9.3 Increasing Engagement and Access to Information

Lead Agencies must collect and disseminate information about the full range of child care services to promote parental choice to parents of children eligible for CCDF, the general public, and child care providers. 9.3.1 Information about CCDF availability and eligibility Describe how the Lead Agency shares information with eligible parents, the general public, and child care providers about the availability of child care services provided through CCDF and other programs for which the family may be eligible. The description should include, at a minimum, what is provided (e.g., written materials, the website, and direct communications) and what approaches are used to tailor information to parents, the general public, and child care providers. ELRCs provide resource and referral information to educate families how to choose child care and identify quality child care. ELRC resource and referral services are available to the general public, including families that do not receive CCDF assistance. ELRCs provide parents families help with finding a provider and provider lists based on their stated needs. Parents Families can also conduct online provider searches at: http://www.findchildcare.pa.gov. Pennsylvania’s consumer website offers information on financial assistance, Keystone STARS, PA Pre-K Counts, HS, and EHS. In addition, the PA Promise for Children website and related resources allows parents and the greater general public access to information on OCDEL's early childhood programs in a user- friendly way. A website, social media, and an app (The Early Learning GPS, available in both English and Spanish) provides a multimodal way for families to access a variety of resources, information, and make connections to OCDEL's early learning programs. The primary goal of this website is to provide consumer education and support families’ access to resource and referral information including, but not limited to, accessing quality ECE programs, child care subsidy, Keystone STARS (QRIS), early childhood learning and development (including accessing Early Intervention and Home Visiting supports), and how to connect to other community resources and supports. ELRCs conduct a personal interview with the parent/caretaker who applies for subsidy and provide written information to help promote informed choices. Information for child care providers is available on the DHS website, as well as the PA Keys website. New policy or changes to policy are communicated through policy announcements and are sent through the Early Ed News (EEN), as well as posted on the PA Keys website. As new providers become certified and eligible to participate in the subsidy program, the ELRCs reach out to providers to encourage them to sign a provider agreement. 9.3.2 Information about child care and other services available for parents Does the Lead Agency certify that it provides information described in 9.3.1 for the following required programs? • Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. • Head Start and Early Head Start programs. • Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) • Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). • Women, Infants, and Children Program (WIC) program. • Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). • Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). • Programs carried out under IDEA Part B, Section 619 and Part C. [x] Yes. [ ] No. If no, describe: 9.3.3 Consumer statement for parents receiving CCDF services Lead Agencies must provide parents receiving CCDF services with a consumer statement in hard copy or electronically that contains general information about the CCDF program and specific information about the child care provider they select. Please certify if the Lead Agency provides parents receiving CCDF services a consumer statement that contains the following 8 requirements: 1. Health and safety requirements met by the provider 2. Licensing or regulatory requirements met by the provider 3. Date the provider was last inspected 4. Any history of violations of these requirements 5. Any voluntary quality standards met by the provider 6. How CCDF subsidies are designed to promote equal access 7. How to submit a complaint through the hotline 8. How to contact a local resource and referral agency or other community-based organization to receive assistance in finding and enrolling in quality child care Does the Lead Agency provide to families, either in hard copy or electronically, a consumer statement that contains the required information about the provider they have selected, including the eight required elements above? [x] Yes. [ ] No. If no, describe: 9.3.4 Informing families about best practices on child development Describe how the Lead Agency makes information available to parents, providers, and the general public on research and best practices concerning children’s development, including physical health and development, and information about successful parent and family engagement. At a minimum, the description should include what information is provided; how the information is provided; any distinct activities for sharing this information with parents, providers, the general public; and any partners in providing this information. OCDEL works alongside Dept of Health with the Pennsylvania State Physical Activity and Nutrition (SPAN) Program and Keystone Kids Go (KKG) workgroup aiming to support early childhood education programs that currently participate in CACFP and encourage more eligible programs to participate in an effort to increase access to nutritious meals and snacks and curb disparities in food access across Pennsylvania. The SPAN program implements early childhood education strategies to prevent childhood obesity. OCDEL collaborated with partners to create trainings for Early Learning Resource Centers about nutrition and physical activity best practices to share with early learning programs. This is an ongoing partnership and OCDEL meets quarterly with ELRC directors to discuss this work. OCDEL also has a page on PA Promise for Children’s website for parents to learn about the Farm to ECE program (a program with PDE and the Department of Agriculture) and some of the work they do including harvest of the month. OCDEL provides information to parents and providers through the Early Education newsletters for programs and families. This information is also posted on the Pennsylvania Harvest of the Month PA Promise for Children. This also includes information about access to health foods to help with food insecurities and ways for families to get support for food. A new fact sheet about ECE and farm to school can be found at https://pafarmtoschool.org/wp- content/uploads/2021/07/PF2SN_EarlyCare_highres.pdf. The Pennsylvania Family Engagement Birth through College, Career, Community Ready Framework is a tool to guide the implementation of effective practices, use of shared language, and a family engagement continuum for families across their child’s educational lifespan. It is a collaborative effort between PDE and