8.1 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 Lead Agency continues to coordinate with the State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care (SACECE) to plan, implement, and provide information and resources that support a wide-range of initiatives designed to enhance the efficiency of early care and education in the state. The State Director of the Lead Agency is a member of the of the council and regularly attends the meetings to provide agency updates and recommendations regarding the council’s initiatives. Other examples of coordination by the Lead Agency with the SACECE include the following: 1. The Lead Agency was the first member of the council to share information regarding child care scholarships to be included to be included in the First Five Portal. 2. Provision of CCDF funds to provide a 10% higher tuition rate for B and above providers ABC Quality enrolled child care centers participating in the Child Early Reading and Development Education Program (CERDEP￿SCFS 4K) initiative. 3. Execution of a state Memorandum of Understanding with SC Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office (state’s data warehouse agency) specifying data elements to be used for assessment, evaluation, and development process of dashboard indicators for Palmetto Drive to Five. 4. Execution of a state Memorandum of Understanding with the SC Department of Education to provide the Lead Agency with a unique student identification number for each student entered into the SUNS system. 5. Execution of a state Memorandum of Agreement with the SACECE to participate in the Early Learning Extension of the K-12 Statewide Longitudinal Data System. 6. Provision of ongoing availability of CCDF-funded Child Care Scholarships for siblings of SCFS-4K students enrolled in private child care programs. 7. Inclusion of SC First Steps representation on the Lead Agency’s BUILD leadership team. In addition, the Lead Agency provides funding to support the Family Voice Council (subcommittee of the ECAC) and the CCDF State Administrator has led presentations with this group. Topics of discussion included the First Five Common Application, CCDF-funded Child Care Scholarships, Suspension/Expulsion definitions, and coordination on the Needs/Resources Assessment are examples of the topics discussed. 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: The Lead Agency applied for the Federal Aid for Disaster Recovery Planning Grant and was awarded a $2,250,000 in supplemental funding in Phase one to plan for implementation of disaster recovery activities and address the impact of Hurricane Ian on child care in South Carolina. The Lead Agency is working with the Catawba Nation to plan and support their plan for implementation of disaster response and recovery efforts. We met with them in March 2024 and April 2024 to discuss and collaborate on our planned activities and expenses to determine how they want our assistance. We have initially offered the Catawba Nation $600,000 to match their grant award which will give them a good start on their rebuilding efforts which they have accepted. We will continue to meet with them at least monthly during the life of the grant for updates as well as reviewing and collaborating on other additional planning activities and possible expenses to support their grant opportunity for phase two. [ ] 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 has representation on the SC Interagency Coordinating Council (SC ICC). The purpose of the SC ICC is to advise and assist the Lead Agency to implement the Part C program in SC. The Part C program is called BabyNet and the Lead Agency is SC Department of Health and Human Services. The Lead Agency is partnering with SC Child Care Inclusion Collaborative (SCIC), BabyNet, and SC Department of Disabilities and Special Needs (DDSN) to develop joint professional development opportunities for early intervention providers and child care providers around providing services in natural environments. In addition, the Lead Agency has representation on the Advisory Council for the Education of Students with Disabilities (ACESD). This council is tasked with advising and assisting the State Education Agent in the implementation of IDEA. This council has a state-required preschool committee that is tasked with setting priorities and communicating those priorities with the early childhood team in the Office of Special Education Services within the SC Department of Education. This working committee develops a report for the SC General Assembly annually to outline the priorities developed by the preschool committee and to share progress toward addressing these priorities. Using Preschool Development Grant B- 5 funds, South Carolina has developed a Special Education Itinerant Teacher (SEIT) Academy in collaboration with the Part B619 coordinator and the SC Partnerships for Inclusion (SCPI) initiative at the University of South Carolina. The goal of the SEIT Academy is to prepare district leadership teams to adopt a delivery method to provide itinerant special education services and supports in general early childhood settings for children 3-5 with IEPs. The SEIT Academy is a series of three month-long workshops focused on instruction, supporting social emotional development through the implementation of the Pyramid Model, and community collaboration and teaming. In 2024, the SEIT Academy became an initiative in the SC Partnerships of Inclusion contract funded by the Office of Special Education Services in the SC Department of Education. To further support school districts to provide special education services in the least restrictive environment (LRE), the Lead Agency, SCIC, SCPI, Able SC, and the Part B619 coordinator have formed the Early Transitions initiative. In this initiative, ABC Quality enrolled child care providers are recruited to partner with their local school district(s) to reserve slots to facilitate access/transition for three year old