Covering The Map

covering the map Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

covering the map Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

Acknowledgements NACCRRA deeply appreciates and acknowledges the CCR&Rs who took the time to complete the survey on the training offered by their agencies. Without them this project could not have been completed.

Many NACCRRA staff contributed to this project. Linda Smith, Susan PerryManning, Grace Reef, Mousumi Sarkar and Caitlin McLaughlin helped with the design, analysis and reporting for this project. Additional thanks go to Debra Foulks for editing and to Patricia Sadiq for design and layout.

ABOUT NACCRRA NACCRRA, the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies, is our nation’s leading voice for child care.

We work with more than 800 state and local Child Care Resource and Referral agencies to ensure that families in every local community have access to high-quality, affordable child care. To achieve our mission, we lead projects that increase the quality and availability of child care, offer comprehensive training to child care professionals, undertake research, and advocate child care policies that positively impact the lives of children and families. To learn more about NACCRRA, and how you can join us in ensuring access to high-quality child care for all families, visit us at www.naccrra.org.

About CCR&Rs The 800 local and state Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agencies serve almost all communities in the United States. Together they serve parents and providers in 99.3% of all populated ZIP codes.

CCR&Rs help parents find child care Choosing child care is one of the most important decisions families make, but all too often they must rely on information and resources obtained through word-of-mouth (neighbors, friends, co-workers). Local Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) organizations help parents take the guesswork out of choosing care by providing: u

referrals to local child care providers;

u information

on child care state licensing requirements; and

u requirements

and availability of child care subsidies.

CCR&Rs provide guidance by phone, in person, and in other ways, such as the Internet, that are tailored to each individual family.

CCR&Rs support families by . . . u talking with parents one-on-one; u understanding

the delicate balance of family life, particularly for families with low-incomes; that finding high-quality child care is just a first step to raising happy, healthy children;

CCR&Rs build the supply of child care by . . . u providing an entry point to the child care field; u helping

providers meet licensing requirements;

u supporting

providers by offering low-cost or free training in diverse topics like health & safety, child development, and sound business practices; and

u working

with local and state governments and the private sector to leverage resources for building and maintaining the supply of quality child care.

CCR&Rs improve the quality of child care by . . . u providing ongoing professional development opportunities to child care providers and staff; u supporting u helping

create financial incentives for education for providers; and

u advocating

CCR&Rs bridge child care and education High-quality child care has many benefits, including preparing children for school. CCR&Rs strive to create child care settings that help children grow and learn by: u educating

u offering

u informing

workshops, hotlines, and newsletters;

for better compensation for

providers.

u understanding

and

accreditation programs;

parents about the importance of early learning and the components of quality care; and communities about the link between early learning and later success in school.

u reaching

out to parents with trusted, local information that enables them to make informed choices.

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

CCR&Rs document child care needs and trends by . . . u gathering information to better understand family needs; u acting

as a major source of information about the local supply and cost of child care; and

u tracking

trends about the changing needs of families.

CCR&Rs engage new partners by . . . u reaching out to business leaders, law enforcement, school teachers, and others; u making

child care an issue the entire community cares about; and

u collaborating

with other family support services to promote a holistic vision of child care that includes health, literacy, and special needs.

ii

CCR&Rs tell the child care story by . . . u providing resources; u documenting u creating

community needs;

new ways to meet those needs; and

u bringing

the voices of children, families, and child care providers to the public.

In short, located in every state and most communities across America, CCR&Rs help nearly 7 million families each year by providing child care referrals, consumer education, and financial assistance. They work with their communities to identify child care needs and create solutions, recruiting and training nearly 500,000 child care providers and creating 450,000 new child care spaces annually.

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

About This Report Choosing child care is one of the most important decisions families make, but all too often they must rely on information obtained through word-of-mouth (neighbors, friends, co-workers).

Local Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) organizations help parents take the guesswork out of choosing care by providing: u

referrals to local child care providers;

u

state licensing requirements information;

u

availability of child care subsidies; and

The survey was conducted by mail and web in April and May of 2007. It was sent to a random, representative sample of 300 local CCR&Rs – 189 of them from 43 states responded for a response rate of 64 percent. Respondents were overall representative of the CCR&R population based on region, budget size and organizational structure.

Questions answered by the full sample of local CCR&Rs are subject to a sampling error of plus or minus approximately 6 percentage points at the 95 percent level of confidence.

u early

childhood learning and components of quality child care information.

