Coordination with Partners to Expand Accessibility and Continuity of Care

Lead Agencies must coordinate child care services supported by CCDF with other federal,

State/Territory, and local level programs. This includes programs for the benefit of Indian

children, infants and toddlers, children with disabilities, children experiencing homelessness, and children in foster care.

8.1.1 Coordination with required and optional partners

Describe how the Lead Agency coordinates and the results of this coordination of the provision of child care services with the organizations and agencies to expand accessibility and continuity of care and to assist children enrolled in early childhood programs in receiving full-day services that meet the needs of working families.

The Lead Agency must coordinate with the following agencies:

a. State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care or similar coordinating body (pursuant to 642B(b)(I)(A)(i) of the Head Start Act). Describe the coordination and results of the coordination: The Illinois Early Learning Council (IELC) is the state advisory council and its goal is to strengthen, coordinate, and expand programs and services for children birth - five throughout the sState. The IELC has established committees and each committee sets goals to accomplish their work. As a result, the Early Learning Council provides recommendations for early childhood policy change and program improvement to the Illinois Governor's Office and state agencies involved in early childhood. The CCDF State Child Care Administrator serves on the IELC and the IELC Executive Council, which meets approximately every other month. CCDF Lead Agency staff participates in various IELC committees which conduct ongoing meetings between Executive Council Meetings. The Lead Agency works in partnership and coordination with ELC as thought partners to inform policy creation and amendments, and development and implementation of both Child Care Assistance Program and quality initiatives.

b. Indian Tribe(s) and/or Tribal organization(s), at the option of the Tribe or Tribal organization. Describe the coordination and results of the coordination, including which Tribe(s) was (were) involved: Illinois established its first tribe in the Spring of 2024 and will seek guidance from OCC on how best to start collaboration.

Not applicable. Check here if there are no Indian Tribes and/or Tribal organizations in the State/Territory.

c. State/Territory agency(ies) responsible for programs for children with disabilities, including early intervention programs authorized under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Describe the coordination and results of the coordination: The Lead Agency administers the Early Intervention program (Part C of IDEA) and the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) administers Part B of IDEA. These offices meet throughout the year to with the goal of coordinating efforts and resources for serving families with special needs children including how to best utilize funding funding and coordinate community-based organizations and programs. As a result, the two agencies are able to craft policies for children with special needs that are aligned and mutually supportive to create a more streamline system of services for families with children ages birth to five.

d. State/Territory office/director for Head Start State collaboration. Describe the coordination and results of the coordination: The Head Start State Collaboration office, housed with the Lead Agency, works to develop, facilitate and enhance partnerships at the federal, state and local levels. These partnerships work together to successfully ensure that comprehensive services are available to meet the needs of low-income families with young children. This includes early care and education, family support, health needs and community building. Collaboration work is done in partnership with internal and external stakeholders through a variety of methods: planning sessions, meetings, aligning systems, needs assessments, and reviewing/revising policy. The targeted result is to have an aligned early care and education system which will provide services for all children. As a result of the collaboration processes described above, Head Start considerations are more integrated into the policy decision-making of the Lead Agency through efforts such as data integration and analysis.

e. State/Territory agency responsible for public health, including the agency responsible for immunizations. Describe the coordination and results of the coordination: The Lead Agency works with the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services as needed due to current projects and with the goal of resolving both on-going issues and to address changes needed due to the CCDBG reauthorization, such as providing immunization grace periods in licensed child care programs for children experiencing homelessness. As a result of these content-based and project-based collaborations, the Lead Agency has been able to take holistically informed steps toward improving policies surrounding immunization grace periods, for instance, in order to meet federal requirements.

f. State/Territory agency responsible for employment services/workforce development. Describe the coordination and results of the coordination: The Lead Agency is responsible for employment services/workforce development for the TANF and SNAP participants. The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity is responsible for Workforce Investment & Opportunity Act (WIOA) programs. The lead agency coordinates with these agencies throughout the year with a goal of reducing barriers to employment for families receiving benefits. Enhance child care referrals and matching families with employment opportunities with contracted agencies are some of the methods used in this effort. The result of this coordination has been increased referral capacity and increased supports for families to access a broader array of social safety net services.

g. State/Territory agency responsible for public education, including pre-Kindergarten. Describe the coordination and results of the coordination: The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) is responsible for public education, including prekindergarten. The Lead Agency and ISBE work in coordination to implement use of the Illinois Early Learning Development Standards (IELDS) and the Illinois Early Learning Guidelines (IELG) in child care settings. Additionally, representatives from the Illinois State Board of Education are members of the Illinois Early Council and the Child Care Advisory Council and work collaboratively with the efforts of the councils and the Lead Agency to enhance the comprehensive early learning care system throughout the state. The result of this coordination is more cohesive implementation of the IELDS and IELG in child care settings, both community - and school-based.

