Child Care Bulletin. Issue 18 —November/December 1997

The Apprenticeship for Child Development Specialist (ACDS) program provides training for classroom aides in child care centers, Head Start, preschool, school-age care, and the public schools in West Virginia. Program participants receive a nationally recognized training certificate. Children, parents, and child care programs all benefit from well-trained, qualified staff. The program has registered sites in 28 of the state’s 55 counties. In some counties, family child care providers are included in the program.ACDS is a collaborative project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor West Virginia Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training, the state Department of Education, River Valley Child Development Services, and county vocational schools. The state Department of Health and Human Resources has provided some funding for ACDS classes, along with Head Start, and the Benedum Foundation.The program offers a planned, sustained, cohesive training program based on the Child Development Associate (CDA) competencies. The instructors have degrees and experience in education, and complete an Instructor’s Academy to teach in the ACDS program. Through agreements with eight community colleges, providers who have completed the ACDS program can apply certain credits toward an Associate of Applied Science degree in Occupational Development with an early childhood specialization and/or a four-year Board of Regents degree, a non-traditional degree allowing credit for work experience and relevant training.

The West Virginia ACDS system will serve as an example of promising practices for other states. The apprenticeship program is operating in some form in several other states, including Arkansas, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Ohio, South Dakota, and Utah.

For more information, contact Cynthia Beal, Staff Development Coordinator, River Valley Child Development Services, at: (304) 523-3417, or Judy Curry, Program Specialist, Bureau for Children and Families, West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, at: (304) 558-0938.

President Clinton Announces Child Care Initiatives
White House Fact Sheet
ACF Office of Public Affairs - January 7, 1998

President Clinton today announced an historic initiative to improve child care for America’s working families. The President’s FY 1999 budget will include approximately $20 billion over five years for child care, the largest single investment in child care in the nation’s history. President Clinton’s initiative responds to the struggles our nation’s working parents face in finding child care that they can afford, trust, and rely on. The President’s proposal will help working families pay for child care, build the supply of good after-school programs, improve the safety and quality of care, and promote early learning.

States Work to Expand Services for Infant and Toddler Care

While many states are engaged in activities to improve the quality and build the supply of child care, some states have made expanding services for infants and toddlers a priority initiative. The following examples include a variety of approaches from state initiated and community based models.

The Michigan Family Independence Agency (FIA) has launched a statewide effort focusing on expanding services for infants and toddlers. The FIA contracts with the state and regional Community Coordinated Child Care Councils (4C agencies) to implement services to improve quality and increase the availability of child care. This project’s goal is to recruit 460 new and existing child care providers, link them with training, and create additional spaces for infants statewide.

The regional 4C agencies recruit child care providers in areas accessible to low-income families to care for infants. Recruitment strategies include:

One example of a local level activity is the Jackson County Infant Care Provider Incentive/ Training Project, which recruits, trains, and offers start-up equipment, such as high chairs, playpens, and cribs to new infant care providers.

Providers must become licensed, complete CPR and first aid training, and complete 25 hours of additional child care training offered by the Child Care Network, Washtenaw Regional 4C. Once these requirements have been met, providers who agree to care for infants of families eligible for public assistance will receive a voucher to redeem at a K-Mart store for a start-up equipment package.

In Oregon, a project to increase the supply of infant and toddler caregivers included a local partnership strategy. These groups, made up of Adult and Family Services field offices, county commissions on children and families, and child care resource and referral agencies, developed proposals which included strategies such as funding for training, equipment and licensing fees. Two licensing staff were assigned to the project to provide technical assistance to providers and to the communities. The project ended in December 1997. A final report is expected in February 1998.

North Dakota has a statewide Infant/Toddler Enrichment Program which has established a network of trainers, recruited new infant and toddler caregivers, and supplied training and support to encourage long-term retention of providers.

Established through a grant from the Bush Foundation, and augmented with state CCDF monies, the program has trained 75 child care trainers using the nationally recognized West/Ed Infant-Toddler curriculum. In June 1997, a tri-state training of trainers was held to involve child care professionals from South Dakota and Minnesota as well.