OCDEL and was developed in 2019. The framework begins with a definition of family engagement and defines learning communities. The framework notes that it is essential to leverage the expertise, knowledge, and leadership of families and community partners to shape the educational environment at the program, classroom, school, state, and national level. These partnerships are strengths based, inclusive, culturally, and linguistically responsive and focus on the shared goal of positive learning and developmental outcomes for children. The framework also includes these components: Definitions of key terms used in the framework; Foundational Practices that provide the necessary conditions for successful implementation of family engagement; Standard Statements that support the creation of shared language and expectations; Support Practices that represent some of the great strategies provided by stakeholders; Policy Background that provides the foundational context of family engagement; and Resources. A copy of the Framework was mailed to child care programs and is posted here: The Pennsylvania Family Engagement Birth through College, Career, Community Ready Framework (pa.gov). The Framework was designed with the primary audience of professionals who have a responsibility of support family engagement efforts in their programs and schools. A companion guide for families was developed in 2020 and can be found here: Pennsylvania’s Family Engagement Birth through College, Career, Community Ready Framework:A Companion Guide for Families. An introductory training on Pennsylvania’s Family Engagement Framework is available on the PD registry. Family engagement resources and materials that are linked to PA’s Family Engagement Framework were created in collaboration with the Fred Rodgers Center. This series includes a webinar and a series of videos and resources available and free for use. Videos were developed for targeted audiences including: Helpers (professional in the ECE field, including child care providers) and family members. Specific videos were developed to address the role of grandparents and families of children with disabilities/developmental delays. These resources are available on the Early Intervention Technical Assistance (EITA) portal at Home - Early Intervention Technical Assistance Portal (eita-pa.org) The Pennsylvania Key, on behalf of OCDEL, provides information on infant/early childhood mental health and social emotional development via the IECMH Consultation Program staff and a variety of resources available on the program webpage https://www.pakeys.org/iecmh including the program brochure, informational resources, documents and messaging on infant/early childhood mental health for families, professionals and policy makers. A monthly focus on IECMH Newsletter is also available. Additionally, The Pennsylvania Key operates a website on behalf of OCDEL, developed intentionally for families, of young children, PA Promise for Children https://papromiseforchildren.com. Here families can sign up for newsletters, receive information on developmentally appropriate milestones, and locate strategies to foster learning and prepare children for school. This website also offers resources for families seeking support from agencies such as home visiting, postpartum support organizations and the ELRCs. If it is financial assistance a family seeks, they will find links to subsidized child care resources, SNAP, Pennsylvania Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Housing Assistance, WIC and much more. EITA, on behalf of OCDEL, also provides information and resources for professionals and families on Social Emotional - Early Intervention Technical Assistance Portal (eita-pa.org). In addition to the EITA portal there is another free and easy way to access the moment tidbits of information on developmental milestones, communication, language and literacy, supporting children’s social emotional development during transition times, etc. The EITA mobile app can be found on both the Goggle Play Store and Apple App Store. EITA, on behalf of OCDEL, provides the following family engagement and parent education and support initiatives: Parent to Parent of Pennsylvania matches parents with other parents with children in similar situations with each other; Family Connections: Language and Learning for Children who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing supports families with infants and toddlers with hearing loss; Competence and Confidence: Partners in Policy Making in Early Intervention (C2P2 EI) trains parents of children with developmental disabilities to be leaders in policy making; Be Strong Parent Café’s focuses on supporting and strengthening families’ protective factors; Parents as Partners in Professional Development (P3D) trains parents of children with developmental disabilities to be leaders in providing professional development. In addition, EITA has a parent resource page on the EITA portal Families - Early Intervention Technical Assistance Portal (eita- pa.org). EITA maintains a data base of the number of parents who attend EITA professional development. 9.3.5 Unlimited parental access to their children Does the Lead Agency have procedures to ensure that parents have unlimited access to their children whenever their children are in the care of a provider who receives CCDF funds: [x] Yes. [ ] No. If no, describe: 9.3.6 Informing families about best practices in social and emotional health Describe how the Lead Agency shares information with families, providers, and the general public regarding the social-emotional and behavioral and mental health of young children, including positive behavioral intervention and support models based on research and best practices for those from birth to school age: The Pennsylvania Key, on behalf of OCDEL, implements statewide mental health consultation (MHC) services which are available by request for any program participating in QRIS, not including HS/EHS/MHS. MHC services have been expanded, through PDG, to include school age child care environments, in addition to those programs caring for children birth to age 5. Consultants are regionally located and available to provide tiered consultation supports including Virtual Office Hours (universal consultation), child-specific and classroom focused consultation to adult caregivers related to the social-emotional development and relational health of infants/toddlers, young and middle childhood aged children in the child care environment. The program focuses on reducing the number of children expelled from child care due to behavior challenges, increasing understanding among ECE practitioners and families of social-emotional development and its impact on educational success, and linking and bridging systems and services on behalf of the child, family, and program. Consultants also provide targeted professional development to programs that focuses on universal screening efforts, supporting social emotional development, Pyramid Model practices, and other content areas as identified collaboratively with the child care