h. State/Territory agency responsible for child care licensing. Describe the coordination and results of the coordination: The Lead Agency works in collaboration with Illinois Department of Children & Family Services (IDCFS) to maintain state health and safety licensing standards for provider types throughout the state. The Lead Agency participates as a member of the Child Day Care Licensing Advisory Council that meets throughout the year. Additionally, representation of IDCFS are on the Illinois Early Council and the Child Care Advisory Council that meets on and ongoing basis. Goals of this work include ensuring that Illinois Department of Children and Family Services' licensing regulations follow the new CCDBG regulations. Illinois Department of Children & Family Services is also contracted by the lead agency to coordinate all provider background checks, including those for providers that are exempt from licensing. The result of this coordination is compliance with CCDBG regulations and consistency across licensing and monitoring requirements for different types of child care providers.

i. State/Territory agency responsible for the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and other relevant nutrition programs. Describe the coordination and results of the coordination: The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) is responsible for the Child and Adult Care Food Program and works closely with the Lead Agency to include license-exempt child care providers serving CCDF children. The Lead Agency provides confirmation that home-based child care providers who are applying for the CACFP are currently receiving CCAP funding, which is an eligibility criterion for home providers. This is done on a continuous basis as providers apply for the CACFP. This coordination results in stronger compliance with CACFP eligibility criteria and greater access to CACFP funding for license-exempt child care providers.

j. McKinney-Vento State coordinators for homeless education and other agencies providing services for children experiencing homelessness and, to the extent practicable, local McKinney-Vento liaisons. Describe the coordination and results of the coordination: The Lead Agency coordinates with McKinney-Vento state coordinator (ISBE) on serving families experiencing homelessness. The McKinney-Vento state coordinator is a member of the Child Care Advisory Council with the goal of reducing barriers to child care services for children experiencing homelessness. The result of this coordination is greater representation of issues affecting children experiencing homelessness on the Lead Agency's advisory council, and greater expertise in council discussions regarding potential policy changes to better support children experiencing homelessness.

k. State/Territory agency responsible for Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Describe the coordination and results of State/Territory agency responsible for the TANF program. Describe the coordination and results of the coordination: The Lead Agency for CCDF is also the lead agency for TANF. The Child Care Assistance Program coordinates with TANF office as needed to ensure that information on clients that are participating in both programs is coordinated to ensure needed services are available and appropriate with the goal of family self-sufficiency. CCAP uses a substantial amount of TANF funding so many policies of the two programs are developed with coordination in mind, including setting a new exit income level for child care assistance based on TANF income guidelines to ensure TANF funding can still be used. As a result of this coordination, Lead Agency child care staff are better informed about TANF policies, and Lead Agency TANF staff are better informed about child care policies, which promotes improved service delivery and access to services for clients.

l. State/Territory agency responsible for Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Describe the coordination: The Lead Agency works closely with the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS), the Illinois agency responsible for administering Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Lead agency contractors work closely with the CHIP program, with many serving as application intake points within their communities. Co-training between the State's CHIP programs and CCAP have occurred in the past; this has resulting in ensuring that all contractors for both programs are aware of services that are available for the families that they serve.

m. State/Territory agency responsible for mental health services. Describe the coordination and results of the coordination: The Lead Agency is responsible for Mental Health services. The Lead Agency contracts with grantees to administer the Caregiver Connections Early Childhood Mental Health Consultants (ECMHC) provides technical assistance, training and consultation to child care providers related to the social/emotional development of children, birth to age five, in their care. The ECMH grantees work in coordination with the local Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies on an ongoing basis to support providers in program referrals, training, and consultation. The ECMH grantees participate in the CCR&R Systems meetings on a quarterly basis to ensure continued collaboration on coordination efforts. The Lead Agency receives monthly updates from the ECMH grantees and quarterly reports on results of coordination of services.

n. Child care resource and referral agencies, child care consumer education organizations, and providers of early childhood education training and professional development. Describe the coordination and results of the coordination: Contracted agencies (Child Care Resource and Referral agencies - CCR&R- as well as the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies -INCCRRA) are responsible for implementing CCAP and Quality programs for child care providers, parents and communities. This includes services such as: consumer education and child care referrals for parents; training and technical assistance for providers and grants for child care providers. The CCR&Rs are permanent and locally adaptable structures through which public and private groups can work together to enhance and improve the accessibility, quality, and availability of child care and coordinate diverse child care activities in each regional community in Illinois. The Lead Agency contracts with these entities to meet these goals, and as result, families are able to access information about child care in their areas and providers are able to access quality improvement training that supports their operations and services.

o. Statewide afterschool network or other coordinating entity for out-of-school time care (if applicable). Describe the coordination and results of the coordination: The Lead Agency contracts with the Illinois Afterschool Network (IAN) to offer professional development activities for child care practitioners who serve children kindergarten age through 13 years of age. These activities will include content of general school age interest and current best practice, comprehensive services for low-income families, program management, and collaboration topics and address health and safety topics. Professional development opportunities will be planned based on the result of an annual training needs assessment. During SFY21, IAN moved to virtual platform for the professional development opportunities. This resulted in an increased involvement. IAN intends to continue the virtual platform. The desired result is to increase the knowledge and leadership for the school age field.

