Office of Child Care Initiatives

Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014

In November of 2014, Congressed passed a new child care law making significant changes to the CCDF program. These changes will help ensure a safer, more family-friendly child care program. They will also provide additional training and supports to child care providers. For more information on the CCDBG Act of 2014 and policy resources related to the law, visit the OCC CCDF Reauthorization policy resource page. For technical assistance and training resources related to the law, visit the Child Care Technical Assistance CCDF Reauthorization page.

National Website and Hotline Project

The CCDBG Reauthorization Act of 2014 includes a requirement to design and develop a National Website to disseminate publicly available child care consumer education information for parents.  The information on the website will help parents access safe and quality child care services in their community, with a range of price options, that best suits their family’s needs. The Act also includes a requirement to design and develop a National toll-free Hotline to allow persons to report (anonymously if desired) suspected child abuse or neglect, or violations of health and safety requirements, by an eligible child care provider. For more information visit the National Website and Hotline Project page.

Strengthening Family Child Care

The Office of Child Care has launched a special initiative to strengthen family child care (FCC). The purpose of this initiative is to promote pathways and progressions to build the supply and stability of high quality FCC providers. Family child care serves a critical need for families with infants and toddlers, families from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, families seeking non-standard hour care, and families in rural communities who may otherwise lack access to high quality child care. The Office of Child Care is interested in exploring how best to support FCC providers through licensing, quality and professional development systems, and staffed FCC networks. Learn more about the important role of Family Child Care.

Early Learning Initiative

OCC and ACF have worked to ensure that all children have access to high quality care. Projects and grants including the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge, State Advisory Councils, and Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships have brought child care and early learning partners together at federal, state, and local levels and have led to greater collaboration and more effective services throughout the country. Learn more about the Early Learning Initiative. 

Let's Move! Child Care

Let’s Move! Child Care (LMCC) is an effort to promote children’s health by encouraging and supporting physical activity and healthier nutrition practices in early care and education settings. Let’s Move! Child Care focuses on 5 goals:

  1. Physical Activity: Provide 1-2 hours of physical activity throughout the day, including outside play when possible.
  2. Screen Time: No screen time for children under 2 years. For children age 2 and older, strive to limit screen time to no more than 30 minutes per week during child care, and work with parents and caregivers to ensure children have no more than 1-2 hours of quality screen time per day (as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics).
  3. Food: Serve fruits or vegetables at every meal, eat meals family-style whenever possible, and don't serve fried foods.
  4. Beverages: Provide access to water during meals and throughout the day, and don't serve sugar-sweetened drinks. For children age 2 and older, serve low-fat (1%) or non-fat milk, and no more than one 4-to 6-ounce serving of 100% juice per day.
  5. Infant Feeding. For mothers who want to continue breastfeeding, provide their milk to their infants and welcome them to breastfeed during the child care day. Support all new parents' decisions about infant feeding.

Learn more about LMCC:

Emergency Preparedness

A primary goal of OCC is to help ensure early childhood programs support children's healthy growth and development. This goal becomes especially important in the event of a major disaster or emergency, as children are among our most vulnerable populations. OCC created a web page of emergency preparedness resources for grantees and child care providers. Some of the key resources include:

Last Reviewed: August 24, 2016