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: [x] 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: The Lead Agency contracts with CCR&Rs to administer these sub-contracts. For Baby Promise contracted slots, cost per child amounts are individually negotiated with the local CCR&Rs and programs based upon provider type, estimated cost of care based on provider budgets and region. Providers indicate that these payments have stabilized their business. The Teen Parent Program currently serves children in 21 school districts around the state as well as through 1 Head Start agency. The teen parent contractors serve the parenting teens who have been identified and referred to them through their own school district processes. Many of the teen parent contractors have onsite child care centers that teens can use, some also subcontract out if the school does not have an onsite center or the teen chooses to use another provider. The Lead Agency holds contracts with Head Start providers (typically centers) as well as Early Head Start partnership home-based care providers. If a family is eligible for ERDC, they can use any provider eligible to receive ERDC subsidy payments. Contracted slots in the Head Start program are approved for full-time hours. Head Start and Early Head Start polices prioritize children with disabilities, with a goal of at having 10% of the children in each program who qualifies for Early Intervention Services. The Lead Agency contracts support this goal by paying the Special Needs Rate or High Needs Rate to providers for qualifying children. The High Needs rate is available to all children receiving ERDC, including those served by contracts, and is paid with CCDF quality dollars on top of the subsidized rate. The Lead Agency also provides contracted slots for apprenticeships through the Bureau of Labor and Industry (BOLI), funded with BOLI state general funds. Oregon is unclear as to whether its current grants and contracts meet the intent of the newly released CCDF final rule and has requested a waiver on May 6, 2024 to provide extra time (through August 2026) in the event that they do not. [ ] 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: All three Oregon regions served by Baby Promise prioritize children with disabilities. The total number of slots currently budgeted for are approximately 190; however, the number of slots specifically for children with disabilities is unable to be provided at this time. Head Start and Early Head Start polices prioritize children with disabilities, with a goal of at having 10% of the children in each program who qualifies for Early Intervention Services. The Lead Agency contracts support this goal by paying the Special Needs Rate or High Needs Rate to providers for qualifying children. The High Needs rate is available to all children receiving ERDC, including those served by contracts, and is paid with CCDF quality dollars on top of the subsidized rate. [x] Infants and toddlers. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: All three Oregon regions served by Baby Promise serve infants and toddlers. The total number of slots currently budgeted for are approximately 190. All of these slots qualify as infant and toddler. [x] Children in underserved geographic areas. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: All three Oregon regions served by Baby Promise are identified as underserved. The total number of slots currently budgeted for are approximately 190. All of these slots qualify as children in underserved geographic areas. [ ] 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: [x] Children in urban areas. Percent of CCDF children served in an average month: Baby Promise is in one urban area of Oregon, and currently that region is budgeted to enroll 60 slots. [x] Children in rural areas. Percent of CCDF children served in an average month: Baby Promise is in 2 rural areas of Oregon, there are 130 slots available between the two regions. [x] Other populations. If checked, describe: Teen Parents and Oregon Prenatal to Kindergarten (OPK) and Head Start Programs for extended work hours. The OPK and Head Start contracts are used to provide extended hours or program year for children enrolled in OPK and Head Start so that children from families with working parents are able to access these programs. ii. If yes, how are rates for slots funded by grants and contracts determined by the Lead Agency? For Baby Promise contracted slots (cost per child amount above subsidy/direct service dollars) is negotiated with the local CCR&Rs and programs based upon available rate data, quality measures, services provided, and provider type. Cost per child varies between regions. Head Start contracts and Teen Parent contracts are paid at the center rate as negotiated through the collective bargaining process, informed by the Market Price Study. There are currently three head start contracts. There are a total of 144 contracted slots between the three contractors. 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: Provider must be at least 18 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: The Oregon Child Care Research Partnership (OCCRP) at Oregon State University (OSU) conducts a biennial analysis of the supply of child care in Oregon. This analysis is based on a dataset constructed by OCCRP. To create this dataset, OCCRP worked with Central Coordination at Western Oregon University. First, licensing data (Child Care Regulatory Information System) and Child Care Resource & Referral (NACCRRAware) databases were merged to ensure all child care facilities were included. Then Central Coordination managed a data update process in which data on capacity and price by age group were collected from all Oregon child care facilities within a four-month period to ensure all data were comparable and current. This dataset was used to conduct an analysis of child care supply by provider type, age of care and geography thus allowing for the identification of communities experiencing shortages. In addition to OCCRP’s biennial analysis of the child care supply, which covers all regulated child care available that receive public funding (), DELC uses administrative data to compare all funded slots awarded by DELC or Federal Head Start to estimate of eligible children in each county. This analysis is done yearly, for children from birth to 2 (infant and toddler), children from 3-4 years old (preschool aged), and overall, for children from birth to 4 years old. The saturation goal for the percentage of eligible children with access to a publicly funded slot is 80%. Estimates of eligible children are drawn from census data, defined as children living under 200% of the Federal Poverty Level, for the purposes of the analysis. ii. Method of tracking progress: OCCRP biennial analysis of child care supply in Oregon. iii. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using family child care homes For infant and toddler care, the Lead Agency is implementing the Baby Promise Program in which qualified providers, subcontracted through the local CCR&R, may offer slots to eligible families for full time, full year care at a set monthly rate for 12 months. Baby Promise Program Providers are a range of provider types including family child care homes. One goal of the Baby Promise Program is to ensure family choice through program design that is suitable for a variety of program types and mixed delivery. Family child care homes may subcontract for the number of slots that best fit their program. A family child care home may choose to have as few as one Baby Promise slot if that fits their design best. iv. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using child care centers? For infant and toddler care, the lead Agency is implementing the Baby Promise Program in which qualified providers, subcontracted through the local CCR&R, may offer slots to eligible families for full time, full year care at a set monthly rate for 12 months. Baby Promise Program Providers are a range of provider types including family child care centers. The Baby Promise program is structured such that a variety of provider types may participate. This provides families with a variety of choices when choosing care that best fits their needs. b. In different regions of the State or Territory: i. Data sources used to identify shortages: The Oregon Child Care Research Partnership (OCCRP) at Oregon State University (OSU) conducts a biennial analysis of the supply of child care in Oregon. This analysis is based on a dataset constructed by OCCRP. To create this dataset, OCCRP worked with Central Coordination at Western Oregon University. First, licensing data (Child Care Regulatory Information System) and Child Care Resource & Referral (NACCRRAware) databases were merged to ensure all child care facilities were included. Then Central Coordination managed a data update process in which data on capacity and price by age group were collected from all Oregon child care facilities within a four-month period to ensure all data were comparable and current. This analysis looks at supply by provider type, age of care and geography. The 2022 analysis found that there were 1,339 Certified Centers with a capacity to serve 70,842 children. This represented an increase in capacity of 2,176 children from the 2020 capacity. The analysis also determined that many Oregon families with children aged 0-5 years live in a child care desert. Almost all counties (35 of 36) are child care deserts for infants and toddlers and half of the counties (18 of 36) are child care deserts for preschool age children. ii. Method of tracking progress: OCCRP biennial analysis of child care supply in Oregon. iii. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using family child care homes? CCR&Rs (Child Care Resource and Referral agencies) are responsible for designing, identifying, planning, and implementing innovative strategies to increase the supply of infant, toddler, preschool, and School-Age child care within the CCR&R region. They partner with culturally specific or other community-based organizations (CBOs) to connect with a diverse set of communities in terms of racial/ethnic, cultural, and language identities in order to recruit new Child Care Providers. Additionally, they subcontract to leverage CBO relationships with communities of color to recruit providers of color. The Lead Agency utilizes results from the supply report conducted by OCCRP to strategize on how to address shortages in family child care homes. Oregon is also contracting with First Children Finance to provide business supports to potential and existing providers, and is presently conducting an Oregon Early Childhood Education Collaborative to design a plan to further bolster supply of all provider types. iv. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using child care centers? CCR&Rs (Child Care Resource and Referral agencies) are responsible for designing, identifying, planning, and implementing innovative strategies to increase the supply of infant, toddler, preschool, and School-Age child care within the CCR&R region. They partner with culturally specific or other community-based organizations (CBOs) to connect with a diverse set of communities in terms of racial/ethnic, cultural, and language identities in order to recruit new Child Care Providers. Additionally, they subcontract to leverage CBO relationships with communities of color to recruit providers of color. The Lead Agency utilizes results from the supply report conducted by OCCRP to strategize on how to address shortages in child care centers. Oregon is also contracting with First Children Finance to provide business supports to potential and existing providers, and is presently conducting an Oregon Early Childhood Education Collaborative to design a plan to further bolster supply of all provider types. c. In care for special populations: i. Data sources used to identify shortages: The Oregon Child Care Research Partnership (OCCRP) at Oregon State University (OSU) conducts a biennial analysis of the supply of child care in Oregon. This analysis is based on a dataset constructed by OCCRP. To create this dataset, OCCRP worked with Central Coordination at Western Oregon University. First, licensing data (Child Care Regulatory Information System) and Child Care Resource & Referral (NACCRRAware) databases were merged to ensure all child care facilities were included. Then Central Coordination managed a data update process in which data on capacity and price by age group were collected from all Oregon child care facilities within a four-month period to ensure all data were comparable and current. This analysis looks at supply by provider type, age of care and geography. The 2022 analysis found that there were 1,339 Certified Centers with a capacity to serve 70,842 children. This represented an increase in capacity of 2,176 children from the 2020 capacity. The analysis also determined that many Oregon families with children aged 0-5 years live in a child care desert. Almost all counties (35 of 36) are child care deserts for infants and toddlers and half of the counties (18 of 36) are child care deserts for preschool age children. ii. Method of tracking progress: OCCRP biennial analysis of child care supply in Oregon. iii. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using family child care homes? The Lead Agency identifies families receiving TANF as a special population. Outreach materials were created for Family Coaches at ODHS to provide TANF families with information about how friend and family members can become license-exempt Family, Friend, and Neighbor child care providers. iv. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using child care centers? The Lead Agency identifies families receiving TANF as a special population. Outreach materials were created to encourage already licensed child care providers, including centers, to become listed and approved to receive subsidy payments. 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 Baby Promise Program is implemented in underserved regions of Oregon. The Lead Agency contracts with CCR&Rs to who then subcontract directly with child care providers to build and maintain the supply of high- quality infant and toddler care. Providers participating in Baby Promise also receive support and technical assistance to improve the quality of infant and toddler care. All geographic areas in Oregon are underserved for infants and toddlers. CCR&Rs exist within these areas and employ infant/toddler specialists to work within those communities. Infant Toddler Specialists work with providers interested in or already serving infants and toddlers to increase capacity for infants and toddlers across Oregon. They do this via individualized technical assistance, support with the licensing process, as well as by providing infant and toddler specific training opportunities needed to become licensed to serve that population. They support providers in receiving the professional development necessary to advance in the Oregon Registry, as well as supports for providers interested in increasing quality by means of engaging in the quality recognition and improvement system (Spark). They engage with providers around goals related both to quality infant toddler care, as well as quantity of infant toddler care and are knowledgeable about additional grants and funding opportunities available to providers within their communities. OPK/Head Start contracts are used to increase the supply of care that meets the needs of families. b. Infants and toddlers. Describe: Evidence from the most recent Market Price Study verified Oregon has a shortage of infant care across the state. Child care resource and referral programs continually inform providers on the demand for infant care at family child care introduction to Registered Family Programs orientations, and through other trainings and recruitment events. Baby Promise is a contracted slots program designed to serve low-income families in communities struggling to find and keep high quality care for infants and toddlers. The Lead Agency is contracting with CCR&Rs for the Baby Promise Program. The CCR&Rs contract directly with child care providers to build and maintain the supply of high-quality infant and toddler care. Providers participating in Baby Promise also receive support and technical assistance to improve the quality of infant and toddler care. Focused Child Care Networks are cohorts of early childhood educators and leaders that have applied to participate in an intensive professional learning opportunity that combines training, peer learning, exploration of problems of practice and share promising practices in the