4.5 Supply Building

Building a supply of high-quality child care that meets the needs and preferences of parents participating in CCDF is necessary to meet CCDF’s core purposes. Lead Agencies must support parent choice by providing some portion of direct services via grants or contracts, including at a minimum for children in underserved geographic areas, infants and toddlers, and children with disabilities. 4.5.1 Child care services available through grants or contracts Does the Lead Agency provide direct child care services through grants or contracts for child care slots? [x] Yes, statewide. Describe how the Lead Agency ensures that parents who enroll with a provider who has a grant or contract have choices when selecting a provider: Grants for child care slots are available for infant and toddler care and school-age care for children with disabilities. Families of children with disabilities will have a choice to enroll in a grant- funded Access to Quality Child Care for Children with Disabilities program or access child care through any Level I or Level II child care provider or an in-home provider through a subsidy voucher. [ ] Yes, in some jurisdictions, but not statewide. Describe how many jurisdictions use grants or contracts for child care slots and how the Lead Agency ensures that parents who enroll with a provider who has a grant or contract have choices when selecting a provider: [ ] No. If no, describe any Lead Agency plans to provide direct child care services through grants and contracts for child care slots: If no, skip to question 4.5.2. i. If yes, identify the populations of children served through grants or contracts for child care slots (check all that apply). For each population selected, identify the number of slots allocated through grants or contracts for direct service of children receiving CCDF. [x] Children with disabilities. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: OSSE’s Access to Quality Child Care for Children with Disabilities grant program for direct child care slots for infants and toddlers and school-age children with disabilities will enroll children beginning in FY25. OSSE anticipates serving up to 175 infants, toddlers, and school-age children. Since the grants have not been awarded yet, OSSE does not know the precise number of children or how the number of slots will be allocated across age groups. Grantees must be child subsidy providers and the dedicated slots will be used for subsidy-eligible children. The cost-per child included in grant awards will provide higher subsidy payment rates for contracted slots as compared to OSSE’s subsidy payment rate for children with special needs accessing vouchers. In FY25, OSSE will use local subsidy funding for these grants. [x] Infants and toddlers. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: OSSE’s Access to Quality Child Care for Children with Disabilities grant program for direct child care slots for infants and toddlers and school-age children with disabilities will enroll children beginning in FY25. OSSE anticipates serving up to 175 infants, toddlers, and school-age children. Since the grants have not been awarded yet, OSSE does not know the precise number of infants and toddlers that will be served through these direct slots. Grantees must be child subsidy providers and the dedicated slots will be used for subsidy-eligible children. The cost-per child included in grant awards will provide higher subsidy payment rates for contracted slots as compared to OSSE’s subsidy payment rate for children with special needs accessing vouchers. In FY25, OSSE will use local subsidy funding for these grants. [x] Children in underserved geographic areas. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: The District is one geographic area; however, the District monitors child care supply and access across all eight wards of the city and prioritizes investments that support children, families and child care providers furthest from opportunity. OSSE’s Access to Quality Child Care for Children with Disabilities grant program for direct child care slots for infants and toddlers and school-age children with disabilities will enroll children beginning in FY25. The contracted slots will be awarded on a competitive basis and OSSE will take indicators of geographic need into account in awarding grants in order to ensure that children in underserved geographic areas of the District benefit from direct child care slots. [ ] Children needing non-traditional hour care. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: [x] School-age children. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: OSSE’s Access to Quality Child Care for Children with Disabilities grant program for direct child care slots for infants and toddlers and school-age children with disabilities will enroll children beginning in FY25. OSSE anticipates serving up to 175 infants, toddlers, and school-age children. [ ] Children experiencing homelessness. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: [ ] Children in urban areas. Percent of CCDF children served in an average month: [ ] Children in rural areas. Percent of CCDF children served in an average month: [ ] Other populations. If checked, describe: ii. If yes, how are rates for slots funded by grants and contracts determined by the Lead Agency? Applicants respond to a Request For Application (RFA) and submit a detailed proposed grant budget, including one-time capacity-building costs, ongoing costs related to capacity-building and service delivery, and the anticipated cost per slot. 4.5.2 Care in the child’s home (in-home care) The Lead Agency must allow for in-home care (i.e., care provided in the child’s own home) but may limit its use. Will the Lead Agency limit the use of in-home care in any way? [x] Yes. [ ] No. If yes, what limits will the Lead Agency set on the use of in-home care? Check all that apply. i. [ ] Restricted based on the minimum number of children in the care of the in- home provider to meet the Fair Labor Standards Act (minimum wage) requirements. Describe: ii. [x] Restricted based on the in-home provider meeting a minimum age requirement. Describe: Providers are required to be at least 21 years of age. iii. [ ] Restricted based on the hours of care (i.e., certain number of hours, non- traditional work hours). Describe: iv. [ ] Restricted to care by relatives. (A relative provider must be at least 18 years of age based on the definition of eligible child care provider.) Describe: v. [ ] Restricted to care for children with special needs or a medical condition. Describe: vi. [ ] Restricted to in-home providers that meet additional health and safety requirements beyond those required by CCDF. Describe: vii. [ ] Other. Describe: 4.5.3 Shortages in the supply of child care Lead Agencies must identify shortages in the supply of child care providers that meet parents’ needs and preferences. What child care shortages has the Lead Agency identified in the State or Territory, and what is the plan to address the child care shortages? a. In infant and toddler programs: i. Data sources used to identify shortages: OSSE tracks the supply of quality infant- toddler care through regular monitoring of overall licensed capacity, as well as monitoring of quality designations of child care providers participating in the District’s QRIS. Together, these data points provide information on the availability and shortages of quality infant and toddler care. While the supply of quality infant and toddler care in the District continues to fall below estimated demand, the number of licensed slots for infants and toddlers has increased by more than 1,700 slots since before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In addition to OSSE’s data on licensed capacity and quality designations, external partners provide additional data on child care supply and shortages. OSSE has a Child Care Policy Research Partnership with the Urban Institute, through which the Urban Institute has tracked changes in supply during and since the COVID-19 pandemic. The Urban Institute’s research highlights that as of September 2022, the overall supply of DC’s center-based child care had returned to and surpassed pre-pandemic levels. OSSE also contracted with the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) to assess the landscape of child development facilities in the District. This analysis included projections of child care supply and demand using data on child care facilities’ licensed capacity and US Census data for children under the age of 6 and families with all available parents. LIIF found that projected demand for child care by DC residents decreased overall by 1.3 percent from 2017 through 2023, while supply increased by 7.7 percent across all age groups, with 54 percent of new slots available for infants and toddlers. Despite the increase in supply, however, estimated infant and toddler supply falls short of projected demand in seven out of eight DC wards, and District-wide is sufficient to meet only 66.8 percent of projected resident demand. These findings are similar to those of a separate report published by the Bainum Family Foundation and the Reinvestment Fund in 2024 using a slightly different methodology. ￿Assessing Child Care Access: Measuring Supply, Demand, Quality, and Shortages in the District of Columbia￿ estimated supply of and potential demand for early learning slots by child age (e.g., infant/toddler and pre-K), program quality, and neighborhood in the District of Columbia and found that, although the number of infant and toddler slots in the District has increased 48 percent since 2018 there are still only enough seats to serve 41 percent of the total infants and toddlers in the District. (The major difference between the LIIF analysis and Bainum/Reinvestment Fund analysis is that LIIF used as its starting point for demand the numbers of children under age 6 with all available parents in the workforce, and Bainum/Reinvestment used total population numbers.) Findings from these analyses help OSSE better understand supply and demand and target investments in infant and toddler supply by geography. ii. Method of tracking progress: OSSE tracks the number of child care slots licensed for infants and toddlers available in child development facilities and the number of slots in facilities with Quality and High-quality designations. iii. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using family child care homes Updates to the District’s child care licensing regulations in FY24 and FY25 are intended to support long-term supply building of quality child care and include specific changes to reduce the burden for child development homes. OSSE also collaborates with the District’s Department of Buildings (DOB) and Fire and Emergency Medical Service Department (FEMS) on issues related to permitting and fire safety requirements and inspection of child development facilities. OSSE is also working with these partners to understand and address factors outside the licensing process that may present barriers to the operation of child development homes. Technical assistance partners provide support to child development homes to examine their current business models and structures to identify where infant-toddler slot expansion and/or conversion is possible. When updating subsidy reimbursement rates in FY24, OSSE prioritized increasing rates to homes, in recognition that serving higher numbers of infants and toddlers requires homes to add additional staff, which increases the costs to deliver care. iv. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using child care centers? Infant-toddler slots are tracked and reported quarterly. Updates to the District’s child care licensing regulations in FY24 and FY25 are intended to support long- term supply building of quality child care. OSSE also collaborates with the District’s DOB and FEMS on issues related to permitting and fire safety requirements and inspection of child development facilities, and is working with these partners to understand and address factors outside the licensing process that may present barriers to creation of infant-toddler slots or conversion of center-based slots for older children to infant and toddler slots. Technical assistance partners provide support to child development centers to examine their current business models and structures to identify where infant-toddler slot expansion and/or conversion is possible. When updating subsidy reimbursement rates, OSSE prioritizes increases in rates for infants and toddlers in center-based care, which cost modeling analysis shows still fall short of the projected cost to deliver care for infants. b. In different regions of the State or Territory: i. Data sources used to identify shortages: OSSE tracks licensed capacity across the District’s eight wards. Reports from partners, including the Urban Institute, Bainum Family Foundation/Reinvestment Fund and LIIF also provide insight on supply across the District’s wards. ii. Method of tracking progress: OSSE tracks the number of child development facilities and child care slots available in each ward, as well as Capital Quality designations for facilities across wards. iii. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using family child care homes? Updates to the District’s child care licensing regulations in FY24 and FY25 are intended to support long-term supply building of quality child care and include specific changes to reduce the burden for child development homes. OSSE also collaborates with the District’s DOB and FEMS on issues related to permitting and fire safety requirements and inspection of child development facilities, and is working with these partners to understand and address factors outside the licensing process that may present barriers to operation of child development homes. Technical assistance partners provide support to child development homes to examine their current business models and structures to identify where infant-toddler slot expansion and/or conversion is possible. When updating subsidy reimbursement rates in FY24, OSSE prioritized increasing rates to homes, in recognition that serving higher numbers of infants and toddlers requires homes to add additional staff, which increases the costs to deliver care. iv. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using child care centers? Infant-toddler slots are tracked and reported quarterly. Updates to the District’s child care licensing regulations in FY24 and FY25 are intended to support long- term supply building of quality child care. OSSE also collaborates with the District’s DOB and FEMS on issues related to permitting and fire safety requirements and inspection of child development facilities, and is working with these partners to understand and address factors outside the licensing process that may present barriers to creation of infant-toddler slots or conversion of center-based slots for older children to infant and toddler slots. Technical assistance partners provide support to child development homes to examine their current business models and structures to identify where infant-toddler seat expansion and/or conversion is possible. When updating subsidy reimbursement rates, OSSE prioritizes increases in rates for infants and toddlers in center-based care, which cost modeling analysis shows still fall short of the projected cost to deliver care for infants. c. In care for special populations: i. Data sources used to identify shortages: With respect to special populations, OSSE has data on the number of children who qualify for child care subsidies under the various ￿vulnerable children￿ population categories, which provides information on access to child care through child care subsidies for various populations. In addition, DC CCC, the CCR&R, tracks requests for child care by population and/or service need, which also informs OSSE’s understanding of child care shortages for specific populations, particularly children with disabilities. Communication with DC CCC and other District agencies, such as the District’s Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) and local education agencies (LEAs), provides information on populations that need support in accessing care. ii. Method of tracking progress: OSSE tracks progress related to meeting child care referral requests, as well as children determined eligible for subsidies through the vulnerable children categories. iii. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using family child care homes? Updates to the District’s child care licensing regulations in FY24 and FY25 are intended to support long-term supply building of quality child care. Information from tracking progress on supply shortages may also inform the adoption of additional strategies going forward. In addition, OSSE is launching a new child care grant program to increase the supply of dedicated slots for infants, toddlers, and school-age children with disabilities. Although child care homes cannot apply directly for grants on their own, a collaborative that includes licensed child development homes may apply for a grant to increase supply of dedicated child care slots for children with disabilities in child care homes. iv. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using child care centers? Updates to the District’s child care licensing regulations in FY24 and FY25 are intended to support long-term supply building of quality child care. In addition, OSSE is launching a new child care grant program to provide dedicated slots for infants, toddlers, and school-age children with disabilities. This grant program will increase the supply of dedicated slots for children with disabilities and provide insight to OSSE on the effectiveness of the overall strategy of using grant funds in this way to meet the needs of special populations, which could be replicated for additional populations. Information from tracking progress on supply shortages may also inform the adoption of additional strategies going forward. 4.5.4 Strategies to increase the supply of and improve quality of child care Lead Agencies must develop and implement strategies to increase the supply of and improve the quality of child care services. These strategies must address child care in underserved geographic areas; infants and toddlers; children with disabilities, as defined by the Lead Agency; and children who receive care during non-traditional hours. How does the Lead Agency identify any gaps in the supply and quality of child care services and what strategies are used to address those gaps for: a. Underserved geographic areas. Describe: The District is one geographic area; however, the District monitors child care supply and access across all eight wards of the city and prioritizes investments that support children, families and child care providers furthest from opportunity. OSSE’s Access to Quality Child Care for Children with Disabilities grant program for direct child care slots for infants and toddlers and school-age children with disabilities will enroll children beginning in FY25. The contracted slots will be awarded on a competitive basis and OSSE will take indicators of geographic need into account in awarding grants in order to ensure that children in underserved geographic areas of the District benefit from direct child care slots. b. Infants and toddlers. Describe: The District uses data on licensed capacity and quality designations to identify gaps in the supply and quality of child care services. Strategies to increase the supply and quality of infant-toddler care include improvements to the District’s child care licensing regulations to support long-term supply building of quality infant and toddler programs, prioritizing infant-toddler rates for subsidy rate increases, and business technical assistance to support providers in expanding infant-toddler slots, where possible. Finally, the District leverages its Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships (EHS-CCP) grant to support the QIN, which is a strategy to build capacity, increase access, and enhance the quality of care for infants and toddlers. The QIN operates through a hub model to support a network of 30 child development facilities, including centers and homes, in the implementation of Early Head Start. c. Children with disabilities. Describe: Data from DC CCC, as well as communication and collaboration with other agencies, including LEAs and the District’s CFSA, around serving and supporting children with disabilities and their families, have underscored the need for additional, accessible, and affordable child care options for children with a wide range of disabilities￿particularly those with intensive health, behavioral, or other support needs. OSSE created a new grant program in FY24 to fund up to 175 dedicated slots for child care for infants and toddlers and school-age children with disabilities. These grants will provide funding to child development facilities to support the full cost for programs to create and operate, on an ongoing basis, a fixed number of slots for children with disabilities, in the context of an inclusive program, in order to: (1) build the capacity of child development facilities to serve children with disabilities; (2) increase the number of slots available for children with the most intensive needs; and (3) ensure that slots are available for families who most need them. Families who are in need of services will have the opportunity to work with OSSE, DC CCC, and other District agencies to identify and select the provider that best fits their needs. Strong Start, the District’s early intervention program, works to build capacity of child development facilities and early educators to serve children with disabilities and their families by offering training and workshops for child development facility staff on infant- toddler development and milestones, inclusive services, developmentally appropriate practices, and Strong Start’s use of the Natural Learning Environment