CCR&Rs provide guidance by phone, in person, and in other ways, such as the Internet, that are tailored to each individual family.

To better understand the nature and extent of these services, the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) conducted a survey on all the services local Child Care Resource & Referral agencies (CCR&Rs) provide to parents in their communities.

The survey asked detailed questions about child care and other referral services, consumer education, parent workshops, and child care subsidy management.

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

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Table Of Contents About CCR&RS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i About This Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii Foreward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Recommendations For Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii Recommendations For State Governments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Child Care Referrals And Consumer Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Serving Families And Children With Referrals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Enhanced Referrals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Using Referrals To Educate Parents About Child Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Follow-up And Other Consumer Education Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Helping Parents Pay For Child Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Parent Workshops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Who Are The Parents Attending Workshops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Content Of Workshops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Delivering The Workshops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

11 11 11 12

Language And Literacy Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Training Child Care Providers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 CCR&R Funding For Operations & Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Summary And Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Recommendations For Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Recommendations For State Governments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Appendix A: Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Appendix B: Comparison Of CCR&R Population To Those Who Responded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Endnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

List Of Figures and Tables Table 1: Overview of Local CCR&R Services To Parents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Table 2: Number of Child Care Referral Requests by Age Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Figure 1: Area Served by CCR&Rs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Figure 2: Topics Generally Covered in a Typical Referral Call (Percent of CCR&Rs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Figure 3: Written Materials for Parents (Percent of CCR&Rs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Figure 4: CCR&Rs Administering Child Care Subsidies (Percent of CCR&Rs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Figure 5: Other Services/Programs CCR&Rs Refer Parents To (Percent of CCR&Rs) . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Figure 6: Who Attends CCR&R Workshops? (Percent of CCR&Rs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Figure 7: What Topic Areas Do CCR&Rs Offer Workshops In? (Percent of CCR&Rs) . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Figure 8: Workshops CCR&Rs Offer Parents of Young Children? (Percent of CCR&Rs) . . . . . . . . . . 12 Figure 9: Where Do CCR&Rs Offer Parents Workshops? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Figure 10: Language/Literacy Enhancing Activities (Percent of CCR&Rs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Foreword

E

very week, nearly 12 million children under age 5 are in some type of nonparental child care. Some are in child care centers, some are in family child care homes, some are with relatives, others might be with friends or neighbors. But, the fact remains, that parents need reliable, highquality child care to ensure that they can go to work without wondering if their children will be okay.

Child Care in the United States consists of a variety of options including private, for-profit, notfor-profit, school-based, business sponsored, and home based programs. To the first time parent, confronted with a myriad of options, the process of locating high-quality care can be daunting.

This is particularly true for parents with infants.

Regulation and oversight of child care is left to individual states who have various terms and requirements for programs. Regulations, licensing and program qualifications are frequently confusing and leave parents wondering what real choices they have. Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies are trained to help parents maneuver through the maze of regulations, quality indicators and options available.

Child care is multi-dimensional. It provides care for children allowing their parents to earn a living. It also provides one of the first settings outside the home, for children to interact with and learn from other children and adults.

Research has demonstrated that 80 percent of a child’s brain is developed by the age of 3 and 90 percent by the age of 5. The early years are important learning years if the child is to arrive at school ready to succeed. Both the link between school readiness and the desire of parents and policymakers to ensure that children begin school ready to succeed, are increasingly more important in communities throughout America as every school faces the challenges of meeting the learning requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act.

What we know from national testing is that children don’t start failing to read or struggling to add and subtract in 3rd or 4th grade. The gap in their skills and the story of their struggles can usually first be noticed in kindergarten and first grade. By strengthening the quality of early care and education before children reach the age of mandatory school attendance, children can be in a stronger position to be successful in school.

That is one critical reason why parent choice of quality child care providers is so important.

However, parents can only have real choices when child care is: (1) available; (2) affordable; and (3) of high enough quality.

The Child Care and Development Block Grant law sets aside a minimum of 4 percent of funding for “activities that are designed to provide comprehensive consumer education to parents and the public, activities that increase parental choice, and activities designed to improve the quality and availability of child care (such as resource and referral services).”

Members of Congress knew that when it comes down to it, child care is about parent choices.

Our studies show parents understand and want quality care for their children, but are confronted with few high-quality choices that they can afford.

And, even when they can afford high-quality care, it might not be available in their communities.

