4.1 Access to Full Range of Provider Options

Lead Agencies must provide parents a choice of providers and offer assistance with child care services through a child care certificate (or voucher) or with a child care provider that has a grant or contract for the provision of child care services. Lead Agencies are reminded that policies and procedures should not restrict parental access to any type or category of care or provider (e.g., center care, home care, in-home care, for-profit provider, non-profit provider, or faith-based provider, etc.). 4.1.1 Parent choice a. Identify any barriers to provider participation, including barriers related to payment rates and practices, (including for family child care and in-home providers), based on provider feedback, public comment, and reports to the Lead Agency: Of participating providers responding to the 2021 market survey with barriers to participation, the following top challenges were identified: difficulty collecting the balance from parents, difficulty meeting eligibility requirements and difficulty with Kansas Department for Children and Families staff. These include responses from center care and family child care homes. Providers currently not participating indicated their top two reasons they did not participate were because private pay families kept their child care full, and families served did not ask for it. Over 75% of providers responding reported difficulty collecting the balance from parents and over 60% reported parents not wanting to pay the family share (copayment). A total of 1,031 child care providers responded to the survey, representing a little over one fifth (21.6%) of all providers in the state, with 810 providing complete survey responses. Based on earlier such feedback, in October 2020 the lead agency implemented part-time and full-time blocks of time to decrease the balance owed out of the parents’ pockets and increase the collection rates. Partners shared that providers faced challenges with how they were paid, the administrative workload and with a difficult application process. This feedback came from center care and family child care homes in a partner survey. The lead agency has very few providers who don’t finish their enrollment process and have provider enrollment staff that assist with all issues but will do more research directly with providers to learn more about the specific difficulties that are being encountered for all categories of care. The lead agency will focus on the information that was not understood for all categories of care, so that changes and supports may decrease the difficulties and simplify the process. b. Does the Lead Agency offer child care assistance through vouchers or certificates? [x] Yes. [ ] No. c. Does the Lead Agency offer child care assistance through grants or contracts? [x] Yes. [ ] No. d. Describe how the parent is informed that the child care certificate allows the option to choose from a variety of child care categories, such as private, not-for-profit, faith-based providers; centers; family child care homes; or in-home providers: At application, if an interview is conducted and a family does not already have a provider selected, they are referred to the local resource and referral agency for assistance in locating and selecting a provider who can meet their needs. Also at application, all families are provided with access to the Parent Provider Partnership Handbook which explains the range of provider types available, including licensed day care homes, licensed group day care homes, child care centers, Early Head Start/Head Start, preschools, school-age programs, out-of-home relative care and in-home relative care. For those families who are not interviewed and do not have a provider chosen, the handbook also provides information about resource and referral services and how to select a provider. This handbook is also available to the general public on the agency's public website. There is a link to the handbook on the Child Care in Kansas web page. For those families who already have a provider in mind, if that provider is not currently enrolled with the lead agency, but is interested in it, the provider enrollment staff will help the provider become enrolled and will contact the provider. e. Describe what information is included on the child care certificate: The child care certificate (plan) is issued after the parent has selected a child care provider. It includes the child’s name, the provider’s name, the hours of child care that were authorized for the child, the family share deduction (co-payment) information, and the amount of child care benefits authorized for the child for each month of the eligibility period. It also includes the registration fees that have been allowed. If the family is approved for child care assistance for more than one child, information is included on the plan for each child. This information is not shared directly with the providers by the agency.