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: At this time, Kentucky does not offer direct child care services through grants and contracts and will be requesting a federal waiver by November 2024. 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: A Registered Relative Child Care Provider must be at least eighteen (18) years of age, regardless of where care is provided. iii. [ ] Restricted based on the hours of care (i.e., certain number of hours, non- traditional work hours). Describe: iv. [x] 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: The child receiving care must have one (1) of the following relationships with the Registered Relative Child Care Provider: Grandchild, Great-grandchild, Niece, Nephew; or Sibling if the provider lives in a separate residence. This is applicable regardless of where care is provided. v. [ ] Restricted to care for children with special needs or a medical condition. Describe: vi. [x] Restricted to in-home providers that meet additional health and safety requirements beyond those required by CCDF. Describe: The Registered Relative Child Care Provider must complete the following to be fully approved: Recognition of child abuse and neglect, which includes one and one-half (1.5) hours of Cabinet approved pediatric abusive head trauma training. They must also be certified in age-appropriate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and First Aid. This is applicable regardless of where care is provided. vii. [x] Other. Describe: The Registered Relative Child Care applicant must provide their completed KARES background check, regardless of where care is provided. If the care is provided in the provider's home a KARES background check must be completed for everyone in the home 18 years of age and older. 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: The Division of Child Care received a non- compliance notice on December 13, 2021, because the lead agency did not list data sources used to identify any shortages and declines in the supply of care types that meet parents' needs for Infant and Toddler programs. The Division of Child Care has requested a KICCS (Kentucky Integrated Child Care System) report to show capacity of all child care providers, in comparison to the most recent census data to show the number of infant/toddlers that would potentially need Infant/Toddler care. DCC Also uses the Executive Dashboard to monitor child care deserts across the state. DCC would know if there was a shortage of IT spots available by monitoring these reports quarterly and observing trends in the data to show an decrease in the capacity for Infant Toddler care. DCC will continue to work with the Commonwealth Office of Technology, KY Center for Statistics (KYSTATS), Family Child Care Network, and Child Care Aware to develop data reporting parameters, monitoring and identifying shortages across different regions on a quarterly basis. ii. Method of tracking progress: DCC will continue to work with the Commonwealth Office of Technology, KY Center for Statistics (KYSTATS), Family Child Care Network, and Child Care Aware to develop data reporting parameters, monitoring and identifying shortages across different regions on a quarterly basis. iii. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using family child care homes The Division of Child Care has shifted the technical assistance (TA) for Health, Safety and Quality to the Family Child Care Network (FCCN) to better serve the individuals that are providing in home family child care. FCCN is currently working on obtaining their reliability for quality improvement. Through ARPA funding offered prior to 2024, we are sustaining the providers that utilized the FCC start up grants with the TA from FCCN. DCC will continue to work with the FCCN to develop strategies to address identified shortages in different regions of the state and monitor progress. DCC will supply the reports to FCCN specialist across the state to help with anecdotal data if there is an identified shortage in a region. iv. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using child care centers? The Division of Child Care (DCC) is offering a provision to Child Care providers to help with staff retention and sustainability. Child Care Employee Exclusion is a provision for individuals applying for CCAP that are employed in child care. All earned and unearned household income is excluded for this "protected population". DCC has secured funding for continuing education for licensed child care providers to improve the workforce development. DCC has also created and implemented an Infant Toddler credential to increase the training and professionalism with this specific age group. In addition to the credential, Kentucky has also created a digital badge to signify training in each domain specific to the Infant Toddler age group. DCC will continue to work with the CCA to develop strategies to address identified shortages in different regions of the state and monitor progress. DCC will supply the reports to CCA specialist across the state to help with anecdotal data if there is an identified shortage in a region. Citation: https://www.chfs.ky.gov/agencies/dcbs/dcc/Documents/childcareemployeeexclu sionfaq.pdf Citation: IT Credential Regulations: https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/kar/titles/922/002/245/ Citation: IT Badging: https://ece.trc.eku.edu/ece/resources/files/439 b. In different regions of the State or Territory: i. Data sources used to identify shortages: The Division of Child Care received a non- compliance notice on December 13, 2021, because the lead agency did not list data sources used to identify any shortages and declines in the supply of care types that meet parents' needs for different