This makes the work of CCR&Rs so important in communities. They are the link between parents, child care providers, and a community’s success in expanding the number of children who are ready to begin school successfully. CCR&Rs not only provide referrals and information to parents, but they also train child care providers.

The overall objective of the work of CCR&Rs is to strengthen the quality of care within a community to offer more quality choices to more parents. Children begin learning at birth. Parents know it. Our parent polls show it.

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

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But, to ensure that as many parents as possible have a resource in their community to go to (whether in person, on the phone, or on-line), the quality set-aside within CCDBG needs to be increased from the minimum 4 percent currently to 12 percent. Without sufficient investment, CCR&Rs will have a modest impact on parent choice and education and the training of child care providers. And, it is past the time where only a modest number of children should enter school ready to succeed.

What follows are the results from a survey NACCRRA conducted about parent services offered by CCR&Rs. To increase funding available from CCDBG for CCR&Rs, it is first important to understand the role that CCR&Rs play in the community and the multitude of services that they offer parents. This study both reviews the survey results and makes recommendations with regard to legislative follow-up. As CCR&Rs are located in a diverse array of communities, there are many different ways to conduct their activities. This report focuses on common ground of which there is much. With the will and knowledge about what can be done to improve the quality of child care, the end result will be that parents will have more choices among quality settings and more children will have the chance to start school ready to succeed.

Linda K. Smith Executive Director NACCRRA, December 2007

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NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

Executive Summary

C

hild care is one of the most important choices parents make. Helping families to better understand their choices is the mission of every CCR&R. Each family has different needs. Helping parents find child care that is best for them is a major responsibility of Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) agencies throughout the country.

NACCRRA works with over 800 CCR&Rs throughout the country. In April-May of 2007, NACCRRA conducted a survey about the services CCR&Rs offer to parents. The survey found that: u CCR&Rs

offered services to nearly 7 million parents in 2006.

u Local

CCR&Rs reported almost 10 million contacts with parents in 2006 to provide them with various services, including referrals to child care, subsidy payments, consumer education, language and literacy programs and activities, and training workshops.

u Almost

all CCR&Rs offer written materials in English and other languages based on community needs, and in 2006 they distributed almost 11 million pieces of written materials to more than 5 million parents.

u Most

CCR&Rs have web sites and offer parents access to a wide range of written materials related to child care and other family services – in 2006 an estimated 39 million parents visited their local CCR&Rs’ website.

Child Care Referrals Almost all CCR&Rs (95 percent) offer parent referrals to child care programs. Parents can call their local CCR&R and ask for a list of child care programs within their home or work ZIP codes.

Parents can specify such things as the type of setting they prefer, the hours of care that they need, and particular needs of their child (such as having special needs). While most of the referral requests are via the telephone, CCR&Rs are increasingly becoming a more visible presence on the Internet and offering parents online options that are available at any time of the day or night. Currently, almost two-thirds of CCR&Rs are offering parents the option to search for and receive child care referrals online. u Almost

half of all referrals requested were for infant/toddler care (48 percent).

Another 30 percent of requests were for preschool-age children and 22 percent were for school-age children.

Most CCR&Rs also offer a higher level of service called enhanced referrals (76 percent). In addition to conducting searches based on the needs of parents, they also conduct vacancy checks and follow-up with parents until they find care that meets their needs. Most often CCR&Rs offer this service to families with children with special needs (62 percent), U.S. military personnel (56 percent), employees of area businesses (44 percent), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or TANF recipients (41 percent). u Nearly

one-quarter (23 percent) of enhanced referrals are for families who do not speak English as a first language.

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In 2006, CCR&Rs reached more than 5 million parents with almost 11 million consumer education materials, such as brochures, flyers, etc.

Consumer Education Almost all the CCR&Rs (97 percent) offering referrals also offer consumer education to parents during a referral call. Staff routinely review information on financial assistance to pay for child care, licensing, staff : child ratios, family support specific to a family’s needs, health and safety indicators, average price of care, caregiver education and community resources. In addition, CCR&Rs also send follow-up packets to parents after the call – that include written materials about community resources and parenting information. u More

than 8 in 10 CCR&Rs maintain a website which parents can access for information on child care. In 2006, an estimated 39 million parents visited these websites.

In 2006, CCR&Rs administered more than $1.95 billion in child care subsidies to 420,000 families with 729,900 children.