field. The network leads that work for child care resource and referral programs help early educators to set goals to increase quality of their programs and provides individualized visits to each program to support achievement of their goals. The child care networks serve children in underserved areas as well as special populations. Oregon has networks with early educators that speak other languages than English, an African American network, networks focused on infants and toddlers, business acumen, serving children with disabilities, and networks in rural areas of Oregon. Some of the networks use the Spark framework (Oregon's QRIS) to support continuous quality improvement. Infant Toddler Specialists are embedded within community-based Child Care Resource and Referral agencies. They have a specific focus on supporting educators working with infants and toddlers. They host focused networks of infant and toddler educators and leaders, as well as providing targeted relationship-based technical assistance around topics related to caring for infants and toddlers. In addition, infant toddler specialists work with providers interested in serving infants and toddlers to support them in the process of becoming licensed to care for that age group. They also work with existing infant and toddler providers who would like to increase their capacity. c. Children with disabilities. Describe: Inclusive Partners promotes inclusive practices through technical assistance related to potential accommodations and adaptations to support children with disabilities. Technical assistance is offered to providers to better assist them in caring for children with specialized needs and for children receiving subsidy payments. The Inclusive Partners program can conduct assessments in individualized child care settings to determine whether an additional payment on top of the ERDC special needs rate should be authorized. This add-on payment to standard subsidy is called a High Needs payment which is intended to help providers offset potential additional costs of caring for that child, allowing them to do things like pay for additional equipment, environmental supports, or adaptations, hire extra staffing, attend additional professional development opportunities, etc. Oregon will use the support Inclusive Partners offers to encourage child care providers to care for children with disabilities. We are also working on bolstering our current Head Start and Early Head Start contracts, which prioritize serving children with disabilities. d. Children who receive care during non-traditional hours. Describe: Baby Promise Program Providers are required to offer full time full year care with the flexibility to offer care during non-traditional hours. Additionally, Focused Child Care Networks are open to providers who provide this type of care. Child Care Resource & Referral offices work with providers to provide supports at times that fit their unique scheduling needs. Oregon supports family, friend, and neighbor care providers through collaboration with the FFN provider union to ensure that the needs of these providers is taken into account when setting subsidy policies. The Lead Agency works with CCR&Rs to uplift the needs of these providers to become listed for ERDC payment. Families often rely upon FFN care during non-traditional hours and this is a strategy the Lead Agency utilizes in order to support the supply of these providers. Work is being conducted through a redesign of the Spark QRIS system as well, with one of the legislatively required incentives passed with House Bill 3073 to consider a financial boost for providers willing to provide care during non-traditional hours. e. Other. Specify what population is being focused on to increase supply or improve quality. Describe: Enrollment processes for the Baby Promise Program include prioritization of historically underserved or underrepresented populations defined as: African American, Asian and Pacific Islander, emergent bilingual children, geographically isolated, immigrants and refugees, migrant families and/or families working in agricultural sector, Latinx, Tribal nations and communities, children with developmental delays and disabilities, children of incarcerated parents/parental figures, children experiencing homelessness and engagement with the foster care system. 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. For subsidy purposes the Lead Agency has been directed by the state legislature to consider any family at or below 250% of the Federal Poverty Limit as low-income. In planning for statewide services, the Lead Agency provides statistical information on the percentage of free and reduced lunch in each school catchment area to the Early Learning Hubs as a baseline for program development. Each Early Learning Hub is required to consider available data to identify high pockets of poverty and unemployment when designing and supporting early learning services. State investments prioritize funding to areas with significant concentrations of poverty. Based on data across the state, the Lead Agency is contracting with CCR&Rs for the Baby Promise Program to address areas that have significant concentrations of poverty and do not have access to high-quality programs. The CCR&Rs contract directly with child care providers to build and maintain the supply of high- quality infant and toddler care. Providers participating in Baby Promise also receive support and technical assistance to improve the quality of infant and toddler care. 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.