DEL's
2014-15 plan for the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) was recently
approved by the federal Office of Child Care.
CCDF is a
federal grant administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Administration for Children & Families. CCDF block grants are awarded to
states, territories and Tribal Nations to help ensure families—particularly
low-income families—have access to high-quality child care choices.
CCDF pays
for:
- Subsidized child care for families. DEL sets policy for
Working Connections Child Care subsidy program, while the Department of
Social and Health Services determines eligibility and makes payments to
providers.
- Activities to improve the quality of child care and
offer additional services to families, such as child care referral
services and training for child care providers.
- Other research and technical assistance at the state
and national levels.
As the
lead state agency for the CCDF block grant, DEL must submit a plan every two
years for how the funding will be used to improve accessibility and quality of
child care in our state.
The
2014-15 plan builds upon goals we set and accomplished for prior years' plans,
including moving to 12-month child care subsidy authorization, development
of a career lattice and
strengthening Washington's professional registry system, called the Managed Education and Registry Information Tool (MERIT). The goals for 2014-15 include:
- Allowing child care licensing to focus on the
providers' strengths and allowing DEL child care licensors to focus on
high-risk indicators.
- Continued work to improve the quality of child care
through Early Achievers, Washington's quality rating and improvement
system.
- Adding resources and supports for child care providers
to our online professional development training library.
- Aligning and streamlining Washington early learning
systems, including subsidized child care, to better support high-quality
programming that gets children ready for success in school.
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