Helping Parents Pay For Child Care While administering child care subsidies or fee assistance programs are not core CCR&R functions, 31 percent of CCR&Rs administer subsidies through contracts with state or local governments. Half of families receiving child care subsidies from these CCR&Rs also requested and received referrals for child care and more than three-fourths of them received consumer education on child care.

In 2006, CCR&Rs provided referrals to other programs and services to almost 567,500 families.

Referrals To Services Beyond Child Care Almost all CCR&Rs offer parents information about other programs and services they might need beyond child care. Most often CCR&Rs refer parents to child care subsidy or fee assistance programs and other early childhood programs such as pre-kindergarten. More than three-quarters of CCR&Rs make referrals to TANF, and half refer parents to programs that will help them find employment u CCR&Rs

are a gateway to health care programs with 79 percent of CCR&Rs making referrals to their State Children’s Health Insurance Program, and mental health services (61 percent).

In 2006, CCR&Rs provided training workshops to almost 134,000 parents.

Parent Training & Workshops While it is well known that CCR&Rs provide child care referrals to parents, it is not as widely known that CCR&Rs provide a variety of other services to parents, such as a range of training workshops and programs. Six in 10 CCR&Rs offer training workshops for parents.

Typically, CCR&Rs canvas parents in their communities and design workshops to meet their needs. They offer training on such topics as choosing high-quality child care, children’s behavioral issues, social/emotional development of children, and children’s language and literacy skills. Over three-fourths are involved in activities related to language and literacy and more than half provide young children with free books. Over half of CCR&Rs provide training workshops for parents of children with special needs. u CCR&Rs

offer workshops to parents with children of all ages, with 44 percent of CCR&Rs offering training workshops specifically targeting parents of children birth to age three.

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

Child Care Aware® Providing a link from national to local services Child Care Aware®, NACCRRA’s national toll-free hotline, links parents to local CCR&R services.

Created nearly 20 years ago to help parents looking for child care, Child Care Aware® now reaches over a million families a year helping them find the child care of their choice. Child Care Aware® operates a website for easy parent access any time of the day or night and a toll-free hotline. Through the Child Care Aware® network, parents need only provide their ZIP code to be connected to their local Child Care Resource & Referral agency, to link with their database to find child care in their neighborhood. Child Care Aware® also distributes consumer education information for parents, mailing over 400,000 publications last year. All Child Care Aware® services are in English and Spanish.

In 2006, Child Care Aware® reached over 1 million parents.

Child Care Aware® also provides a critical link to military families impacted by the current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Child Care Aware® is not only playing a critical role in helping civilian families, but also acts as the a gateway between military families and community-based child care. u Last

year, over one-third of all calls to Child Care Aware® were from military families looking for child care and financial support from the Department of Defense.

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CCR&R Parent Services Recommendations Child care in the United States is a market-based system that allows for maximum parent choice.

However, parents only have a real choice when they have access to information about all of the options available in their community and can afford them. Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies are the linch pin that allows the system to work. Nearly all the funding for providing services to parents comes from the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), which is federal funding allotted to the states to be used for child care and related purposes. Under current law, a minimum of 4 percent of these funds are set aside to improve child care quality and promote parent education and choice with regard to child care settings and early childhood development. Legislation to reauthorize CCDBG has been pending in Congress, but to date, Congress has failed to reauthorize CCDBG since 2002, and essentially funds have been frozen for the past five years.

Recommendations for State Governments u Set-aside

a minimum of 12 percent of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) for initiatives designed to strengthen the quality of child care.

u Allocate

funds sufficient enough for initiatives run by CCR&Rs to:

n provide

parenting information and consumer education, including parent workshops on topics to promote positive and healthy early childhood development.

n provide

parent referrals, including on-line capability to search for child care options by geographical areas through the Internet.

u Increase

the amount of CCDBG funding available for working families with low-incomes to ensure they have access to high-quality child care.

In order for CCR&Rs to continue providing services to parents, and to expand the number of parents who receive services, NACCRRA and its members call on Congress, the states and individual CCR&Rs to take the following actions: Recommendations for Congress u Reauthorize

the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) and increase the quality set-aside to 12 percent.

u Authorize

specific funds for a communitybased child care provider training system run through the CCR&Rs in every state to strengthen the quality of child care to enable more parents to choose among quality options.

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NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

Introduction

N

early 12 million children under age 5 in the United States—that’s 63 percent of the nation’s children under 5—are in some type of child care arrangement every week. 1 In 2004, 62 percent of women with children younger than 6 were in the labor force2, with three-fourths of them working more than 30 hours per week.3 Children younger than age 5 with working mothers are in child care for an average of 36 hours a week. Dual-income families are today’s reality, with the mother’s income being crucial to meeting basic household expenses.

