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? [ ] 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: [ ] 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: [x] No. If no, describe any Lead Agency plans to provide direct child care services through grants and contracts for child care slots: The Department of Human Services is the lead agency for TANF and through TANF the department has a contracted service with the Hawaii Department of Education to operate afterschool care programs at nearly 180 (this number varies by school year) public elementary school campuses statewide, including rural and underserved geographic areas. Parent(s) also have the option to select other child care providers through the child care certificates if they prefer. Future plans include a pilot proposal for creating subsidized slots for infant and toddler care as the Department of Human Services is currently receiving technical assistance from the Office of Child Care. 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. [ ] Children with disabilities. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: [ ] Infants and toddlers. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: [ ] Children in underserved geographic areas. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: [ ] Children needing non-traditional hour care. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: [ ] School-age children. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: [ ] 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? 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: The provider must be at least 18 years old 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: Information from Hawaii’s Preschool Development Grant through Five (PDG B-5); and Hawaii’s P20 (Partnerships for Education) which links cross-agency information from infancy, early learning, K-12, and postsecondary education. ii. Method of tracking progress: P20W State Longitudinal Data System (SLDS), State’s cross-section reports, Early Childhood through Workforce State Longitudinal Data System. iii. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using family child care homes The Department of Human Services contracts with the University of Hawaii system, Learning to Grow project to broaden the scope of services to address infant and toddler shortages and contracts with People Attentive to Children (PATCH) to provide family child care home recruiter services. iv. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using child care centers? The Department of Human Services is currently receiving technical assistance from the Office of Child Care regarding a pilot proposal for creating subsidized slots for infant and toddler care. While the Department develops the scope of services for Hawaii’s Child Care Classroom Contracts Pilot, Hawaii’s P20 Early Care & Education Pilot Program (CECEP) offers an opportunity to increase supply of infant and toddler care, provide higher payments to providers who meet quality standards, provide higher compensation to the workforce, and pay the full cost of care to enable families to access the quality of care they need to work and ensure their children are safe and supported. The Department plans to learn from best practices from the CECEP to accomplish serving families through grants and contracts. b. In different regions of the State or Territory: i. Data sources used to identify shortages: Market Rate Survey. Plans to collect information from the Dept of Education and State Public Charter School Commission on children's preschool experiences prior to admission into Dept of Education and State Public Charter School Commission Kindergarten grade level to inform the Department of possible shortages of child care centers in geographic regions. ii. Method of tracking progress: Annual survey and quarterly reports from contracted services for Child Care Resource & Referral program. iii. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using family child care homes? Address child care deserts and shortages when developing the pilot proposal for subsidized slots for infant and toddler care. Review and analyze data from annual survey and quarterly reports to address additional child care needs. Continue to work with Parents Attentive to Children Family Child Care Home Recruiter services to improve on the number of family child care home providers. Partner with the City & County Department of Honolulu to support their efforts to sustain the number of family child care homes in the Honolulu County. Plan with the other county departments statewide to support their efforts to sustain the number of family child care homes. iv. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using child care centers? Address child care deserts and shortages when developing the pilot proposal for subsidized slots for infant and toddler care. Review and analyze data from annual survey and quarterly reports to address additional child care needs. Partner with the City & County Department of Honolulu to support their efforts to expand the number of child care centers in the Honolulu County. Plan with the other county departments statewide to support their efforts to expand the number of child care centers. c. In care for special populations: i. Data sources used to identify shortages: N/A ii. Method of tracking progress: No current method iii. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using family child care homes? Review protected services as an option to support families identified as special populations. iv. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using child care centers? Review protected services as an option to support families identified as a special population. 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 Department of Human Services (DHS) contracts for services to recruit and train individuals interested in becoming registered family child care home providers to increase both the supply and quality of child care options in rural and underserved communities. DHS contracts with the Department of Education (DOE) as a strategy to increase the supply of child care options. The DOE operates the after-school care programs directly or contracts with private providers to operate the after-school care programs at nearly 180 (this number varies by school year) public elementary and charter school campuses statewide, including those in underserved areas. DHS contracts for services with the statewide Child Care Resource and Referral (CC R&R) agency. The statewide CC R&R agency promotes coordination among early childhood partners and programs while identifying and focusing on making child care and child care resources more accessible to underserved families and children. The statewide CC R&R agency provides outreach to rural areas on child care resources and assistance. Additionally, CC R&R collaborates with both public and private community partners on child care resources including: Parents and Children Together, Honolulu Community Action Program, Maui Economic Opportunity, Aloha United Way, Head Start, Easter Seals, Kamehameha Schools, Hawaii Department of Education, Hawaii Department of Health, and the University of Hawaii system. Additionally, DHS will be executing a contract with the Hawaii Association for the Education of Young Children (HIAEYC) to assist with accreditation support services for early childhood programs. DHS utilizes data sources as a tool to assist with identifying the gaps in the supply and quality of child care services. Information from Hawaii's Preschool Development Grant through Five (PDG B-5); and Hawaii's P20 (Partnerships for Education) which links cross agency information from infancy, early learning, K-12 and post secondary education. Data tools to track progress include the P20W State Longitudinal Data System (SLDS), State's cross-section reports, Early Childhood through Workforce State Longitudinal Data System. Other data sources that assist in identification of gaps of supply is the Market Rate Survey. DHS plans to collect information from the Department of Education and State Public Charter School Commission on children's preschool experiences prior to admission into the Department of Education and State Public Charter School Commission Kindergarten grade level to inform DHS of possible shortages of child care centers in geographic regions. Annual surveys and quarterly reports from the contracted services for Child Care Resource and Referral program can also assist in identifying gaps in the supply and quality of child care services. DHS also attends meetings with county coordinators to hear about the support they need to be able to support providers in their community and collaborates with county coordinators and community stakeholders to provide resources. b. Infants and toddlers. Describe: The Department of Human Services has implemented the Infant Toddler staff qualification waiver guidelines workgroup. The workgroup consists of infant/toddler educators, community partners and infant/toddler center directors. As authorized by the Hawaii Administrative Rules chapter 17-895.1-92, Infant Toddler centers can submit a demonstration project proposal to waive caregiver requirements using the infant toddler guidelines as a tool. The demonstration project intent is to maintain and increase the supply of infant and toddler caregivers, resulting in an increase in infant and toddler child care capacity. The requirement of having a waived caregiver who is directly supervised by a qualified caregiving staff ensures that health and safety requirements are not compromised. DHS utilizes data sources as a tool to assist with identifying the gaps in the supply and quality of child care services. Information from Hawaii's Preschool Development Grant through Five (PDG B-5); and Hawaii's P20 (Partnerships for Education) which links cross agency information from infancy, early learning, K-12 and post secondary education. Data tools to track progress include the P20W State Longitudinal Data System (SLDS), State's cross-section reports, Early Childhood through Workforce State Longitudinal Data System. The Department of Human Services contracts with the University of Hawaii system, Learning to Grow project to broaden the scope of services to address infant and toddler shortages and contracts with People Attentive to Children (PATCH) to provide family child care home recruiter services. The Department of Human Services is currently receiving technical assistance from the Office of Child Care regarding a pilot proposal for creating subsidized slots for infant and toddler care. While the Department develops the scope of services for Hawaii’s Child Care Classroom Contracts Pilot, Hawaii’s P20 Early Care & Education Pilot Program (CECEP) offers an opportunity to increase supply of infant and toddler care, provide higher payments to providers who meet quality standards, provide higher compensation to the workforce, and pay the full cost of care to enable families to access the quality of care they need to work and ensure their children are safe and supported. The Department plans to learn from best practices from the CECEP to accomplish serving families through grants and contracts. In addition, DHS will also continue to review and analyze data from annual surveys and quarterly reports to identify additional child care needs. c. Children with disabilities. Describe: The Department of Human Services contracted services with the statewide Child Care Resource and Referral agency, People Attentive To Children which provides community resources and information about available professional development opportunities for licensed and registered providers caring for children with special needs. Contracted services with the agency that provides training for early childhood providers statewide also disseminates information about available professional development opportunities for licensed and registered providers caring for children with special needs and in the recruitment services provide technical assistance to individuals interested in becoming registered family child care home providers. The Department of Human Services child care licensing inspectors also provide technical assistance to licensed and registered child care providers during monitoring inspection visits or via telephone consultations. The Department of Human Services is a recent partner in the State Interagency Inclusion Team, (led by the Hawaii Department of Education with the technical support of the Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center) that is exploring strategies to promote and expand inclusion of children with special needs in all early childhood environments. d. Children who receive care during non-traditional hours. Describe: The Department of Human Services is currently working on policy amendments for the child care payment rates as referenced in Chapter 798.3, Hawaii Administrative Rules to address child care during non-traditional hours. The proposed Child Care Payment Administrative Rules address one (1) child care rate per type of care with a minimum of one-hour of care. The Department of Human Services contracts with People Attentive To Children (PATCH) for the Child Care Resource & Referral Program. PATCH conducts a needs assessment with families to identify and assist families in understanding available and appropriate care including non-traditional hours, respite care for children with disabilities and care for ill children. e. Other. Specify what population is being focused on to increase supply or improve quality. Describe: The Department of Human Services (DHS) contracts with the University of Hawaii Windward Community College Learning to Grow Project to provide NAFCC technical assistance support for registered family child care home providers to obtain if they are interested. DHS will also be implementing a technical assistance for accreditation support program for center-based providers who are interested in becoming NAEYC accredited. 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 Department of Human Services (DHS) coordinates with the (DHS) Homeless Program Office to ensure child care resources are being delivered to communities via resource fairs, contracted providers, and homeless shelters. Also, through the Department’s contracted statewide Child Care Resource & Referral agency, People Attentive to Children promotes coordination among early childhood partners and programs while identifying and focusing on making child care and child care resources more accessible to underserved families and children. 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.