This project is a collaborative effort of the state Department of Human Services/Children and Family Services, the four tribal nations located within the state, WestEd, the university based North Dakota Early Childhood Training Center, and the state resource and referral network.

In 1996, South Dakota began to plan a state training initiative in infant/toddler care. Regional and tribal public meetings were held to determine needs and review the existing system. In fall 1997 the Bush Foundation agreed to help fund the first year of a 3-year South Dakota Infant/ Toddler Training Initiative project. Similar to the efforts in North Dakota, this initiative will train trainers using the West/Ed Infant-Toddler curriculum.

The project will be managed by the state Office of Child Care Services, and coordinated and monitored through contracts with 5 regional Early Childhood Enrichment programs. Since there are 9 federally recognized tribes located in the state, coordination contracts for tribal areas will also be part of the training delivery. Tribal coordinators and trainers receive technical assistance and support through the regional coordinator.

State match monies will fund mini-grants and infant-toddler resources for providers who attend training sessions, the purchase of West/Ed video sets for at least 30 areas in the state, and state project coordination.

For additional information about a specific initiative, call the appropriate state contact:
Lois Brennan (MI) at: 517-335-3495
Linda Stern (OR) at: 503-947-1400
Corinne Bennett (ND) at: 701-328-4809
Patricia Monson (SD) at: 605-773-4766

States Emphasize Training and Technical Assistance

Every Lead Agency reports in their State Plan for FY 98-FY 99 that they will use some child care quality improvement funds for training and technical assistance. The Lead Agencies have targeted training funds to a number of different priorities, and have created varied systems to deliver the training. Through the funding priorities identified in the state plans, Lead Agencies have demonstrated their intent to create training and technical assistance systems that will foster collaborative relationships among agencies at the local level and that will minimize duplication of services, while increasing the availability of training opportunities for providers.

The state plans identify these areas as priorities for training and technical assistance:

In addition to these activities, nineteen Lead Agencies report that they plan to provide quality improvement funds for compensation initiatives designed to increase program quality through increased compensation for providers.

West Virginia: Apprenticeship Program Expands

States Utilize Rate Differentials for Reimbursement

Several states pay higher rates to accredited centers and family child care providers. The higher rate is part of an effort in states to improve access to many kinds of services that are often hard to find, including care for children with special needs, care during nontraditional hours and care for infants and toddlers. In other states, the differential is part of a targeted effort to improve the overall quality of care available to all families.

In fall 1996, the Lead Agency in Kentucky conducted a market rate survey which showed that the complicated rate structure previously in effect was no longer necessary. Rates were combined and geographic distinctions were minimized. Differentials of $1 per day beyond the maximum rate, if that same amount is charged to the general public, were built in to encourage services for children with special needs and for care during nontraditional hours. In addition, providers accredited by either the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) or the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) may receive $1 per day beyond the maximum rate for the same type of care.

In Minnesota, rates vary by geographic area, the child’s age, provider category and attendance. Payment rates are adjusted at least once every two years and are set at the 75th percentile. The Lead Agency allows accredited providers to be paid up to 10% above the maximum established in the rate survey for a particular area. A family child care provider can receive the differential if she holds a current early childhood development credential approved by the Commissioner. Centers accredited by NAEYC are eligible for the quality differential as well. In Hennepin County, the maximum weekly rate for an infant in a family child care home is $125. An accredited provider could receive an additional $12.50 each week for each infant served.

The Office for Children and Youth in Mississippi has established a three tier system of reimbursement rates. The rates differ based upon the category of care, the age of the child, the additional costs of providing care for infants and children with special needs, and enhanced services such as transportation. Tier II, which reflects the 75th percentile of the distribution of weekly rates, is the base for determining payment rates. Tier I reflects a ten percent increase over Tier II, and is reserved for licensed and regulated centers, family child care providers and in-home child care providers who meet stringent standards established by the Office for Children and Youth. Public-private partnership centers may also be reimbursed at the Tier I rate. Tier III represents one-half of the Tier II rates.

New Mexico has also implemented a tiered reimbursement rate system. Rates are based upon the child’s age, the category of the provider, geographic area and attendance. Licensed centers and family child care providers qualifying at the "Silver" level, who must meet more stringent staff/child ratios and higher staff training standards, can be paid $1.50 per day above the maximum rate. To qualify for the highest tier, "Gold," centers must be accredited by a national accrediting association. Providers in this category may receive an additional $3.00 per day.