regions across the state. The Division of Child Care has requested a KICCS (Kentucky Integrated Child Care System) report to show capacity of all child care providers, in comparison to the most recent census data to show the number potentially needed spots, compared to the capacity available per region. DCC Also uses the Executive Dashboard to monitor child care deserts across the state in different regions to show where child care is needed. DCC will continue to monitor these reports quarterly to identify any possible shortages in care across different regions. DCC will continue to work with the Commonwealth Office of Technology, KY Center for Statistics (KYSTATS), Family Child Care Network, and Child Care Aware to develop data reporting parameters, monitoring and identifying shortages across different regions on a quarterly basis. DCC also takes into account provider feedback to identify shortages when it is discussed at partnership meetings. The Child Care Advisory Council (CCAC) has provider representation from different regions who have provided some comments for discussion around areas of shortages in staff, and available spaces. DCC has provided data from different regions across the state and plans to track this data quarterly. The data from Kentucky shows that as a whole Kentucky has 52% of our providers able to take Infants and Toddlers. When we broke the data down regionally, we’re still at or above 45% of providers able to take on Special Populations. ii. Method of tracking progress: DCC will continue to work with the Commonwealth Office of Technology, KY Center for Statistics (KYSTATS), Family Child Care Network, and Child Care Aware to develop data reporting parameters, monitoring and identifying shortages across different regions on a quarterly basis. DCC also takes into account provider feedback to identify shortages when it is discussed at partnership meetings. The Child Care Advisory Council (CCAC) has provider representation from different regions who have provided some comments for discussion around areas of shortages in staff, and available spaces. DCC has provided data from different regions across the state and plans to track this data quarterly. iii. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using family child care homes? The Division of Child Care has shifted the technical assistance (TA) for Health, Safety and Quality to the Family Child Care Network (FCCN) to better serve the individuals that are providing family child care in home. FCCN is currently working on obtaining their reliability for quality improvement. Our contract with FCCN is helping to sustain TA and providers that were funded with ARPA funded Family Child Care home start up grants. DCC will share these reports quarterly with FCCN specialist to address any shortages if identified in their region. The Division of Child Care plans to continue working with FCCN to develop strategies for recruitment to address child care shortages for families using child care homes. iv. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using child care centers? DCC is offering further benefits to Child Care providers by making them a protected population for CCAP eligibility. DCC has secured funding for Continuing Education for licensed child care providers to improve the workforce development. DCC will continue to work with Child Care Aware of Kentucky to monitor shortages in different regions and to develop strategies for recruitment to address child care shortages in child care centers. These reports will be made available to CCA if a shortage is identified in their region. Citation: https://www.chfs.ky.gov/agencies/dcbs/dcc/Documents/childcareemployeeexclu sionfaq.pdf c. In care for special populations: i. Data sources used to identify shortages: The Division of Child Care received a non- compliance notice on December 13, 2021, because the lead agency did not list data sources used to identify any shortages and declines in the supply of care types that meet parents' needs for care for special populations. The Division of Child Care has requested a KICCS (Kentucky Integrated Child Care System) report to show capacity of all child care providers, in comparison to the most recent census data to show the number potentially needed spots, compared to the capacity available per region for care for special populations. DCC Also uses the Executive Dashboard to monitor child care deserts across the state in different regions to show where child care is needed for all care needs. DCC will continue to monitor these reports quarterly to identify any possible shortages in care across different regions for special populations care. DCC will continue to work with the Commonwealth Office of Technology, KY Center for Statistics (KYSTATS), Family Child Care Network, and Child Care Aware to develop data reporting parameters, monitoring and identifying shortages across different regions on a quarterly basis. DCC also takes into account provider feedback to identify shortages when it is discussed at partnership meetings. The Child Care Advisory Council (CCAC) has provider representation from different regions who have provided some comments for discussion around areas of shortages in staff, and available spaces. DCC has provided data from different regions across the state and plans to track this data quarterly. KYOSA monitors the school age supply shortage through their data explorer tool: https://kyoutofschoolalliance.org/kyosa-data-explorer/ The data from Kentucky shows that as a whole Kentucky has 57% of our providers able to take children of Special Population. When we broke the data down regionally, we’re still at or above 50% of providers able to take on Special Populations. ii. Method of tracking progress: DCC will continue to work with the Commonwealth Office of Technology, KY Center for Statistics (KYSTATS), Family Child Care Network, and Child Care Aware to develop data reporting parameters, monitoring and identifying shortages across different regions on a quarterly basis. DCC also takes into account provider feedback to identify shortages when it is discussed at partnership meetings. The Child Care Advisory Council (CCAC) has provider representation from different regions who have provided some comments for discussion around areas of shortages in staff, and available spaces. DCC has provided data from different regions across the state and plans to track this data quarterly. DCC also utilizes the data provided by KYOSA to monitor Out of School Time (OST) providers through the state. iii. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using family child care homes? Providing specific training and technical assistance utilizing the Family Child Care Network specialists to increase knowledge and awareness of serving children and families within special populations. With providing specific training and targeted TA family child care homes may feel more equipped to serve these populations in need. DCC will continue to partner with KYOSA to help address out of school time care with family child care home opportunities across the state where there are shortages. The Lead Agency also collaborates with contracted subrecipients within specific regions to help track progress or shortages. Family Child Care Network (FCCN) also intervene and help provide Technical Assistance around Health and Safety requirements and standards of quality for regions to help decrease shortages in care if any shortages are identified. If any shortages are identified DCC will share these reports with the FCCN specialist to create a plan to address a shortage by a specific region. iv. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using child care centers? Providing specific training and technical assistance utilizing the Child Care Aware of Kentucky coaches to increase knowledge and awareness of serving children and families within special populations. With providing specific training and targeted TA child care providers may feel more equipped to serve these populations in need. DCC will continue to partner with KYOSA to help address out of school time care shortage with child care centers who offer out of school time care across the state. The Lead Agency also collaborates with contracted subrecipients within specific regions to help track progress or shortages. Child Care Aware (Health and Safety Coaches) also intervene and help provide Technical Assistance around health and safety requirements and standards of quality for regions to help decrease shortages in care, if any shortages are identified. If any shortages are identified DCC will share these reports with the CCA specialist to create a plan to address a shortage by a specific region. 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: In 2023, the Division of Child Care offered a new opportunity: the Intergenerational Care Pilot Project. This project will provide financial support for up to four new child care programs across the state. This financial support would allow communities to focus on creating high-quality service that partners with local senior citizen centers. The Intergenerational Care Pilot Project aims to provide financial support in the amount of up to $250,000.00 of matching funds to four programs to establish a new child care program. This financial support would allow communities to focus on high-quality services and operate a functional child care program within a senior citizen center. Our focus is on building the child care structure within counties that lack regulated, high- quality services. We believe this pilot opportunity will help build strong support systems for our youngest citizens and create high-quality structures for children in our most vulnerable areas. DCC will begin evaluating this grant opportunity beginning in state fiscal year 2025. All 120 counties across the Commonwealth have dedicated space to provide services to the elderly population at certain points throughout the week. While 60% of Kentucky counties are considered child care deserts, the Lead Agency offered this opportunity to allow local communities to repurpose existing spaces to meet the needs of two vulnerable populations. b. Infants and toddlers. Describe: DCC will continue to work with the Family Child Care Network (FCCN) and Child Care Aware of Kentucky to create data metrics for collecting data to identify the supply of infant/toddler care. FCCN has obtained their reliability in 2024 and will work with providers for Kentucky ALL STARS ratings using the environmental scales to improve quality. Kentucky All STARS is Kentucky’s Quality Rating Improvement System (QRIS). We are continuing to implement the system which includes 12 All STARS staff and a supervisor, as well as over 50 additional employees via contracted sub- recipients (CCDF Funding) who provide TA to providers across the state. Current plans for a future investment are to update two of our Environmental Rating Scales (ERS). We are moving from the Infant Toddler Environmental Rating Scale Revised edition (ITERS-R) to the third edition (ITERS-3). Additionally, we are moving from the Family Child Care Environmental Rating Scale Revised Edition (FCCERS-R) to Family Child Care Environmental Rating Scale Third Edition (FCCERS-3). This change includes providing the appropriate TA to child care centers around these scales. The indicators and scores from these scales not only help towards higher quality but also school readiness. The Division of Child Care has begun working with the Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist (ECMH) to bring training and coaching using the Conscious Discipline curriculum. This training is adult focused training to provide training and coaching specific to social- emotional learning (SEL) strategies. While the initial contract for the Conscious Discipline project is paid for with ARPA funding, DCC will continue to utilize the CCR&R contract to embed these strategies and framework through our trainings and technical assistance. The Infant Toddler Credential is a Kentucky specific credential that creates an IT specific leveled pathway to show the provider has a level of expertise within the IT age group. The IT digital badge is a digital signature associated with a minimum number of training hours of each domain specific to the IT age group. c. Children with disabilities. Describe: DCC will continue to work with FCCN and Child Care Aware of Kentucky to identify and monitor supply and quality of care for children with disabilities. Currently our data does not show any major gaps in care for care for children with disabilities across different regions of the state. In order to better prepare teachers to accommodate children with challenging behaviors and disabilities, DCC is contracting with the Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist (ECMH) to bring training and coaching using the Conscious Discipline curriculum. This training is adult focused training to provide training and coaching specific to social-emotional learning (SEL) strategies, specific to challenging behaviors. To address improving quality of care for providers the Division of Child Care continues to provide training of trainers (TOTs) free of charge to credentialed trainers in topics relating to disabilities and strategies to support teachers with children with disabilities in their classrooms. To help address potential shortages providers also receive a special rate of five (5) additional dollars per day beyond the maximum rate for care of a child with a special need as an incentive to offer this specific type of care that is needed. d. Children who receive care during non-traditional hours. Describe: Currently we have not identified any gaps in care for nontraditional hours, but as an incentive to address potential gaps DCC pays ten (10) dollars per day beyond the maximum rate for nontraditional care for providing child care assistance between: 7pm to 5 am daily or Friday, 7pm through Monday, 5am. e. Other. Specify what population is being focused on to increase supply or improve quality. Describe: The School Age Youth Development Associate Credential is a Kentucky specific credential that creates a School-Age Development specific leveled pathway to show the provider has a level of expertise within the School-Aged age group. The School-Aged digital badge is a digital signature associated with a minimum number of training hours of each domain specific to the School-Aged age group. These initiatives are to increase the supply of quality teachers with specific trainings and skills pertaining to specific age groups within child care. Through ARPA funding DCC has contracted with Brightwheel to enroll all Kentucky providers in the online Brightwheel platform. The Brightwheel initiative has many benefits including to improve the quality in partnerships with family engagement and provider training for ALL-STARS levels, and regulatory professional development hour opportunities. Brightwheel also will be another way for the state agency to communicate with enrolled providers for CCDF funding initiatives that improve quality and the MRS surveys. To identify and address gaps in the supply and quality of school-age child care services, DCC reviews and takes into account data and research provided by the Kentucky Out-of- School Alliance (KYOSA) on an ongoing basis. To address the current shortage of state- approved training and professional development opportunities for staff working exclusively with school-age youth, the Lead Agency will explore contracting with partners to develop and pilot pathways for Out-of-School Time (OST) Professionals aligned with the requirements of SAYD Credential and Digital Badge. This will enable more school-age professionals to achieve a SAYD Credential and/or Digital Badge. Citation: https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/kar/titles/922/002/255/ Citation: https://info.mybrightwheel.com/kentucky 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 Lead Agency has offered a number of start-up grants utilizing ARPA Discretionary funding. These included start-up grants for family child care homes, business partnership grants, child care desert grants, community partnership grants, and the intergenerational child care grants. Priority for all of these start-up grants was given to child care deserts and required all recipients to complete Strengthening Business Practices training, accept child who receive subsidy, and participate in Kentucky All STARS. DCC, in collaboration with the Governor's Office of Early Childhood (GOEC), will be utilizing Preschool Development Grant (PDG) funds to continue these start-up opportunities through state fiscal year 2025. The Kentucky General Assembly allocated $2 million in General Funds to establish an Innovations in Early Childhood Education Delivery Grant Program to continue providing start-up funding opportunities. 16.5% of Kentucky's population (one in six) lives below the poverty line and the unadjusted annual state unemployment rate is 4.2%. The highest rates of concentrated poverty and unemployment do occur in child care deserts. The Lead Agency will continue to support the creation and expansion of child care services in these areas. 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.