children with an IEP to a general education classroom (as determined by the IEP). SCIC provides professional development to participating child care programs. Able SC is contracted by the Lead Agency to provide accessibility assessments for each program that participates. d. State/Territory office/director for Head Start State collaboration. Describe the coordination and results of the coordination: The Head Start Collaboration Office (HSCO) is located at the Lead Agency. These entities have a long-term working relationship partnering to support ECE initiatives. The HSCO director regularly participates in staff meetings and shares updates about Head Start (HS) programs and/or policies that may impact child care services. The Lead Agency staff have conducted training sessions for HS directors regarding child care licensing regulations and ABC Quality standards. A combined goal of HSCO and ABC Quality is to enroll all HS programs statewide into the QRIS this project continues to be ongoing. In collaboration with HSCO, ABC Quality created an accelerated pathway for HS programs participating in the QRIS. This accelerated pathway exempts HS programs from completing a structural quality review in recognition of the rigorous requirements all HS programs follow as result of the Head Start Performance standards. The HSCO director is also a member of the Lead Agency BUILD leadership team. The Lead Agency has provided ongoing support for many years for extended care during the school year and summer programming. 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 maintains a strong collaborative partnership with the State Agency, SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (SC DHEC), that is responsible for public health, including immunizations. Child Care Licensing (CCL) continues to have a key role in ensuring compliance with public health regulations as they apply to child care programs. This includes reviewing and providing input regarding public health issues and changes to the health regulations that apply to them. CCL works closely with SC DHEC to ensure the children’s file contain current SC Immunization records as required by the CCL Regulations. Also, SCDHEC and CCL staff coordinate work when technical assistance TA (includes on-site visits) is needed to resolve child care provider questions related to immunizations or other regulatory concerns. Several staff participated in a training facilitated by NC State University to become more knowledgeable on naturalized outdoor play and learning environments in child care through the Grow SC Program through SC DHEC. The CCL has a long-term partnership with the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (CLPP) at SC-DHEC. They provide training to CCL staff and child care providers. The materials offered during the trainings are a valuable resource for the providers. CCL and SC-DHEC continue to coordinate mass mailings/information dissemination that provides crucial public health information for child care providers. They are responsible for maintaining listings of exclusions, and contagious and communicable diseases that are incorporated into CCL's regulations. This information is posted on SC-DHEC's website. The Lead Agency's website is link to SC-DHEC thereby allowing child care providers to download exclusion lists and has maintained contact and collaboration with their Medical Consultants for guidance and public health policy decisions that impact South Carolina child care providers who care for children in those settings. f. State/Territory agency responsible for employment services/workforce development. Describe the coordination and results of the coordination: The Lead Agency is maintaining efforts to work with the Department of Employment and Workforce regarding coordinated strategies that lead to improved and increased information sharing about the state’s early childhood education system and its impact on the workforce and economy statewide. Additionally, the DECE’s Child Care Voucher staff continues to maintain coordination with staff in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program (administered by the Lead Agency) to assure the availability of high quality child care for TANF recipients to support their efforts to comply with employment and/or training requirements. The DECE staff continue provide training for county TANF staff to ensure efficient and appropriate referrals to the Department of Employment and Workforce. g. State/Territory agency responsible for public education, including pre-Kindergarten. Describe the coordination and results of the coordination: The Lead Agency continues to coordinate with the State Department of Education (SDE) on CCDF and Preschool Development Grant (PDG) funded activities. The Lead Agency maintains a state Memorandum of Understanding with the SC Department of Education to provide the Lead Agency with a unique student identification number for each student entered into the SUNS system. In addition, the Lead Agency recently executed a PDG-funded contract with SDE-Office of Special Education Services provide/conduct training designed to increase knowledge, skills, and enhance practices of school district mental/health care professionals and law enforcement regarding young children’s social and emotional learning. h. State/Territory agency responsible for child care licensing. Describe the coordination and results of the coordination: Child Care Licensing (CCL) is based at the Lead Agency and managed by the CCDF Administrator within the Division of Early Care and Education. CCL staff conduct regular reviews of policies and procedures to assure consistency and to minimize/avoid provider deficiencies. To the extent possible, revisions and clarifications are made to strengthen coordination across program areas within the Lead Agency. CCL works to support the Division’s goals by participating in webinars with ABC Quality staff to ensure child care providers understand the collaboration