Practices (NLEP) framework model for early intervention services. d. Children who receive care during non-traditional hours. Describe: OSSE tracks data on the number of children receiving subsidies for child care during non-traditional hours, as well as the number of child care subsidy providers who receive the ￿non-traditional￿ subsidy payment rate. Research from partners, including the Urban Institute, provides additional data on gaps in the supply of non-traditional hour care. OSSE continues to analyze how to address the need for non-traditional hour care. One strategy OSSE is undertaking is reviewing subsidy policies and systems to determine whether it’s feasible for children receiving a subsidy to use more than one provider (for different hours of care), which would help families that work non-traditional hours and may need multiple child care providers. Additionally, OSSE removed a requirement for in- home care to only be used as a last resort, after an applicant had attempted to enroll the child(ren) at three different licensed child development facilities. This will better allow subsidies to be used for in-home care, which the Urban Institute’s research found as a preferred type of care for some families in need of care during non-traditional hours. e. Other. Specify what population is being focused on to increase supply or improve quality. Describe: 4.5.5 Prioritization of investments in areas of concentrated poverty and unemployment Lead Agencies must prioritize investments for increasing access to high-quality child care and development services for children of families in areas that have significant concentrations of poverty and unemployment and do not currently have sufficient numbers of such programs. Describe how the Lead Agency prioritizes increasing access to high-quality child care and development services for children of families in areas that have significant concentrations of poverty and unemployment and that do not have access to high-quality programs. The District has a number of strategies to prioritize investments in increasing access to high-quality child care for children in families in areas that have significant concentrations of poverty and unemployment and do not have access to high-quality programs. Poverty rates for children are highest in wards 5, 7, and 8. District neighborhoods that are furthest from opportunity also have the highest number of children enrolled in subsidies and the highest rate of facility participation in the program, meaning that strategies that target families receiving subsidies and providers participating in the Child Care Subsidy Program impact children in families in areas with concentrations of poverty. OSSE’s efforts to improve and streamline the child care subsidy eligibility process and increase provider payment rates over time are examples of subsidy program improvements that disproportionately support children and families in area with significant concentrations of poverty and unemployment. OSSE also considers indicators of need in grant funding opportunities, and targets funding opportunities for undeserved communities, such as OSSE’s Quality Improvement Network (QIN). 5 Health and Safety of Child Care Settings Child care health and safety standards and enforcement practices are essential to protect the health and safety of children while out of their parents’ care. CCDF provides a minimum threshold for child care health and safety policies and practices but leaves authority to Lead Agencies to design standards that appropriately protect children’s safety and promote nurturing environments that support their healthy growth and development. Lead Agencies should set standards for ratios, group size limits, and provider qualifications that help ensure that the child care environment is conducive to safety and learning and enable caregivers to promote all domains of children’s development. CCDF health and safety standards help set clear expectations for CCDF providers, form the foundation for health and safety training for child care workers, and establish the baseline for monitoring to ensure compliance with health and safety requirements. These health and safety requirements apply to all providers serving children receiving CCDF services – whether the providers are licensed or license-exempt, must be appropriate to the provider setting and age of the children served, must include specific topics and training on those topics, and are subject to monitoring and enforcement procedures by the Lead Agency. CCDF-required annual monitoring and enforcement actions help ensure that CCDF providers are adopting and implementing health and safety requirements. Through child care licensing, Lead Agencies set minimum requirements, including health and safety requirements, that child care providers must meet to legally operate in that State or Territory. In some cases, CCDF health and safety requirements may be integrated within the licensing system for licensed providers and may be separate for CCDF providers who are license- exempt. This section addresses CCDF health and safety requirements, Lead Agency licensing requirements and exemptions, and comprehensive background checks. When responding to questions in this section, OCC recognizes that each Lead Agency identifies and defines its own categories of care. OCC does not expect Lead Agencies to change their definitions to fit the CCDF-defined categories of care. For these questions, provide responses that best match the CCDF categories of care.