For families with children under age 5 with working mothers and incomes between $18,000 and $36,000, the mother’s income was two-thirds of the household income (66.5 percent). For such families with incomes between $36,000 and $60,000, the mother’s income was more than half of the household income (53 percent).

In 1975, only 2 out of 5 mothers with a child under age 6 held a paid job. Through the last quarter of the 20th century, women have increasingly entered the job market and today child care is part of the daily routine for the majority of families with children.

Parents of all income levels need help identifying and finding quality child care options, where their children can be safe, healthy, and develop to their fullest potential. The early childhood years are critical because they lay the foundation for cognitive functioning; behavioral, social and self-regulatory capacities, and physical health.4 From birth to beginning school, children develop rapidly, acquiring the framework on which all subsequent development occurs. Ninety percent of brain development occurs by age 5, which means the setting in which child care is provided can have a life-long impact.

Parents need child care in order to work.

Children need high-quality child care settings so that they can be safe and learning while in

the care of someone other than their parents.

Employers benefit from high-quality child care arrangements because employee productivity increases, absenteeism is reduced, and turnover may decline, which all leads to the value of a company increasing. According to a 1986 study, employee absences due to breakdown in child care arrangements costs businesses $3 billion annually.5 Parents need help finding available child care options in their communities, particularly those parents who need a type of care that is in short supply (care for children with special needs, for infants and toddlers, in low-income neighborhoods or rural areas, or care needed during nontraditional work hours or for irregular work schedules). Parents participating in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program or who have low incomes are particularly likely to fall into more than one of these categories. Parents with low incomes, in particular, need assistance finding child care arrangements on short notice. With frequent changes in work schedules and/or nontraditional hours that are characteristic of low-wage employment, the challenges to finding child care are further exacerbated. Having more information about local child care options can help parents explore choices in selecting child care that best fits their family situation, reduces their child care costs, takes advantage of child care subsidy programs, and stabilizes their child care arrangements, thereby supporting their continuity in employment.6 Parents also need help identifying and choosing high-quality care arrangements. Research has found that less than 10 percent of children in non-parental care are receiving high-quality care.

Children of families earning low-incomes are disproportionately likely to be in lower-quality child care.7 The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), the primary source of federal funding for child care, allocates funds to the states to

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

be used for both subsidies and initiatives to improve the quality of child care. Most of the funding is used by states to pay for child care subsides since the federal grant requires only a minimum of 4 percent to be set-aside for activities to strengthen the quality of child care and to provide referrals and consumer education to parents.

CCR&Rs provide a critical link by both administering subsidies on behalf of states to families who meet state-set eligibility requirements and offering referrals to child care programs regardless of the parents’ income.

Located in every state across the country, (see Figure 1), CCR&Rs provide vital child care information and resources to parents and work to strengthen child care in communities. By providing services, including referrals, to almost 2 million parents a year, many of them firsttime parents, CCR&Rs provide information about high-quality child care and child development and assist parents in becoming more educated consumers. Child care is one of the most important choices parents make. Helping families to better understand their choices as well to access parenting information and services that they might need is the mission of every CCR&R.

Figure 1: Area Served by a CCR&R

99.33 percent of populated ZIP Codes in the 50 states and Washington, DC are served by a CCR&R – only 29 populated ZIP Codes are currently not served by a CCR&R.

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

The National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) conducted a survey on all the services local Child Care Resource & Referral agencies (CCR&Rs) provide to parents in their communities. The survey asked detailed questions about: u

child care and other referral services,

u

consumer education,

u

parent training, and

u

child care subsidy management.

The survey (see Appendix A) was conducted by mail and web in April and May 2007 and sent to a random, representative sample of 300 local CCR&Rs – 189 of them from 43 states responded for a response rate of 64 percent.

Respondents were overall representative of the CCR&R population based on region, budget size and organization type (see Appendix B).

Questions answered by the full sample of local CCR&Rs are subject to a sampling error of plus or minus approximately 6 percentage points at the 95 percent level of confidence, i.e., if the same survey were conducted 100 times, then 95 times the results will be within plus or minus 6 percentage points of the results presented in this report.

According to the survey, in 2006, CCR&Rs served almost 7 million parents with the following services: As Table 1 shows, almost all the CCR&Rs (99 percent) offer services directly to parents.

