All Featured Highlights: Child Care Subsidies

• Nov 20, 2012  |  Emily Firgens and Hannah Matthews State Child Care Policies for Limited English Proficient Families The most recent set of CCDBG state plans for FFY 2012-2013 offer insight into how states' activities and policies are targeted toward LEP and immigrant families, children, and providers. We provide in this paper summaries of state responses to questions about engaging with LEP families and providers and better serving them through state child care assistance programs. Download PDF
• Sep 11, 2012  |  Hannah Matthews At Risk: Early Care and Education Funding and Sequestration Sequestration was created in August 2011 as part of the Budget Control Act of 2011, which ended that year's showdown over raising the federal debt ceiling. Because Congress failed to come up with a deficit reduction plan, the Budget Control Act calls for $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts over the next decade, divided equally between defense and "non-defense discretionary" programs. This fact sheet explains how these cuts will impact federal early care and education funding and what can be done to prevent them. Read Online
• Feb 23, 2012  |  Karen Schulman, Hannah Matthews, Helen Blank, and Danielle Ewen A Count for Quality: Child Care Center Directors on Rating and Improvement Systems Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) are designed to give providers incentives and supports to improve quality and parents information about child care quality. With the growth in QRIS, CLASP, together with the National Women’s Law Center, interviewed child care providers participating in QRIS in several states. This report provides findings on the key components of QRIS, cross-cutting lessons on QRIS strategies, and recommendations for policymakers from the perspective of child care center directors. Download PDF
• Mar 01, 2012  |  Hannah Matthews Recent Child Care Growth to Fade, Startling Drop in Assistance Projected Read Online
• Nov 17, 2011  |  Danielle Ewen and Hannah Matthews Caring for Babies: How State Child Care Policies Can Support Continuity Quality, stable child care arrangements support the healthy development of infants and toddlers. This presentation from the 2011 NAEYC Annual Conference in Orlando, FL describes how state subsidy policies can support retention of child care subsidies and continuous care for infants and toddlers. Download PDF
• Nov 17, 2011  |  Hannah Matthews Integrating Systems: Improving Access to Better Serve Families Families seeking assistance often face multiple, complex needs and that require the services of more than one program. Integrated service systems help to provide a more family-centered, seamless service delivery system, a system that offers a broad continuum of services and tailors these services to the strengths and needs of individual families. This presentation given at the 2011 State and Territory Administrators and the Child Care Policy Research Consortium Joint Meeting in Bethesda, MD looks at how to create an integrated system and the challenges and opportunities of doing so. Download PDF
• Jun 04, 2012  |  Stephanie Schmit TANF Child Care Spending in 2011 Read Online
• Oct 27, 2010  |  Danielle Ewen and Hannah Matthews Adopting 12-Month Subsidy Eligibility: Impacts on Children, Families, and State Child Care Programs Under federal regulations, states have a great deal of flexibility in setting child care assistance policies. Adopting 12-month subsidy eligibility, with limited interim reporting requirements, is one strategy states can implement to promote sustained access to subsidies and continuous care arrangements for children. This paper lays out the associated impacts of adopting an annual redetermination policy on children, parents, and state subsidy systems. Read Online
• Jun 17, 2011  |  Hannah Matthews Child Care Cuts Would Affect Us All Across the country, in town halls and other venues, Americans are realizing that budget cuts will have a real impact on their everyday lives. I, for one, expect the government to be there for my family in many ways, including by establishing and enforcing basic child care standards. Scrutinizing federal spending is important at this time of record deficits; however, harmful measures that will slash supports and protections for over 12 million children in child care in this country are not in the best interest of the country or any of our children. Read Online
• Sep 19, 2011  |  Hannah Matthews and Danielle Ewen Meeting the Early Learning Challenge: Better Child Care Subsidy Policies CLASP's "Meeting the Early Learning Challenge" series provides information and policy options for states as they develop their applications for the Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge. Read Online
• Jun 17, 2011  |  Hannah Matthews Child Care Cuts Would Affect Us All In the policy arena, we often refer to the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) as the program that funds state child care assistance programs that help low-income families afford child care while they are working, looking for work, or in training or education programs. However, CCDBG plays a role in the lives of all families using child care, not just those who are low-income. CCDBG includes a requirement that states spend up to 4 percent of funds on initiatives to improve the quality of care. In 2009, the latest year data are available, states set aside more than $661 million for this purpose. Read Online
• Aug 11, 2011  |  Abigail Newcomer Health Care Reform and Improving Access to Child Care Assistance New federal guidance will allow Child Care and Development Block Grant programs to benefit from important technological upgrades to eligibility determination systems without sharing in the full costs of their development. Read Online
• Oct 27, 2010  |  Danielle Ewen and Hannah Matthews Adopting 12-Month Subsidy Eligibility: Impacts on Children, Families, and State Child Care Programs Under federal regulations, states have a great deal of flexibility in setting child care assistance policies. Adopting 12-month subsidy eligibility, with limited interim reporting requirements, is one strategy states can implement to promote sustained access to subsidies and continuous care arrangements for children. This paper lays out the associated impacts of adopting an annual redetermination policy on children, parents, and state subsidy systems. Read Online
