Program Integrity and Accountability in the Child Care and Development Fund Program
Guest Author: Ruth Friedman, Ph.D.
Program integrity and accountability policies are part of all federal social services programs. This brief provides an overview of the comprehensive monitoring and oversight of fiscal program integrity processes in the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Program.
CCDF is the federal program that provides financial assistance to help families who are working or are participating in education or training to afford child care and supports the quality of care for all children. It is authorized by the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act (CCDBG) and Section 418 of the Social Security Act, which allocate the funds to state governments by a formula based on the number of young children that reside in a state and the number of children receiving free and reduced school lunch there. Most families need child care to go to work, but with the average cost of care more than $13,000 per year for one child, stable child care arrangements can be difficult or impossible to afford.
CCDF is comprehensively monitored, with numerous oversight, reporting, and auditing requirements and systems that promote strong program accountability. Since CCDF is a federal block grant, monitoring and oversight is the responsibility of both the federal government and state governments that operate the program. HHS, which administers the program, is responsible for overseeing the state agencies that administer CCDF, including their compliance with the federal law and all relevant regulations and grant award terms and conditions. States are primarily responsible for overseeing participating families and providers and maintaining internal policies and systems that ensure program administration compliance with federal requirements. This includes requirements that states document and verify child eligibility and enrollment, regularly report spending to the federal government, track improper payments and reduce administrative errors, conduct annual audits, pursue and investigate fraud, and conduct regular provider inspections. There is no evidence of significant or widespread fraud in the CCDF program. Historically, ACF has paired program oversight with technical assistance and other supports to states to improve CCDF implementation and compliance and promote continuous improvement and best practices in states’ program administration and oversight. This partnership with states has been critical to strengthening state systems and performance, but these efforts to support state program administration have been curtailed in the past year due to significant staff reductions at ACF.
Program integrity is important in any public program, meaning strong adherence to the statutory and regulatory requirements of the program. For CCDF, program integrity would mean:
- Eligible families receive the child care assistance they need to sustain work, education, or training;
- Participating families with low incomes have equal access to child care as parents who are not eligible to participate in CCDF;
- Child care providers are paid with the same generally accepted payment practices private pay parents use for the services they provide to families receiving CCDF assistance;
- Child care program quality is supported and improved;
- All licensed and regulated child care meets minimum health and safety standards;
- Children are safe and their development is supported when in child care;
- CCDF funds are safeguarded to maximize benefits for eligible children and families; and
- Taxpayer dollars are spent as required by law.
Dr. Friedman is the former director of the Office of Child Care in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and has helped author numerous federal laws and regulations on early care and education.