Child Care and Development Fund, Report to Congress for Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005
Download the Report to Congress in PDF format. 
(File size is 1.21 Megabytes.)
Introduction
This report to Congress is required by Section 658L of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act as amended by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 (P.L. 104–193) and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (P.L. 105–33). The report describes and analyzes current information about the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) from a variety of sources, including State plans, expenditure reports, administrative data reports, and research. The report also includes information about training and technical assistance that is provided to States, Territories, and Tribes.
CCDF is a significant source of Federal support to improve the affordability, availability, and quality of child care in the United States. CCDF assists low-income families, including families receiving or transitioning from temporary public assistance, in obtaining child care so they can work, or at State option, attend training or education.
For both Fiscal Years (FY) 2004 and 2005, $4.8 billion in Federal CCDF funding was available through block grants to all 50 States, the District of Columbia, 5 Territories, and 261 Tribal grantees in FY 2004 and 265 Tribal grantees in FY 2005 (representing over 500 Indian Tribes). Through CCDF and other funding streams available for child care––including State Matching and Maintenance of Effort (MOE) funds, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) dollars transferred to CCDF or spent directly by States on child care services, and Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) funds––over $11 billion was available for child care in FY 2004 and FY 2005. 1
| Child Care and Development Fund Grantees |
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1 Estimates of available funding for child care do not match actual State expenditures reported in Part III of this report since States have more than one year to liquidate their CCDF funds, and thus can spend dollars from both current and prior fiscal year appropriations. back to text |
CCDF is administered at the Federal level by the Child Care Bureau (CCB), Office of Family Assistance in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). States, Territories, and Tribes are responsible for ensuring that their CCDF grants are administered in compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements. In administering CCDF, States have significant discretion in how funds are used and where emphasis is placed in achieving the overall goals of CCDF.
CCDF funds are used primarily to provide subsidized child care services through vouchers or certificates to low-income working families with children under age 13. Parents may select any legally operating child care provider, including child care centers, family members, neighbors, family child care homes, afterschool programs, and faith-based programs.
Providers serving children funded by CCDF must meet basic health and safety requirements set by States, Territories, and Tribes. Within general Federal rules, States decide how their subsidy system will be administered and determine payment rates for providers, the copayment amounts that parents pay, specific eligibility requirements that a family must meet to receive a subsidy, and how CCDF services will be prioritized.
CCDF Lead Agencies must use a minimum of 4 percent of CCDF funds to improve the quality of child care. CCDF also includes targeted funds for specific purposes: quality enhancement, improving the quality of care for infants and toddlers, improving school-age care, and child care resource and referral services. Quality activities include provider staff training, grants and loans to providers, health and safety improvements, monitoring of licensing requirements, and other initiatives.
| What Data Sources Are Used in This Report? |
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This report is largely based on information and data reported by States to CCB, including:
The report also describes the Child Care Bureau’s research and technical assistance efforts in FY 2004 and FY 2005. |
Overview of the Report
This report consists of eight parts:
- Part I provides background on the CCDF program including funding, eligibility requirements, a description of how funds may be used, information about program administration, and key child care and CCDF terms.
- Part II provides information from aggregate and case-level data reported by States for FY 2004 and FY 2005, including information about children receiving subsidized care and the providers who cared for them.
- Part III summarizes expenditure data obtained from State quarterly financial reports on expenditures in FY 2004 and FY 2005.
- Part IV summarizes information reported by States in their CCDF plans for FY 2004 and FY 2005. States are required to submit plans every 2 years that describe how they will implement CCDF policies and services.
- Part V describes child care services provided by Indian Tribes that receive CCDF funding.
- Part VI describes ongoing research efforts, highlighting projects funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and summarizing some of the latest research findings about child care.
- Part VII describes training and technical assistance provided by CCB to assist States, Territories, and Tribes in administering CCDF.
- Part VIII, the Appendix, provides reporting overviews for States, Territories, and Tribes, information about CCB-funded research grantees, and administrative data on the children and families served through CCDF from FY 2004 and FY 2005 State aggregate and case-level reports.
The entire Report to Congress is available in PDF format. (File size is 1.21 Megabytes.) |
To receive a paper copy of the CCDF Report to Congress, please contact:
National Child Care Information Center
Telephone: 800-616-2242
Fax: 800-716-2242
TTY: 800-516-2242
info@nccic.org
Website: http://nccic.acf.hhs.gov/