Obama Administration Announces Rules Change to Help Low-Income Families Access Child Care

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Two years ago, President Obama signed into law a bipartisan measure, the Child Care and Development Block Gant Act (CCDBG) of 2014, to make quality child care accessible for more families, especially low-income ones. The bill implemented new health and safety requirements for child-care providers, provided consumer protection measures to let parents make informed decisions about their childcare options, and, among other things, ensured that families who qualified for Child Care Development Fund (CCDF)-funded programs be able to enroll for 12 months of childcare at a time to ensure continuity of care for the benefit of both parents and children.

The CCDF is the primary federal funding source for providing low-income families that are working or participating in educational or job training programs with help in paying for childcare — and for ensuring the quality of that care. Each month, 1.4 million American children are cared for using CCDF grants, the majority of whom are under the age of 5.

Today, the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced some updated rules for CCDBG, such as annual monitoring for CCDF licensed providers, training on topics ranging from first aid to child abuse recognition and reporting, to fundamentals of child development, and comprehensive background checks for all child care staff members (including prospective staff members and individuals with unsupervised access to children) of all licensed and CCDF-eligible child care providers (including those who do not receive CCDF funds).

The new rules also emphasize the fundamental principle of CCDF — parental choice. States now must disseminate information to the public on child care services and other public assistance programs, provide parents applying for child care assistance with information about developmental screenings, recommend that all children receive such a screening within 45 days of enrolling in a CCDF-funded program, and maintain a consumer education website with provider-specific information, including quality ratings for providers, reports and results from monitoring visits to child care provider sites, and documentation of the annual number of death, serious injuries, and child abuse in all CCDF-eligible child care settings.

Lastly, today’s rule change also reinforces the minimum 12-month eligibility period for low-income families to have access to CCDF-funded child care, establishes a gradual phase-out of subsidies for families who, at eligibility re-determination, exceed the initial income thresholds in their state but still have modest incomes, and improves the supply and quality of care for the most vulnerable children, including those experiencing homelessness. A family would now be able to qualify for CCDF child care in some capacity until they exceed 85 percent of a state’s median income level.

On a press call this morning, Roberto Rodriguez, deputy assistant to the president for education, noted that the Obama administration is focused on ensuring that they are providing national leadership on the implementation of child care subsidies to ensure that a greater number of families can access high quality child care. Rodriguez explained how with both parents in the workforce for most American families, access to affordable and high-quality early care and education for young children is especially critical. Presently, the average cost of child care for an infant and toddler is more than in-state tuition in the majority of states in the U.S. — something that is keeping children from accessing the care they need and from parents being able to contribute to the workforce or invest in their own economic opportunity through education and job training as a result.

“Learning begins at birth and continues as children are nurtured, engaged and supported in high-quality early learning environments,” Rodriguez said. “The more we do to ensure that all kids have access to such settings, the better we all will be as a nation.”

Linda Smith, the HHS deputy assistant secretary for Early Childhood Development, emphasized the primary purpose of the rule to provide financial assistance to low income families so that the parents in these families can work or get the education or job training they need to be able to work and best support their families. Presently, 93 percent of those receiving CCDF assistance are either working or enrolled in school or a job training program. Smith called attention to the fact that 12.5 million American children under the age of 5 are in some kind of child care, and for an average of 36 hours per week. The new rules, she said, will also ensure that training for child care workers is made available free of charge to anyone who needs, so that HHS can best support states in implementing this training and the workers receiving it.

“The new rule goes a long way to ensuring … that parents have peace of mind” when selecting a child care provider, Smith said.

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