In North Carolina, the reimbursement system is designed to give families receiving child care subsidies greater access to a wide range of services. The market rates vary by age of child and provider type. Market rates are calculated for each county and a statewide market rate is established for each age group and type of care (centers and regulated homes). Family child care home providers receive the county market rate or the rate charged private paying parents, whichever is lower.

Payments for child care centers are determined by the number of subsidized children. Centers in which the majority of children are non-subsidized receive the same rate the center charges private paying parents. Those in which at least half of the children are subsidized with public funds receive the market rate or the rate charged private paying parents, whichever is less. Center providers in this second category who meet higher voluntary licensing standards may qualify for 110% of the market rate, or the rate charged private paying parents, whichever is lower. In addition, child care centers and homes who opt to meet higher licensing standards may receive enhanced payment rates through state Smart Start funds.

For more information about these initiatives, contact the following State Administrators:

Child Care and the Economy
Remarks by Secretary Robert Rubin, Treasury
White House Conference on Child Care

My focus and my job is on the economy, and in my view child care is exceedingly important with respect to the health of our economy.

I related to the fellow in the film who said he didn’t believe in "do-gooder-ism," he just wanted to worry about his bottom line. That was the world that I came out of.

Over the past five years, as you know, our economy has had exceedingly strong economic conditions: We’ve had low unemployment, we’ve had low inflation, we’ve had a very high rate of job creation, and we’ve had rising standards of living. In addition, the deficit has been brought down almost to nothing. And we’re on a track now toward a balanced budget.

And many factors have contributed to this, but in my judgment there is no question but that the key in the indispensable factor was the sound economic program the President put in place beginning in 1993 that was grounded in fiscal responsibility, investing in our people through education, training, health care, and the like, and opening markets around the world.

The great concern that I have now is that this prosperity may mask the challenges that we face and lull us into complacency. And that we must not do. Instead, we must face the problems and the issues that need to be effectively addressed if we’re going to be successful and prosperous in the global economy over the long run.

A key question is, how do we continue creating an environment that promotes increased productivity which, in turn, is critical to competitiveness in the new global economy and to raising standards of living in this country?

Creating that environment clearly includes many elements, but there is no doubt that a critical key to increased productivity is to have a flexible and mobile work force in which everyone can participate to the full extent of his or her abilities. And that is where child care, in my judgment, is central.

Before joining the Clinton administration in 1993, I worked in the private sector for 26 years. I can remember when I first began there. There were virtually no women in executive or managerial positions. And in a large measure, I think, because there were virtually no women in the business or professional schools from which organizations drew. Over time that has changed enormously and is continuing to change. Talented women have joined executive, managerial, and professional ranks in increasing numbers.

Businesses then faced the challenge of keeping very good people, as they started their own families. And my own experience, and what was admittedly a small and specialized segment of the private sector, left me with the very strong view that it is enormously in the interest of businesses to create a work environment that supports the needs of each individual through measures such as flex-time, telecommuting, and, of course, by providing access to child care.

All of this benefits the individual, and that’s obvious, but it also benefits the company by allowing it to draw from the largest possible universe of individuals as its potential employees and by best enabling it to retain its talented and knowledgeable people. Moreover, the economy at large benefits. Because by better enabling each individual to fulfill his or her own potential, child care better enables the entire economy to fulfill its full potential.

Just as the composition of businesses and professional firms changed, the composition of the labor force overall has changed substantially. Today 62 percent of married mothers with a child under six work, compared with 30 percent in 1970. This change has meant a whole new set of issues facing working parents.

Today there are 20 million families with either a working single parent or two working parents using child care, including 8 million families with children under the age of five. The majority of these families are middle income. But even for these families, cost, quality and availability of child care are issues of major concern.

Moreover, the challenge of finding affordable child care is particularly difficult for lower income people. Especially for those people who are trying to move from welfare to work.