p. Agency responsible for emergency management and response. Describe the coordination and results of the coordination: The Lead Agency coordinates with a variety of stakeholders to develop and implement the Child Care Statewide Emergency Preparedness Plan. Stakeholders include but are not limited to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, the Illinois Department of Public Health, the Illinois Department of Human Services, the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, local Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies, and American Red Cross and the Governor's Office of Early Childhood. The purpose of the taskforce is review and revise the statewide plan with the ultimate goal of ensuring the state and its citizens, including child care providers, are better prepared to deal with natural, manmade , and technological disasters, hazards, or acts of terrorism. The taskforce meets at least annually and is coordinated by Lead Agency staff. Training for child care practitioners on the Statewide plan is available through the i-learning portal site. The result of this coordinated approach to emergency management and response is a statewide plan that is responsive and feasible to implement as needed.

q. The following are examples of optional partners a Lead Agency might coordinate with to provide services. Check which optional partners the Lead Agency coordinates with and describe the coordination and results of the coordination.

i. State/Territory/local agencies with Early Head Start - Child Care Partnership grants . Describe: The following agencies are identified as having an Early Head Start - Child Care Partnership (EHS-CCP): City of Chicago, City of Rockford, CCR&R - Joliet, Educare West DuPage, Proviso Leyden CCA, YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, Champaign County Regional Planning Commission, Carole Robertson and SAL Family and Community Services. One of the Head Start State Collaboration Office (HSSCO) goals is to ensure the EHS-CCPs have quarterly Enrichment Circles or Communities of Practice (CoP) meetings for networking, professional development, and state updates, particularly Department of Human Services and Office of Head Start updates. The desired result for the CoPs is to have a well- informed, knowledgeable, engaged group of ECH-CCPs. The CoPs provide an opportunity for participants to share ideas, strategies and develop a common practice for the work they do. The HSSCO will work with the Illinois Head Start Association to plan and carry out these CoPs.

ii. State/Territory institutions for higher education, including community colleges. Describe : Several institutions of higher education, including community colleges, work very closely with the Professional Development Advisory Council (PDAC) through the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (INCCRRA), Lead Agency's contracted agency. The coordination of goals between PDAC and the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) is focused on projects to promote, support, and recognize professional preparation and training for all current and future and early care and education, school-age, and youth development practitioners. Existing ECE workforce deserves an opportunity to demonstrate knowledge and skills attained through assessment of prior learning that receives college credit and the goal is to design a state model that would articulate or transfer between/among institutions. Meetings with representatives from higher education institutions, IBHE and PDAC are taking place in order to facilitate cohesion among projects steps. The Lead Agency is supporting continued efforts by funding continued efforts for the prior learning assessment project in the state to support the Early Child

iii. Other federal, State, local, and/or private agencies providing early childhood and school-age/youth-serving developmental services. Describe:

iv. State/Territory agency responsible for implementing the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) programs grant. Describe:

The Lead Agency is responsible for implementing the Maternal and Child Home Visitation programs grant. HV programs connect families in the 0-3 population to community resources and programs like CCAP. This results in coordinated referrals between home visiting and childcare at the local level.

v. Agency responsible for Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment Program. Describe: One partner, The Department of Healthcare and Family Services, is responsible for Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment for children participating in the department''s Medical Assistance or All Kids Program (Assist, Share and Premium) which encourages families to receive preventive and comprehensive health services designed to provide early discovery and treatment of health problems for their children. Another partner is the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), who established procedures for EPSDT services to be consistent with those guidelines published by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) or the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) for HFS to follow as well. This partnership results in referrals to Lead Agency's early intervention program which in turn leads to early intervention service as early outcome which results in positive health and well being for families and their child/ren.

vi. State/Territory agency responsible for child welfare. Describe: The Illinois Department of Children & Family Services is the agency responsible for child welfare. The mission is to protect children who are reported to be abused or neglected and to increase their families' capacity to safely care for them; provide for the well-being of children in our care; provide appropriate, permanent families as quickly as possible for those children who cannot safely return home; support early intervention and child abuse prevention activities and work in partnerships with communities to fulfill this mission. The Lead Agency serves on the DCFS Child Day Care Licensing Advisory Council and DCFS serves on the Lead Agency's Child Care Advisory Council. In partnership and coordination, Leady Agency and DCFS work on policy creation and implementation. The Lead Agency and DCFS coordinate with the goal of protecting the health, safety, and wellbeing of children in licensed and license-exempt child care settings through policy creating and implementation of licensure and monitoring policies.

vii. Child care provider groups or associations. Describe:

viii. Parent groups or organizations. Describe:

ix. Title IV B 21st Century Community Learning Center Coordinators. Describe:

x. Other. Describe: