition, policymakers must focus resources and attention on those who face the most barriers—children, youth, and families of color, immigrant families, and those whose opportunities are limited by pervasive poverty in their neighborhoods and communities. 

Unfortunately, the current statements of Congressional leaders suggest that the spring’s budget could reflect just the opposite priorities—tax cuts for the richest Americans and sharply eroded help for everyone else. CLASP intends to redouble efforts to ensure policymakers make the right decisions for those children, families, and individuals struggling to make ends meet. To that end, we are working closely with the Coalition on Human Needs on a variety of efforts, including this sign-on letter that the Coalition’s “Save for All” campaign will be sending in early January to the president and members of Congress. Hundreds of national, state, and local organizations have already taken the concrete step of signing on, and you may do so here. 

Source: CLASP

Supporting Children and Families Experiencing Homelessness: A Child Care Development Fund State Guide 

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10/2015

NAEHCY and the Ounce of Prevention Fund are pleased to announce a new guide intended to assist states in utilizing their Child Care and Development Fund state plan (“CCDF Plan”) as a vehicle for improving access to high-quality early care and education for children who experience homelessness. The guide provides background information on common barriers and challenges; best practices for serving homeless families; a summary of requirements of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014 (Pub. L. 113-186) (“CCDBG Act”) related to homelessness; and a summary of some of the opportunities available through the state CCDF Plan to improve access.

As a companion to the guide, a self-assessment tool that can assist states in assessing their current policies and practices and identifying options to better support vulnerable children is included. We recommend reviewing the self-assessment tool prior to reading the guide.

Early care and education services, including child care, can help mitigate the impacts of homelessness on children. Research overwhelmingly shows high-quality educational experiences in the preschool years can have a positive effect and long-term benefit throughout a child’s education. Yet compared to poor housed parents, homeless parents are less likely to receive child care subsidies. At the same time, they are more likely to rely on informal child care arrangements and to report quitting jobs or school due to problems with child care. Homelessness presents barriers over and above what other poor families face, which are exacerbated by other factors, such as fragmentation of service systems, limited availability of services, lack of transportation, rigid program rules and the family’s mobility.

The new CCDBG offers an unprecedented opportunity to move states toward policies that make it easier for homeless families to access child care subsidies, and with new CCDF state plans due in March 2016, the time to act is NOW!

Please share this guide with your colleagues and partners at the local and state level, and please let us know how we can be helpful in your efforts.

Source: The National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth

Available at: http://naehcy.org/educational-resources/supporting-children-and-families-experiencing-homelessness-child-care-development-fund-state

Building Blocks: State Child Care Assistance Policies 2015 

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10/27/2015

Child care helps children, families, and communities prosper. It gives children the opportunity to learn and develop skills they need to succeed in school and in life. It gives parents the support and peace of mind they need to be productive at work. And, by strengthening the current and future workforce, it helps our nation’s economy. Yet many families, particularly low-income families, struggle to afford child care.

  • Families in 32 states were better off in February 2015 than in February 2014 under one or more child care assistance policies.
  • Families in 16 states were worse off under one or more of these policies.
  • Fourteen states reported they had made or expected to make improvements in one or more of the policies covered in this report after February 2015.

Source: National Women’s Law Center

Available at: http://nwlc.org/resources/building-blocks-state-child-care-assistance-policies-2015/

State by State Fact Sheets: Implementing the Child Care and Development Block Grant Reauthorization

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5/20/2015

The National Women’s Law Center and CLASP’s Implementing the Child Care and Development Block Grant Reauthorization: A Guide for States provides a comprehensive review of the implementation issues that states will face around the new Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) law enacted in November 2014.

These 51 fact sheets summarize the specific information related to the new law’s requirements in each state as outlined in the guide.

