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BACKGROUND

The success of welfare reform highlights the importance of child care in supporting the employment, long-term job retention, and self-sufficiency of low-income families. The number of children with parents who work outside of the home is higher than ever before. In 1999, three out of four mothers with young children worked outside of the home, compared to one in four in 1965. Such factors make quality, affordable child care essential for many families and employers. Through its child care programs, HHS is working to address the challenges that working parents face in finding child care they can afford, trust and rely on.

HHS CHILD CARE PROGRAMS

At HHS, most child care funding is provided through TANF and the CCDF, which were created as part of the comprehensive bipartisan welfare reform plan enacted in 1996. That legislation, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996, consolidated three former child care programs into a single entitlement funding stream and combined it with the discretionary funding of the Child Care and Development Block Grant. The CCDF refers to this combined funding. PRWORA also provided states with the flexibility to transfer up to 30 percent of their TANF block grant funding to CCDF and to also spend TANF directly on child care services. In fiscal year 2000, states reported transferring $2.3 billion from TANF to CCDF and spending $1.4 billion on child care directly through TANF.

In fiscal year 2002, $4.8 billion is available for child care programs under CCDF. Including CCDF and TANF expenditures, HHS estimates that approximately $11 billion in federal and state funds will be available for child care in fiscal year 2002, a nearly 500 percent increase over what was being spent on child care in fiscal year 1992. CCDF funds -- including TANF transfers -- will enable states to provide assistance to 2.2 million children, an increase of more than 900,000 since 1997.

The increased resources and other efforts at HHS and other federal departments are significantly expanding access to quality, affordable child care and early learning programs. These activities include:

Improving the Quality of Child Care. At least 4 percent of CCDF funds must be used to improve the quality of child care. For fiscal year 2002, funding includes $272 million earmarked for quality expansion, including $100 million to improve the quality of care for infants, toddlers and school-age children. States are using these funds for training and professional development, grants and loans to providers, and other innovative programs. In addition, the President's fiscal year 2002 budget for the U.S. Department of Education includes $15 million to encourage the development of well-trained professionals to teach young children.

Consumer Education. ACF provides funding to the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies to operate Child Care Aware, a national toll-free child care consumer telephone hotline (1-800-424-2246) and Web site ( www.childcareaware.org). Through Child Care Aware, families are linked to their local, community-based child care resource and referral programs and receive consumer education materials. States also use CCDF funds for consumer education and resource and referral initiatives.

Building Public-Private Partnerships. To increase available resources for child care, HHS has strongly encouraged the formation of public-private partnerships. Many states and localities have already begun effective collaborations, including child care business summits and commissions, child care investment funds, and loan programs for child care providers. HHS has identified existing practices, provided training and developed written technical assistance materials including a tool-kit designed to inform the business community on possibilities and alternatives for expanding child care services.

School-Age Child Care Initiatives. Thirty-five percent of the children whose care was subsidized through CCDF in fiscal year 1999 were aged 6 to 12 years. In addition, $19 million of CCDF funds for fiscal year 2002 are earmarked for school-age child care and resource and referral activities. Many states are using quality and subsidy dollars to make additional investments in school-age care beyond the earmark requirement. In addition, HHS coordinates with the Department of Education in its implementation of the 21st Century Learning Centers Program, which includes funds to increase the availability of care for school-age children and youth during non-school hours. The range of entities eligible to receive funding was recently expanded to include community-based organizations, public and private entities, and consortia of such entities. Thus child care organizations, among others, could now be eligible.

Child Care Research. The fiscal year 2002 budget earmarks $10 million for child care research, demonstrations and evaluations. These funds are increasing the capacity for child care research at the national, state and local levels while addressing critical questions with implications for children and families. In earlier years, research funds were awarded to support field-initiated, partnership and scholar research grants, as well as the Child Care Research Collaboration and Archive.

National Child Care Information Center. ACF's National Child Care Information Center (NCCIC) serves as a central point for child care information for states, territories, tribes, policy-makers, child care organizations, providers and the general public. NCCIC activities include dissemination of child care information in response to requests and outreach to ACF grantees and the broader child care community via a toll-free information line (1-800-616-2242), fax, mail and the Internet ( nccic.org).

Serving Special Populations. HHS has made a commitment to meeting the needs of special populations, including children with special needs and those in rural communities. In fiscal year 2000, HHS completed a project to assist states in ensuring access to child care for children with disabilities alongside their peers. In fiscal year 2001, HHS initiated the Center on Social and Emotional Development, a joint project of the Child Care and Head Start bureaus. This initiative provides training and technical assistance to support caregivers in fostering healthy social and emotional development in young children. Also, ACF hosts occasional national leadership forums to develop strategies for improving the quality and availability of child care for underserved populations. Recent forums have focused on rural communities, Hispanic populations and early literacy.

Healthy Child Care America Campaign. Since 1995, ACF and HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration have coordinated the Healthy Child Care America Campaign to promote partnerships between child care and health agencies to ensure that children in child care are in safe and healthy environments and receive the health services they need. In 1999, HHS provided 46 states with three-year grants worth $100,000 per year. These grants to states and territories support and encourage the development of statewide strategies and planning for healthy, safe child care programs. Grantees are now focusing on the development and implementation of programs to improve state health and safety standards for child care; developing statewide networks of child care health experts; and supporting outreach activities related to Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

Health and Safety Protections. Under the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act, states were required to establish health and safety standards for the prevention and control of infectious diseases, building and physical premises safety, and minimum health and safety training for providers accepting CCDBG funds. Under the 1996 welfare reform law, all child care providers serving children funded by CCDF must meet the health and safety requirements set by states and tribes. In 1998, HHS implemented regulations to ensure that children receiving federal child care assistance are immunized according to state public health agency standards.

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