between the programs to promote high quality child care. CCL Regulations are the foundation upon which the ABC Quality program begins. South Carolina law requires the Governor's Advisory Committee on the Regulations of Child Care Facilities to review the child care regulations every three years. As a part of the most recent review, the center regulations were updated in 2018, to improve the health and safety standards for child care centers. However, the Advisory Committee has completed a set of proposed regulations for Small Family Child Homes. These proposed Regulations were submitted to the General Assembly in December of 2023 and have been approved by the full Senate Committee and the full House Committee. In May 2019, the law for Background Checks was changed to reflect the requirements of the CCDGB Act in coordination with the General Assembly. The changes to the law requires the re-check of all new and existing providers fingerprints, abuse and neglect and Sex Offender status. The law also reflects a check of child care staff that may have lived in another state in the previous five years of the check, as well as, a check of those providers who are exempt from Licensing but receive CCDF funding. The Lead Agency is in the middle of a five-year re-check of all providers and staff’s fingerprints. Emails were sent to providers in October and November 2023 reminding providers of the re-check with a list of their employee who will need re-fingerprinting. Additionally, CCL has arranged that emails will be sent to the providers statewide quarterly as a reminder for a re-fingerprinting check of their employees. CCL helps to promote and strengthen the goals of the CCDF plan by ensuring the health and safety of children through monitoring and inspection of licensed and registered child care programs. CCL continues to work with a national consultant to develop a training plan for reliability among CCL staff, supervisors, and specialists. CCL recognizes the need for consistency among the four regional licensing offices and determined that developing a training plan for reliability is a necessary step to collecting data on citations and information gathered when processing the results of CCL inspections. Becoming reliable in citing violations of CCL laws and regulations, the Division will ensure consistency among the four regional offices regarding the health and safety of children in child care facilities. South Carolina was selected to participate in the Best Practices in Child Care Regulation, phase two individualized technical assistance opportunity offered by the ECQA Center in partnership with ECQA's consultants at the National Association for Regulatory Administration (NARA). CCL along with the SC Resource and Referral Network has developed a model for start-up grants for child care providers (small businesses) to help them become licensed by completing several benchmark goals (e.g., completing orientation, training, enrolling in the Child and Adult Care Food Program, and the ABC Quality program) for providers to meet which are tied to supports to assist them in maintaining a positive regulatory status. 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 CACFP is located at the Lead Agency in the DECE. CACFP staff continue to coordinate work activities with staff across the division to promote the availability of meals that adhere to CACFP meal pattern guidelines. They continue to engage in statewide and regional child care conferences, community-based and virtual events to increase awareness and participation in the CACFP. Previously, the USDA approved the use of the Child Care Scholarship application to certify CACFP eligible participants (allowing the scholarship eligibility letter to stand as proof of eligibility). This facilitated efficiency by the Lead Agency to certify SNAP and/or TANF eligibility without applicants completing additional paperwork. ABC Quality nutrition indicators are based on the CACFP meal pattern requirements. In addition, ABC Quality’s Health Educators continue to coordinate with CACFP’s nutritionists to better serve child care providers and minimize duplication of work. 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 continues to partner with the SDE's McKinney-Vento State Coordinator, the SC Coalition for the Homeless, and the four regional Coalitions for the Homeless to develop referral processes for child care scholarships to increase access to high quality care. The SDE administers the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (Title X, Part C, of the No Child Left Behind Act), which is the primary federal legislation dealing with the education of children and youth experiencing homelessness. The coordinator oversees work of the local school district liaisons which includes outreach, determining eligibility, school placement, enrollment, and providing transportation. The coordinator also administers grants to selected school districts that provide additional coordinated services. While some local school district liaisons can identify families with very young children, their primary focus is on the 4k through grade 12 population. DECE is augmenting this by coordinating additional referral processes with the four regional Coalitions for the Homeless. The majority of the family shelters they operate are funded through HUD and can serve as a valuable source of referrals for families with very young children. The South Carolina Coalition for the Homeless functions as a coordinating and service entity, designed to assist the local coalitions. CCDF funds are being used to support the Homeless Support Liaison located in the current SC CCR&R contract. Work activities are coordinated with the Child Care Scholarship staff. k. State/Territory agency responsible for the TANF program. Describe the coordination and results of the coordination: The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program is administered by the Lead Agency. Child Care Scholarship