Most provide parents with referrals to child care programs and consumer education, and with referrals to other programs and services they need (94 percent each). A significant number of CCR&Rs are involved in enhancing language and literacy activities for young children in their communities (79 percent), and many offer training workshops to parents on child development and other related issues (59 percent). Additionally, 3 in 10 CCR&Rs are administering the state, county or local government funded child care subsidy programs in their communities.

Overall, CCR&Rs offered comprehensive services to nearly 7 million parents in 2006.

Local CCR&Rs reported almost 10 million contacts with parents in 2006 to provide them with various services, including referrals to child care, subsidy payments, consumer education, language and literacy programs and activities, and training workshops.

Table 1: Overview Of Local CCR&R Services To Parents Percent of local CCR&Rs offering any services to parents

Of those . . .

Percent of local CCR&Rs offering child care referrals and consumer education Percent of local CCR&Rs offering to refer parents to other programs Percent of local CCR&Rs offering language/literacy activities Percent of local CCR&Rs offering training workshops to parents Percent of local CCR&Rs administering child care subsidy programs

99%

94% 94% 79% 59% 30%

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

Child Care Referrals and Consumer Education

P

roviding parents with referrals to child care programs is a core component of CCR&R activities.

CCR&Rs provide these referrals via phone, mail, in-person and increasingly on the Internet. CCR&R referral services are not limited to just handing parents a list of available child care programs in their area, but also include educating parents about child care, especially the indicators for high-quality child care and how to select a program that meets their needs.

Almost all CCR&Rs (95 percent) offer parent referrals to child care programs. Parents can call their local CCR&R and ask for a list of child care programs within their home or work ZIP codes, and for specific age-groups that meet their needs. Parents can specify the type of setting they prefer, the hours of care that they need, anything in particular to their child’s needs (such as having special needs), whether it’s okay to have pets in the setting, or in other ways customize their search for child care to meet their needs.

Serving Families and Children with Referrals In 2006, CCR&Rs handled 1.6 million child care referral requests of more than 937,000 families for 1.4 million children. More than half the families requesting child care referrals (53%) were first-time parents. On average in 2006, a CCR&R handled 2,717 child care referral requests to 1,590 families for 2,445 children.

Almost half of the child care referrals requested were for infant/toddler care (48 percent).

Another 30 percent of referral requests pertained to care for preschool age children and 22 percent were for school-age children (see Table 2).

It is not surprising that first-time parents would comprise such a large share of referrals since they are looking to use child care for the first time. They may not yet have a network of peers

Table 2: Child Care Referral Requests

by Age Group Child Care Referrals Provided in 2006 for:

Percentage of Referrals

Infant/Toddlers

48%

Preschool Children

30%

School-Age Children

22%

TOTAL

2,717

who use child care and are looking for what their options are and what settings might work best for them. In addition, infant and toddler care is the hardest to find. It tends to be more expensive given the hands-on nature of taking care of infants and the supply of providers for infant care is small compared to care available for older children.

While the vast majority of referral requests are via the telephone, CCR&Rs are increasingly becoming a more visible presence on the Internet and offering parents online options that are available any time of the day or night. Currently, almost two-thirds of CCR&Rs (61 percent) are offering parents the option to search for and receive child care referrals online. Furthermore, CCR&Rs are making efforts to reach out to nonEnglish speaking parents. Nearly 90 percent of CCR&Rs offer written materials in English and other languages based on community needs.

More than 4 out of 5 CCR&Rs have websites and offer parents access to a wide range of written materials related to child care and other family services in English and other languages (the most common language being Spanish).

CCR&Rs mainly refer parents to licensed child care programs (99 percent of CCR&Rs), registered or certified programs (62 percent),

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

other legally-operating programs, although not licensed, registered or certified (51 percent)*, and to other programs, such as pre-Kindergarten, nursery schools, summer camps, etc. (21 percent).

Enhanced Referrals While nearly all CCR&Rs provide basic child care referrals to parents, more than three-fourths of CCR&Rs also offer enhanced referrals (76 percent). Enhanced referrals offer a higher level of service – they not only include all the basic referral services such as conducting searches based on parameters provided by parents, including type of care, location, hours needed for care, etc., but also include services such as conducting vacancy checks and continuing to follow-up with parents until they find care that meets their needs.

In 2006, CCR&Rs conducted enhanced referrals for almost 87,000 families seeking child care for more than 121,000 children.