For a working family with an annual income of $14,000, preschool child care will cost an average of roughly 25 percent of their annual income. And in many states, a single parent, leaving welfare to enter the work force, after you take into account losing government benefits and the cost of child care, will see his or her income increase by less than 50 cents for each additional dollar earned.

Whether we speak of low or middle income families, I don’t think there is any doubt that providing effective child care is an issue of critical importance, not only to the families, because that’s obvious, but also to our society, to business, and to our economy. And I believe all of us have important roles to play -- families, businesses and government -- at all levels -- federal, state and local.

One way to address this challenge is through public/private partnerships. In Rochester, New York, in 1990, the Rochester-Monroe County Early Childhood Development Initiative developed a set of goals for improving child care: Work with business to provide private funds for accredited child care and work with the United Way to subsidize child care for low income families.

During its first five years, these efforts led to the creation of child care for 2,000 additional families. And 86 percent of Rochester’s three and four-year olds are now in child care, up from less than 35 percent in 1989.

There are also many businesses that have run their own programs and there are many business-men and women who are very intensely focused on this problem, including Sandy Weill, who I no-tice is here with us today. Lancaster Laboratories, a company with 600 employees, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania opened an on-site child care center in 1986. The center offers care for 150 children with full-time care for preschoolers from six weeks and an after-school program up to age 11.

Ninety-four percent of mothers on maternity leave now return to work, compared to one-half before the center opened. As a consequence, the company doesn’t have to retrain and doesn’t have to hire and train new workers to replace workers who don’t come back to their firms. And as a consequence of that, the benefits to the company exceed the cost of operating the child care center.

Most small businesses encounter significant barriers with respect to running their own programs. And this is an area I think that we need to look at, and we need to find solutions to those problems.

By identifying and publicizing programs such as those that I have just described, we can spread that kind of success elsewhere. I’m very pleased to take the lead in the program that the President announced in his remarks by calling together a private sector working group to explore the problems of child care for working parents and to identify and publicize best practices that deserve greater attention.

Addressing these issues can contribute not only to the lives of working parents and children but also to business profitability and to the well-being of our economy in the new global economy where it is imperative that every American be enabled to work up to his or her potential so that we can be productive and competitive and successful.

Child Care and the Community
Remarks by Governor James Hunt, North Carolina
White House Conference on Child Care

As the President and Mrs. Clinton know, because we served in governorships together -- I served as governor of our state from the mid- ‘70’s to the mid- ‘80’s -- I worked hard on education, education reform, and jobs, and protecting the public in a lot of things. I was in the private sector for 8 years and I thought a lot about why things aren’t working better. Why aren’t schools more successful? Why isn’t our work force more productive and innovative and doing higher value work, and things like that.

Let me tell you where I came out. The major problem is the first five years of life. Now, there are no panaceas; this comes closer to being one if you get those years right than anything else. I know it’s the case for schools.

You give children the kinds of opportunities and love and care -- all we’ve heard about here today -- in those first five years and our schools will just zoom. There’s no question about it.

I literally ran for governor in 1992 after being in the private sector where I frankly would like perhaps to have stayed; there are a lot of good things about it. But I ran for governor because I wanted to see us change things. I wanted to see us make things work, and I had decided that that’s the most important thing to do.

So I ran for office on this issue. I gave an inaugural address in 1993 on it. Working with Dan Blue, our state legislative leader here, speaker of the house, we put the Smart Start program through our legislature. And my wife, Carolyn, and I are spending these eight years working on it.

Now, let me tell you what I think are the essential components of making it work. First of all, you really have to focus on it. You’re doing that today. And you’ve done it as long as I’ve known both of you. And I know all of you here today are doing it, too.

But we have to focus on it, folks, like a laser. We have got to get people thinking about this. There are so many other things out there that preoccupy us. There are all those special groups that want you to focus on their issues. We’ve got to focus on this one. Leaders have to focus on this one and we have to get other people to do it. Let me tell you, I never give a speech when I don’t talk about it. Some people are getting fed up with hearing me talk about it. Well, they’re going to keep hearing me talk about it. And furthermore, we’re getting a lot of things done. And we’ve got to stay with it, and stay with it, and stay with it.