Program and TANF staff coordinate to ensure the availability of quality child care for participants to support their efforts to comply with their employment and/or training requirements. The Lead Agency provides training for county and state office TANF staff to assure they are knowledgeable about eligibility requirements and the types of care parents may be seeking. l. State/Territory agency responsible for Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Describe the coordination and results of the coordination: The SC Department of Health and Human Services continues to administer the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program. Information regarding eligibility for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program are included with information sent to families receiving a child care scholarship. This packet also includes contact information regarding other agencies serving families with young children or those needing child care. m. State/Territory agency responsible for mental health services. Describe the coordination and results of the coordination: The South Carolina Department of Mental Health (SC DMH) is the state agency responsible for mental health services. Their primary focus has been services for school-aged children through adulthood. With increasing attention to challenging behaviors in preschool children leading to suspension and expulsion, other entities such as the South Carolina Infant Mental Health Association (SCIMHA) and the South Carolina Inclusion Collaborative (SCIC) have entered this service landscape with various strategies to provide consultation to child care providers seeking help in managing challenging behaviors in classroom settings including the PEAR network and the Pyramid model. The SC DMH has provided consultation services to the Head Start community and continues to provide consultation to the Head Start Programs throughout the state through contractual services with them. During this CCDF plan period, a review of the variety of strategies in use and under development in the early childhood arena will be conducted to determine how to better coordinate existing services to mitigate rising incidence rates of children with challenging behaviors. The Lead Agency has shouldered much of the increase in services through the Preschool Development Grant (PDG) funded from 2019 to 2023 and ending 2024 through a no-cost extension. These services have been rolled over recently to CCDF funding. The Lead Agency seeks to create stronger coordination with the Department of Mental Health in this arena to maximize current resources and resolve possible overlap in services. SC DMH is a long-term member of the South Carolina BUILD Leadership Team. 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: The Lead Agency has successfully established a robust statewide SC CCR&R. The CCDF’s State Administrator and SC CCR&R’s director regularly coordinate to conduct presentations with various public, private, and business entities to discuss the availability of and need for support to expand child care accessibility and availability across the state. The State Administrator conducted a presentation on May 29th during the SC CCR&R’s quarterly Partner Forum to share information and obtain feedback about the State Plan and CCDF-funded programs. The Lead Agency has executed grant agreements with several local non-profit agencies for the following initiatives: 1. Conduct child care facility assessments to identify barriers to compliance with American with Disabilities Act Accessibility Standards. 2. Pilot the provision of a two-tiered screening initiative designed to improve awareness of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Technical assistance/consultation and training are key components included in these grants. 3. Provision of trainings that focus on early and middle childhood development, child abuse and neglect, child safety and health, and building/sustaining resilient families. 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 continues to provide support to the United Way of South Carolina (UWASC) to support local UWASC partnership programs, many of which or local afterschool programs, special needs initiatives to improve access to quality child care for children with disabilities or developmental delays, and to assure the availability of materials/supplies for classroom developmental improvements as well as health and safety improvements for child care programs. Many of the programs funded with this grant are out-of-school time sites. These services allow children to receive full day and wrap around services. The Afterschool Alliance was a part of the Technical Workgroup that was formed to provide a voice and input to the Cost of Care study conducted by South Carolina to take into consideration what school age programs need. p. Agency responsible for emergency management and response. Describe the coordination and results of the coordination: The Division of Early Care and Education through Child Care Licensing (CCL) has a long-standing relationship with the state's Emergency Management Division (EMD) and their local offices. In the past, the Division has participated in EMD lead meetings with child care providers and mock disaster trainings. The Division is housed in the state's human services agency and, therefore, has ongoing collaborative opportunities involving state emergency events. CCL receives information from EMD regarding plans when there are emergency-related events in the forecast as well as responses to an event. The Division developed its emergency plan alongside the Lead Agency’s emergency plan to better coordinate services during disaster events. The Division provides information on its website that offers guidance and templates to child care providers to use as a model to develop emergency plans for their facilities. Included in the information is an emergency plan brochure, emergency plan guidelines, and an emergency plan template. The emergency plan templates are tailored to child care centers, group and family child care homes, license-exempt facilities, and family, friend, and neighbor providers. The federal requirements for evacuation, relocation, shelter-in- place, lock-down, communication and reunification with families, continuity of operations, accommodation of infants and toddlers, children with disabilities, and children with chronic medical conditions and requirements for staff and volunteer emergency preparedness training and practice drills are addressed in the templates. The Division's Child Care Disaster Plan includes guidance and requirements for continuing CCDF-funded child care services after a disaster, provisions for temporary child care, and temporary operating standards after a disaster. The Division will continue to use opportunities to foster this relationship. 