program or regional partner(s). Consultants also direct child care professionals to available professional development and topic-oriented resource as able. A monthly Focus on ECMH newsletter has been implemented to share topic oriented research and resources to promote ways in which early childhood professionals can support the social-emotional development/mental health of children in their care, utilize positive guidance, and care for themselves Bright eNews & Archive - The Pennsylvania Key (pakeys.org). Each newsletter has resources identified for the IT, preschool and SACC environments. A public awareness campaign and associated materials related to infant/early childhood mental health are also promoted regularly Bright Start: Supporting Social-Emotional Development - The Pennsylvania Key (pakeys.org). EITA has several online courses/resources to address children’s social emotional development and Positive Behavior Supports (PBS): Social Emotional - Early Intervention Technical Assistance Portal (eita-pa.org). -Social Emotional Development within the Context of Relationship: The purpose of this course is to assist in the process of accurately identifying children who are experiencing challenges in their social-emotional development. -The Meaning of Behavior and Appropriate Responding: This provides a foundation for the understanding of social and emotional development in infants and toddlers. It looks at individualized interventions for infants and toddlers through determining the meaning of behavior and developing appropriate responses. Identifying unmet needs, behavior as communication and responding to challenging behaviors are highlighted. Pyramid Model Module 1 Preschool: This module introduces participants to the Pyramid Model and the practices within the foundation of this framework. Practices that will be reviewed include building relationships with children, families and colleagues, personal reflection on challenging behavior, the physical and emotional environment and its impact on children’s behaviors and providing clear directions and ongoing monitoring and positive attention throughout the day. Prevent Teach Reinforce for Young Children: Manualized functional behavior assessment and behavior plan process for use with early childhood teams, especially those involved with children in group settings. Prevent Teach Reinforce for Families: This is a detailed model and research-based strategy for helping families to resolve their children's serious challenging behaviors in home and community settings. 9.3.7 Policies on the prevention of the suspension and expulsion of children a. The Lead Agency must have policies to prevent the suspension and expulsion of children from birth to age 5 in child care and other early childhood programs receiving CCDF funds. Describe those policies and how those policies are shared with families, providers, and the general public: On July 1, 2017, OCDEL issued a state policy announcement: Reduction of Expulsion and Suspension in Early Childhood Programs in Pennsylvania. The purpose of this policy announcement is to: Raise awareness of HHS and ED policy statements. Provide guidance to OCDEL funded programs regarding appropriate behavior support practices and the reduction of expulsion and suspension of young children. Provide guidance to OCDEL funded programs in how to support family engagement in an inclusive manner that respects the cultural and individual preferences of families. Identify resources available to local programs to support staff and prevent expulsion Specify implementation steps to be taken at the local and state level. OCDEL promoted practices that support the implementation of appropriate and positive behavior support practices and reduce and eventually eliminate the incidence of suspension and expulsion by providing individualized site coaching and consultation. Local programs, in collaboration with program staff and families, develop and implement a written program policy and procedure to reduce the incidence of suspension and expulsion. The program policy and procedures were created to be culturally sustaining practices, such as hiring diverse staff and training staff to be culturally and linguistically responsive. The policies and procedures were to be shared with families and have them sign to indicate their receipt of the information. In 2023 a follow-up policy announcement was issued to promote inclusion of all children and complement the 2017 announcement about suspension/expulsion. In addition, a statewide referral system was implemented for early childhood programs to request support if they were serving a child who is at risk for expulsion or to request training to avoid suspensions and expulsions. The Pennsylvania Key, on behalf of OCDEL, implements statewide mental health consultation (MHC) services which are available by request for any program participating in QRIS, not including HS/EHS/MHS. MHC services have been expanded, through PDG, to include school age child care environments, in addition to those programs caring for children birth to age 5. Consultants are regionally located and available to provide tiered consultation supports including Virtual Office Hours (universal consultation), child-specific and classroom focused consultation to adult caregivers related to the social-emotional development and relational health of infants/toddlers, young and middle childhood aged children in the child care environment. The program focuses on reducing the number of children expelled from child care due to behavior challenges, increasing understanding among ECE practitioners and families of social-emotional development and its impact on educational success, and linking and bridging systems and services on behalf of the child, family, and program. The program evaluation plan includes annual reporting on program outcomes, including expulsion rates for child-specific consultation services. Through the PDG, OCDEL has funded 19 regional Rapid Response Teams to be deployed to ECE programs when a program is struggling with the challenging behavior of a child who is at immediate risk of expulsion. This is an intentional expansion of a grassroots, local approach first developed in 2017, in response to the expulsion/suspension policy statement and in part due to waiting lists for mental health consultation support at that time. Expansion of the RRT approach helps to ensure equitable access and standardization of the RRT model across the Commonwealth within each ELRC region. The goal of RRT is provide an immediate (within 48 hours) trauma sensitive, human-centered, collaborative short-term promotion/prevention support to ECE programs struggling to support a child who practitioners perceive as behaviorally challenging. Where necessary, RRT will also facilitate quick referrals to additional supports such as EI, IECMH consultation, behavioral health services and/or other community supports. b. Describe what policies, if any, the Lead Agency has to prevent the suspension and expulsion of school-age children from child or youth care settings receiving CCDF funds: N/A