Now, how do we approach it? I’ve heard wonderful things today about what we need. Let me say to you, we need a systematic approach. I love a lot of these great pilot projects. I want to see a systematic approach that works for every kid across my state and across yours. Don’t just give me a pilot project that works.

I think there are two things that are essential to that: First of all, we really, as states, -- and certainly as a nation, but we do these things primarily as states as we do our schools -- we need to have an approach, I don’t want to say a system, that sounds like it’s government. Because I think a public/private partnership is the real key to this. But we need to have a systematic approach so all of our kids are going to get it and all of our kids are going to get quality.

Second, we need to root it in the local community. Now, that’s where the good things are. That’s where the churches are, and the synagogues, and the businesses, and the schools, and everything else. They are out there, the local communities. Lots of people who care and who are good at it. We’ve got to knit them together. We’ve got to have an approach to this thing and we’ve got to keep those local people able to do it. Invite them to do it. It’s got to be easy for them to do it. We’ve got to cut out that "turfism." We’ve got to cut out those kids who are falling through the gaps. The local people can do that.

So what we did was, we established a public/private partnership. We established what we call the North Carolina Partnership for Children; that’s the official name. We call it Smart Start. It is a 501(c)3. We have the state board, headed generally by top business leaders. We have all the right folks on there; we’ve got the parents on there and the business leaders and the church leaders and the social service leaders and the educators and the health folks and so on. They are all at the table.

Then we replicate that within each of our 100 counties. They are all at the table. We’ve cut out the turfism. These people never talked to each other before and now they’re working together and they’re sharing together.

What do they do? Three things: First of all, the first thing they do -- they have to do this before they get the money -- they’ve got to do a survey. What are the needs for our children? Second, what are the resources we have to meet those needs? Third, what do we need to do now? What should our approach be in our county? All of these people now are planning and working on this together.

So that’s sort of the approach that we -- by the way, as they have made their own individual plans, Mrs. Clinton, they have varied. In one county, Stanley County near Charlotte, they decided that if a parent wanted to stay home the first year, they’d give them a modest amount of money for diapers and formula and so forth, a thousand or $1500. That isn’t much money. A lot of parents decided to stay home that first year. I think it’s a great idea. Some of the others criticized it. Hey, they want to do it and it’s working for them. We ought to give people the flexibility to come up with better ideas like that.

The third thing I want to say to you is that business is just crucial to this. Business folks can get a lot of things done that we, in government, can’t get done. So we need their leadership, we need to get chambers of commerce to endorse this if they will, and we need to get business folks to co-chair or chair these boards.

The fourth thing I want to say to you is something about the goals. Every kid who needs something better needs to get it and it’s got to have real quality. The danger is that we have them somewhere but they aren’t getting what they need, for their brains, for their hearts -- for all of this that you all have talked about and that you know so well.

Now, let me tell you how I think you think about this. We wouldn’t think about school starting in the fall and 10 or 20 percent of our kids couldn’t get a good public education, would we? And yet that’s exactly what’s happening with kids zero to five. And that is morally wrong. And we’ve got to change it. So we’ve got to have a systematic approach that enables us to do that. That quality care, of course, requires all kinds of dollars and it means we’ve got to focus on the teachers.

We have an effort in our state, a scholarship program called T.E.A.C.H. -- that means Teacher Education and Compensation Helps -- we’ve had 5,000 people go through it and get this training. And their employer has to agree that when you come back -- I mean when you finish it -- they probably continue to work and they get this as they do it -- you get at least a 10 percent increase in your wages, and for most of them it’s a lot more than that.

And of course, we had that great turnover. We had people low paid and they still are in a large measure. But we’re really changing it and that’s the kind of thing -- and I’m thrilled to hear your announcement today about that, Mr. President.

Now, let me say to you that a lot of states are doing great things. The NGA has made this a major focus. Rob Reiner has spoken to the last two National Governors Conferences. That tells you how focused they are. Governor Voinovich has an NGA children’s task force. And we’ve got efforts in places like Indiana, New Jersey, and Colorado focusing on coordinated efforts, and quality enhancement in Vermont and Illinois. Business leaderships in Florida and other places. So governors are really beginning to do this and it is the big new thing that’s coming along that they are focusing on.