Source: National Women’s Law Center

Available at: http://www.nwlc.org/node/13883

Benchmarks for Quality Improvement: Measuring Progress in State and Territory Program Quality Improvement Efforts 

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4/2015

The Benchmarks for Quality Improvement (BQI) were developed to assist States and Territories in assessing and measuring progress in program quality improvement systems and to assess their current status in improving their early education and school-age care quality. OCC established benchmarks that are easy to understand, measurable, and that will help States and Territories better plan for use of the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF).The benchmarks consist of five elements, each of which includes a progression of indicators that detail the expectations for progress toward or achievement of program quality. This document provides information about OCC’s vision, mission, areas of expectations for States and Territories, scope of indicators, and core elements.

Source: Child Care Technical Assistance Network

Available at: https://childcareta.acf.hhs.gov/resource/benchmarks-quality-improvement-measuring-progress-state-and-territory-program-quality

CCDF Reauthorization Frequently Asked Questions 

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3/25/2015

On November 19, 2014, the President signed the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014 into law.  The law reauthorized the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) program for the first time in 18 years and made expansive changes to protect the health and safety of children in child care, promote continuity of access to subsidy for low-income families, better inform parents and the general public about the child care choices available to them, and improve the overall quality of early learning and afterschool programs.  Collectively, these changes reflect a new era for child care in this country and an opportunity to improve the learning experiences of millions of children every day.

Since passage of the law, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) has received many questions about its specifics. Below are responses to frequently asked questions about CCDF reauthorization organized by key implementation objectives.  Please note that ACF will be providing guidance on a rolling basis and may issue additional guidance and FAQ’s on these topics in the future.  In addition, ACF plans to release a notice of proposed rulemaking to further clarify guidance.  The interim responses below are intended to provide preliminary information for the general public and timely direction for States and Territories as they prepare to submit their FY2016-2018 CCDF Plans1.

Please visit the CCDF Reauthorization page to view the CCDF Plan pre-print (ACF-118) and other ACF guidance related to reauthorization and its implementation.  We also continue to welcome feedback and you can send any questions or comments to us by email.

Source: Office of Child Care, Administration for Children and Families

Available at: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/occ/resource/ccdf-reauthorization-faq

Child Care Development Fund Reauthorization Page

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November, 2014

On November 19, 2014, President Obama signed the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014 into law.  This reauthorizes the child care program for the first time since 1996 and represents an historic re-envisioning of the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) program.  The new law makes significant advancements by defining health and safety requirements for child care providers, outlining family-friendly eligibility policies, and ensuring parents and the general public have transparent information about the child care choices available to them.

Source: Office of Child Care, Administration for Children and Families

Available at: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/occ/ccdf-reauthorization

In the Margins: State Child Care Assistance Policies on Provider Reimbursement | National Women’s Law Center

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3/25/2014

Several key child care assistance policies—income eligibility limits, waiting lists, parent copayments, reimbursement rates, and eligibility for parents searching for a job—have a significant impact on families’ access to help paying for child care, the level of help they receive, and the quality of care. State policies in these essential areas are examined in Pivot Point, an annual report by the National Women’s Law Center. However, parents’ access to affordable, high-quality care is also affected by a number of other state policy decisions. This brief explores some of the policies that determine when states will reimburse for care, including whether they reimburse for care beyond parents’ work hours such as during a parent’s commute or study time, and whether they reimburse for child care on days when a child is absent from care.

Source: National Women’s Law Center

Available at: http://www.nwlc.org/resource/margins-state-child-care-assistance-policies-provider-reimbursement

Breaking News: Senate Passes Child Care Reauthorization

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3/13/2014

Senators from across the aisle just voted to reauthorize the S. 1086, the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014.

This is a huge win for working families in this country.  This bill contains many common-sense measures for helping protect children in child care, such as requiring providers to undergo comprehensive background checks, ensuring annual inspections are conducted and requiring childcare providers receive training on CPR, first and safe sleep practices.

We are one step closer to ensuring children are safe and receiving quality early learning experiences while in child care. The research is clear, children’s early years are proven to be the most important time to create strong learners. This bill sets the standard families expect for their children.

Please join us to thank the Senate for standing up for children and working families by voting yes to reauthorize CCDBG.

Source: Child Care Aware of America