Most often CCR&Rs conducted enhanced referrals for families with children with special needs (62 percent) or for U.S. military or Department of Defense personnel (56 percent of CCR&Rs offering this service) through NACCRRA’s Enhanced Referral

Program. Under a contract with the U.S. Army, NACCRRA sub-contracts with local CCR&Rs to help Army and other military personnel find child care that meets their needs. In addition to working with military families, 44 percent of the CCR&Rs offering enhanced referrals worked with area businesses, 41 percent with recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and 23 percent offer enhanced referrals to non-English speaking families.

Using Referrals to Educate Parents About Child Care While providing child care referrals is a core CCR&R activity, these agencies are also using their contact with parents during referral calls to educate them about child care quality, early childhood development and other crucial information that parents need to make informed choices about selecting child care. This service is especially useful for first-time parents, who have not had to make these decisions previously – these parents constitute more than half of all parents who contact CCR&Rs for referrals to child care programs.

Almost all of the CCR&Rs (97 percent) offering referrals also offer consumer education to parents during a referral call. An average

Figure 2: Topics Generally Covered in a Typical Referral Call (percent of CCR&Rs) 37%

Earned Income Tax Credit

53%

Accreditation

63%

Other financial assistance

69%

Community resources

74%

Caregiver education and training

76%

Group size Health and safety indicators

78%

Price of care

78% 80%

Family support materials

83%

Staff:child ratios

84%

Licensing contact information

89%

Public financial assistance information

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

* Legally-operating programs that are not required to be licensed, registered or certified are programs that are exempt by the state either due to the number of children they enroll or due to faith or other considerations.

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

Figure 3: Written Materials for Parents (Percent of CCR&Rs) 18%

Other

29% 49%

CCR&R Newsletter

17%

Daily Parent (NACCRRA newsletter)

53%

24%

Accreditation

62%

29%

Average price of care

67%

27%

Other financial assistance information

73%

44%

EITC

73%

49%

Caregiver education and training

75%

35%

Group size

80%

44%

Family support materials

81%

55%

Staff : child ratios

85%

45%

Community resources

85%

54%

89%

Health and safety indicators

66%

Public financial assistance information

90%

62%

Licensing contact information

91%

50%

0%

20%

40% English

referral call lasts about 18 minutes during which staff routinely go over information on financial assistance to pay for child care (89 percent), licensing (84 percent), staff : child ratios (83 percent), family support specific to a family’s needs (80 percent), health and safety information (78 percent), average price of care (78 percent), group size (76 percent), caregiver education, training and turnover (74 percent) and community resources (69 percent). Figure 2 shows the percentage of CCR&Rs covering specific topics during an average referral call.

In addition to providing information during referral calls, CCR&Rs also send follow-up packets to parents after the call – 85 percent of CCR&Rs providing referrals send follow-up packets that include written materials about resources in the community and parenting information.

Follow-Up and Other Consumer Education Materials In follow-up packets or during other contacts with parents, CCR&Rs generally provide parents with written materials on how to contact child care licensing agencies (91 percent), accessing financial assistance to pay for child care (90 percent), health and safety information (89 percent),

60%

80%

100%

Non-English

staff : child ratio requirements in child care programs (85 percent), community resources (85 percent), family support materials (81 percent), group size requirements in child care programs (80 percent), and information on caregiver education and training (75 percent).

These materials are also available in most CCR&Rs (87 percent) in a language other than English. CCR&Rs typically have 12 different pieces of written materials on various topics, and six of these are available in a language other than English, indicating that CCR&Rs are making a real effort to reach out to non-English speakers.

Figure 3 shows the percent of CCR&Rs who have and distribute written materials that are helpful to parents in English and non-English languages.

In 2006, CCR&Rs reached more than 5 million parents with almost 11 million consumer education materials, such as brochures, flyers, etc.

Furthermore, 84 percent of CCR&Rs maintain websites that include the above materials and information on those topics. Providing information on-line is important as families increasingly look to the Internet as their first source of information. And, because the Internet is available “24-7”, the hours work well for

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

parents busy with jobs and children. In 2006, an estimated 39 million parents visited websites created and maintained by their local CCR&Rs. Child Care Aware® Reaching Parents Child Care Aware® reaches over a million families a year throughout the country, helping parents in every state in every community find the child care of their choice. Child Care Aware® operates a website for easy parent access any time of the day or night and a tollfree hotline. Through the Child Care Aware® network, parents need only provide their ZIP code to be connected to their local Child Care Resource & Referral agency, to link with their database to find child care in their neighborhood.