• Mar 09, 2011  |  Hannah Matthews Child Care Assistance in 2009 This analysis details state child care expenditures from the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant programs. We find that spending on child care assistance decreased slightly in 2009. Thirty-three states increased overall spending, while 18 states made cuts. Without ARRA funds, more states would have made greater cuts. The number of children receiving assistance, however, remains far lower than the number of children eligible for assistance. Download PDF
• Jan 20, 2011  |  Child Care and Early Education Make the Case for Child Care, Head Start Investments Read Online
• Feb 22, 2010  |  Hannah Matthews Immigrant Families and Child Care Subsidies: What Federal Law and Guidance Says One in four young children in the United States lives in an immigrant family. Federal law establishes policies on immigrant eligibility for child care assistance, yet questions regarding eligibility remain at the state and local level. Most child care assistance is funded through the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant, which have differing rules regarding immigrant eligibility. This fact sheet lays out rules and guidance related to immigrant eligibility for child care subsidies through both funding streams. Download PDF
• Feb 03, 2011  |  Hannah Matthews and Teresa Lim CCDBG Participation in 2009 Download PDF
• Dec 15, 2010  |  Hannah Matthews CCDBG: What’s In The Law? The federal Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program allows states broad discretion to develop their child care assistance programs within federal guidelines. This brief lays out the federal requirements states must follow in designing their child care programs and spending CCDBG funds. Download PDF
• Nov 02, 2009  |  Child Care and Early Education A Tool to Examine State Child Care Subsidy Policies and Promote Stable, Quality Care for Low-Income Babies and Toddlers This tool, part of CLASP's Charting Progress for Babies in Child Care project, is designed to provide a policy framework that lays out child care subsidy policies that can be implemented to better support babies and toddlers and their families. Users can download and save a copy of this tool, then fill in the appropriate columns with their state's current policies and opportunities for change. Read Online
• Sep 28, 2010  |  Hannah Matthews TANF Child Care in 2009 Read Online
• Sep 23, 2010  |  Hannah Matthews Child Care Assistance in 2008 This analysis details state child care expenditures from the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant programs. We find that spending on child care assistance decreased slightly in 2008. Thirty states increased overall child care spending, while 21 states made cuts. The number of children receiving assistance, however, remains far lower than the number of children eligible for assistance. Download PDF
• Dec 01, 2009  |  Hannah Matthews Child Care and Development Block Grant Participation in 2008 Based on preliminary data from the Child Care Bureau, this fact sheet provides a snapshot of participation in the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program in 2008. CCDBG served a monthly average of 1.6 million children. While 19 states increased the number of children served, 29 states served fewer children in 2008 than in the previous year. This fact sheet reviews data, including the ages of children receiving assistance, the types of child care settings used, and the reasons families receive assistance. Download PDF
• Sep 21, 2009  |  Hannah Matthews Child Care Assistance in 2007: Spending Update This analysis details state child care expenditures from the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant programs. We find that spending on child care assistance increased slightly in 2007. Thirty-one states increased overall child care spending, while 20 states made cuts. The number of children receiving assistance, however, remains far lower than the number of children eligible for assistance. Download PDF
• Oct 15, 2009  |  CLASP and National Women’s Law Center Audioconference: Update on State Child Care Assistance Policies and Use of Economic Recovery Funds Join CLASP and the National Women’s Law Center for the third in a series of calls about how states are working to improve the quality and accessibility of child care in the current economic crisis. Read Online
• Jul 30, 2009  |  Hannah Matthews and Rachel Schumacher Ensuring Quality Care For Low-Income Babies: Contracting Directly With Providers To Expand And Improve Infant And Toddler Care The supply of high-quality infant and toddler child care is limited, particularly for low-income families. While most states provide child care assistance through vouchers or certificates, states have the option of contracting directly with providers to expand infant/toddler care for low-income families. Based on interviews with state policymakers, this paper explains how states are using contracts to create or stabilize care in particular communities or for specific populations; to create child care slots meeting quality standards important for infants and toddlers; to extend the day for infants and toddlers served in Early Head Start; and to improve the quality of infant/toddler family child care. Download PDF
• Feb 25, 2009  |  Danielle Ewen Child Care And Early Education: Opportunities To Serve More Low-Income, Working Families (audio) Danielle Ewen, CLASP, and Helen Blank, National Women's Law Center, discuss the opportunity for states and local communities to serve more low-income working families and to make long-term investments in quality programs through new investments in the ARRA. Download Audio
• May 21, 2009  |  Child Care and Early Education An Economic Recovery Update: How States Can Use Economic Recovery Funds To Help Child Care (audio) Listen to an audio conference recording about how to best utilize the economic recovery funds. A conversation with state advocates is moderated by Helen Blank, National Women's Law Center, and Danielle Ewen, CLASP. Speakers include: Speakers: Bruce Liggett, Executive Director, Arizona Child Care Association; Sessy Nyman, Vice President of Public Policy & Government Affairs, Illinois Action for Children; Sheila Hansen, Policy Director, Child and Family Policy Center; Patty Siegel, Executive Director, California Child Care Resource & Referral Network; and Clare S. Richie, Senior Policy Analyst, Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. Download Audio