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. [x] State/Territory/local agencies with Early Head Start – Child Care Partnership grants. Describe: The Lead Agency continues to support the EHS-CC Partnerships. ABC Quality, CCL, and Child Care Scholarship staff meet with EHS-CC-Partnership grantees, as needed, to provide on-site training and technical assistance regarding state regulatory requirements, guidance to enroll in ABC Quality, and eligibility requirements to enroll in the Child Care Scholarship program. Scholarship slots have been provided to the five EHS-CC Partnerships to support program participation. ii. [x] State/Territory institutions for higher education, including community colleges. Describe: The Lead Agency continues to provide support to technical colleges early childhood departments for replenishment of course materials and other program supports including accreditation to assure statewide access for child care providers to academic opportunities and growth in the field of early care and education. Other support for the technical colleges includes the provision of the annual SC Early Childhood Leadership Institute for technical colleges’ early childhood lead faculty and the Lead Agency staff. The institute serves as a significant opportunity for information sharing regarding coursework, other CCDF- funded programs, and coordination for the benefit of the child care workforce. iii. [x] Other federal, State, local, and/or private agencies providing early childhood and school-age/youth-serving developmental services. Describe: The Lead Agency continues to provide ongoing support for a regional initiative offered by a local non-profit organization. The program offers a range of services designed to support women with young children gain employment and engage in full time coursework at a local technical college or university to obtain an advanced degree. CCDF is being used to meet the child care needs of program participants and support efforts to achieve their educational and better employment goals. In addition, the Lead Agency provides ongoing support to a local non-profit organization for statewide provision of hearing screenings of young children with appropriate follow-up to determine hearing loss during the early years of growth and language development. Staff works closely with child care providers, child welfare workers, and other early care and education professionals to provide training and consultation/technical assistance to prevent and/or minimize hearing loss among young children. iv. [x] State/Territory agency responsible for implementing the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) programs grant. Describe: Children’s Trust of South Carolina administers the Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting grant. The Lead Agency's outreach manager continues to serve on the Community Advisory Board for the Nurse-Family Partnership initiative based at Children’s Trust. v. [x] Agency responsible for Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment Program. Describe: The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) administers this program. The Lead Agency is maintaining information-sharing about resources and coordinating referrals for Medicaid funded services to families with young children. Additionally, the Lead Agency continues to coordinate with DHHS on services provided under the BabyNet (IDEA Part C) program. DHHS is a member of the Lead Agency’s BUILD leadership team. vi. [x] State/Territory agency responsible for child welfare. Describe: Child welfare services are based in the Lead Agency. Child care for child welfare has been expanded to include child care after adoptions (ADOPTCC), child care for reunification after a child welfare case has been closed (REUNIFY), child care for children placed with a kinship provider (KINGAP) as well as foster care child care. The agency is exploring the feasibility of providing care during the child welfare investigation phase. vii. [x] Child care provider groups or associations. Describe: In partnership with four statewide early childhood professional organizations with national affiliation, (SC Montessori Alliance, South Carolina Association for the Education of Young Children, South Carolina Early Childhood Association, and South Carolina Early Care and Education Association), the Lead Agency supported the professional development of early childhood educators among early childhood settings (center-based, home-based, faith-based, school-based). The Lead Agency supported the opportunity for early childhood educators to attend professional development conferences to meet yearly training requirements, networking with other early childhood professionals and a strategy to professionalize the field of early care and education in South Carolina. To date, 2,165 early childhood educators have received conference scholarships to meet their professional development. viii. [ ] Parent groups or organizations. Describe: ix. [ ] Title IV B 21st Century Community Learning Center Coordinators. Describe: x. [ ] Other. Describe: