Child Care and Development Fund, Report to Congress for Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005
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COORDINATION WITH TRIBAL PARTNERS
The CCDF statute and regulations require CCDF Lead Agencies to:
- Consult with appropriate representatives of local government;
- Coordinate services with other Federal, State, and local child care and early childhood development programs, including those serving Indian children; and
- Coordinate with other State and Tribal agencies responsible for public health, employment, education, and TANF.
These State-Tribal child care collaborations have increased greatly over the past few years, in part due to increased technical assistance and support to both State and Tribal CCDF administrators on this topic. For example, in FY 2005 CCB and TriTAC produced and distributed Tribes and States Working Together: A Guide to Tribal-State Child Care Coordination to State and Tribal CCDF administrators, ACF Regional Offices, CCB’s technical assistance partners, and at annual conferences.
In their FY 2004–2005 CCDF plans, Tribes and States described a number of ways they are coordinating services. For example, Alaska’s CCDF Lead Agency hosts regular teleconferences with the 31 Alaska Native Tribal CCDF directors and meets with the Tribal grantees at the annual Tribal Cluster Training in Anchorage. Wisconsin contracts with 11 Tribes to administer the State CCDF program for Tribal families within the Tribes’ service delivery areas. Louisiana and Oklahoma both have reciprocal licensing agreements with specific Tribes that allow the Tribes and States to cross-monitor child care programs.
The Tribes also coordinate with Tribal colleges and universities (TCU) to develop professional development and training opportunities for child care providers. For those Tribes not located near an existing TCU, distance learning technology is emerging as a vital resource to provide culturally relevant training to students in remote areas. For example, the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s Child Care and Development Program collaborated with Oglala Lakota College (OLC) in formal and informal ways to meet a number of service needs on the Pine Ridge reservation. They joined forces to increase child care availability at some of the College’s campuses and developed a formal Memorandum of Agreement on the provision of technical assistance and training for center- and home-based child care providers.