I want to say one final thing. Mr. President, we need you to use that "bully pulpit" that you use better than any person who has ever served here, on this issue every time you can.

Second, we need a lot more dollars, and I’ll take them anywhere I can get them.

And third, Mrs. Clinton, we need you to visit America more. We want you to come to sites. We want you to look at systems. We want you to interact with all these folks, including business folks. We want you to be out at state conferences. We need to have a lot more of those in states around the country. And we need you to talk about the community that it takes to raise a child. You have more credibility on it than any person in this country. You’re right, and the American people know it.

Hawaii Helps Families Afford Quality Child Care

One of the key issues in child care is affordability. Two tools used by states to make child care affordable to low-income families and to provide services to as many families as possible are payment rates and the sliding fee scale.

Under the new Child Care and Development Fund, additional resources were available for child care subsidies. In Hawaii, the Lead Agency started to look at what type of care families were able to purchase, and realized that changes were needed both in the reimbursement rates paid to providers and in the sliding fee scale.

Before the system was reviewed, families below poverty had no co-payment. Families between 100 and 150 percent of poverty paid ten percent of the cost of care, and families with incomes between 150 percent and 200 percent of poverty paid 20 percent of the cost of care. This reflected the state’s desire to make child care available to the poorest families while still assisting families with incomes slightly higher than the state median income. This view continued to guide the development of the new system.

One of the first decisions made by the Lead Agency was that they would not be able to raise rates up to the 75th percentile of market rate (about $419 per month) and still serve the families needing care. There was, however, a definite need to raise the rate as families were not always able to purchase the care of their choice. As a result, the maximum rate was raised by $25 to $350 per month. To encourage families to purchase licensed care, the maximum reimbursement rate for license-exempt care was lowered by $25 to $300 per month.

At the same time, the entire sliding fee scale was revised. Families below poverty continue to have no co-payment. Families with incomes between 100 and 150 percent of poverty pay $1 per month, while the maximum co-payment for families with incomes up to 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level is ten percent of the cost of care. In addition to their co-payment, families that participate in the subsidy system are responsible for any amount above the maximum reimbursement rate charged by the provider.

These changes are one piece of a comprehensive system of care and education for all families, that includes Preschool Open Doors, the state-funded prekindergarten program, and Head Start. Together, the programs serve 6,000 children, a four-fold increase from previous years. With the higher reimbursement rate in effect, families have access to more facilities. Families have more money available to them each month, which furthers the state welfare reform goals of helping families to remain off welfare and maintain self-sufficiency. With the comprehensive system of care that is now in place, quality child care programs are more affordable for low-income families.

For additional information, contact Garry Kemp, Assistant Administrator, Hawaii Department of Human Services, Self-Sufficiency and Support Services Division, Child Care Program Office, at (808) 586-7050.

National Study of Low-Income Child Care

A new project is underway to study the low-income child care market in 25 communities, with a sub-study to examine the license-exempt family care market. Abt Associates will conduct the study, which will examine how significant shifts in welfare policy affect the child care market for welfare recipients and the working poor at the community level. It will study the impact that subsidies have on the types, amounts, and quality of child care available, child care placements, and families’ decision making processes.

The study will address a broad range of child care research questions, including the areas of regulatory and monitoring policy; quality, support and coordination efforts; subsidy policies and practices; community involvement in child care and local-level issues; and the role of license-exempt family care in helping families manage the competing demands of child care and work.

For more information, contact Fred Glantz, Abt Associates, at: (617) 349-2810, or Richard Jakopic, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, (202) 205-5930.

Child Care Resources

The Child Care Challenge: States Leading the Way
Prepared by J. Sciamanna and E. Lahr-Vivaz for the American Public Welfare Association (APWA)

A child care status survey, August 1997, shows that states are moving to establish innovative, quality child care programs as they aim to move welfare recipients off assistance and into work. A chart provides a state-by-state breakdown of the information. (Free publication, available from American Public Welfare Association (APWA), 810 First Street, NE, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20002-4267, or call: (202) 682-0100 or fax: (202) 289-6555, or send e-mail to: dwilliams@apwa.org)

Welfare Reform: Implications of Increased Work Participation for Child Care
U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO)

This report seeks to analyze the impact of welfare reform on the need for child care in four communities by estimating the current demand for child care in family child care homes and centers, estimating the future demand for care under the federal welfare law, and determining the extent to which the current supply of child care programs will be able to meet the increased demand as people move from welfare to work. (Available by ordering Report #GAO/HEHS-97-75 from U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) P.O. Box 6015 Gaithersburg, MD 20884-6015, or call (202) 512-6000, or fax: (301) 258-4066. The document can also be accessed through the NCCIC web site at: http://nccic.org/ under the section for Child Care Research).

Map and Track: State Initiatives to Encourage Responsible Fatherhood
J. Knitzer and S. Page with E. Brenner and V. Gadsden

Prepared in collaboration with the Council of Governors’ Policy Advisors and the National Center on Fathers and Families, this is the second report in the "Map and Track" series from the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP). The report tracks national and state demographic trends on father absence and single-father families. It also maps on a state-by state basis the level of state activity to promote responsible fatherhood, from both an economic and nurturing perspective. (Available for $19.95. Make checks payable to Columbia University and mail to: NCCP, 154 Haven Avenue, New York, NY 10032, or fax a purchase order to: (212) 544-4200, or send e-mail to: nccp@columbia.edu)

The Regulatory Status of Center-Based Infant and Toddler Child Care
K. Taaffe Young, K. White Marsland, and E. Zigler

A report published in the October 1997 issue of the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry rates the quality of state regulations governing center-based child care for infants and toddlers. The report evaluates regulations with regard to three key dimensions of quality: grouping -- staff/child ratio and group size; caregiver qualifications -- education and training; and program -- facilities, equipment, and approach to children. (For reprints of the report contact Kathryn Taaffe Young, Ph.D., The Commonwealth Fund, One East 75th Street, New York, NY 10021-2692).

State Developments in Child Care and Early Education - 1997
Helen Blank and Gina Adams

One of a series of reports by the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) concerning state policies and practices in child care and early education. Included is information on the broad range of child care and early education issues that states addressed in 1997, including: state decisions regarding child care funding, child care assistance, changes in subsidy policies, actions related to quality and supply, changes in child care administration and efforts to create unified policies, Head Start and prekindergarten initiatives, along with other new ideas and developments in areas such as quality investments, licensing activities, and school-age care. (Available from the Children’s Defense Fund, 25 E Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001, or call CDF Publications at: (202) 662-3652, fax: (202) 628-8333). Visit the CDF web site at: http://www.childrensdefense.org/

NOTE: There may be publications on this page that are available as PDF (portable document format) files. To be able to read these files, download the free Adobe Reader.

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Page Updated: March 23, 2007

Child Care Block Grant Increase:	$7.5 billion over five years
Child and Dependent Tax Credit Reform:	$5.2 billion over five years
Tax Credit for Businesses:	$500 million over five years
After-School Program:	$800 million over five years
Early Learning Fund:	$3 billion over five years
Head Start Increase:	$3.8 billion over five years
Standards Enforcement Fund:	$500 million over five years
Child Care Provider Scholarship Fund:	$250 million over five years
Research and Evaluation Fund:	$150 million over five years

Contents

West Virginia: Apprenticeship Program Expands

President Clinton Announces Child Care Initiatives White House Fact Sheet ACF Office of Public Affairs - January 7, 1998

States Work to Expand Services for Infant and Toddler Care

States Emphasize Training and Technical Assistance

West Virginia: Apprenticeship Program Expands

States Utilize Rate Differentials for Reimbursement

Child Care and the Economy Remarks by Secretary Robert Rubin, Treasury White House Conference on Child Care

Child Care and the Community Remarks by Governor James Hunt, North Carolina White House Conference on Child Care

Hawaii Helps Families Afford Quality Child Care

National Study of Low-Income Child Care

Child Care Resources

President Clinton Announces Child Care Initiatives
White House Fact Sheet
ACF Office of Public Affairs - January 7, 1998

Child Care and the Economy
Remarks by Secretary Robert Rubin, Treasury
White House Conference on Child Care

Child Care and the Community
Remarks by Governor James Hunt, North Carolina
White House Conference on Child Care