Child Care Aware® also distributes consumer education information for parents, mailing over 400,000 publications last year. All Child Care

Aware® services (including publications) are in English and Spanish. Child Care Aware® also provides a critical link to military families impacted by the current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last year, over one-third of all calls were from military families looking for child care and financial support from the Department of Defense. Child Care Aware® is not only playing a critical role in helping civilian families, but also acts as the gateway between military families and community-based child care. Department of Defense family publications throughout out the country direct military families looking for child care in their neighborhood to NACCRRA’s Child Care Aware® web site (www.childcareaware. org/en/) as well as NACCRRA’s gateway to assistance for military families (www.naccrra.org/ MilitaryPrograms/).

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

Helping Parents Pay For Child Care

S

tates provide fee assistance or subsidies to families earning low-incomes largely through CCDBG or the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program based on state-set criteria. Nearly one-third (31 percent) of CCR&Rs administer state or local subsidy programs.

Larger CCR&Rs are more likely to be administering subsidies (43 percent of large CCR&Rs compared to 30 percent of medium and 16 percent of small CCR&Rs). Additionally, CCR&Rs in the Northeast are more likely to be administering subsidy programs (53 percent) compared to their counterparts elsewhere (see Figure 4).

receiving public assistance. An analysis of data collected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services indicate that access to and use of child care subsidies is associated with increased maternal employment. Furthermore, use of child care subsidies is associated with the largest increase in employment for the most disadvantaged welfare recipients.8 In its evaluations of welfare employment programs, Knab et. al. found that shortages of child care slots were associated with lower participation rates in work force activities.9 Families receiving subsidies in most cases also received child care referrals and consumer education on child care. Slightly more than half (51 percent) of families receiving child care subsidies from CCR&Rs also requested and received referrals for child care. More than threefourths of them (76 percent) received consumer education on child care.

In 2006, these CCR&Rs administered more than $1.95 billion in child care subsidies to 420,000 families with 729,900 children.

Having child care so they can successfully enter the workforce is especially essential for parents

Figure 4: CCR&Rs Administering Child Care Subsidies (Percent of CCR&Rs)

Large

43% 30%

Medium Small

16%

West

34%

South

25%

Midwest

20%

Northeast

53%

All Local CCR&Rs

0%

31%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

Referrals To Services Beyond Child Care Almost all CCR&Rs (96 percent) offer parents information about other programs and services they might need beyond child care.

Most often, as Figure 5 shows, CCR&Rs refer parents to child care subsidy or fee assistance programs (97 percent), to pre-Kindergarten programs (81 percent), their State Children’s Health Insurance Program (79 percent), TANF (76 percent), other health care services (70 percent) and mental health services (61 percent). About

half the CCR&Rs also refer parents to programs that will help them find employment (49 percent) and to dental care services (46 percent).

Between the State Children’s Health Insurance program, other health services, mental health services, and dental care services, CCR&Rs serve as a gateway to critical health care resources within communities.

In 2006, CCR&Rs provided referrals to other programs and services to almost 567,500 families.

Figure 5: Other Services/Programs CCR&Rs Refer Parents To (Percent of CCR&Rs) Other Head Start Legal Services 2-1-1 Special Needs Housing Services Nutrition Dental Care Services Help Parents Find Employment Mental Health Services Health Care Services TANF State Children's Health Insurace Program Pre-K programs Child Care Subsidy

0%

10

38% 1% 3% 4% 8% 10% 10% 46% 49% 61% 70% 76% 79% 81% 97%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

Parent Workshops

W

hile it is well known that CCR&Rs provide child care referrals to parents, it is not as widely known that CCR&Rs provide a variety of other services to parents such as a range of training workshops and programs. Six in 10 CCR&Rs offer training workshops to parents.

Typically, CCR&Rs canvas parents in their communities and design workshops to meet their needs.

In 2006, CCR&Rs provided training workshops to almost 134,000 parents. Typically CCR&Rs held over 40 parent workshops throughout the year.

Figure 7: What Topics Do CCR&Rs Offer Workshops In? (Percent of CCR&Rs) 19%

Other ESL 5% Adult Literacy

11% 18%

Fire safety First aid and CPR

33% 47%

SIDS

55%

Children with special needs

60%

Parent/Provider Relationship Ensuring health/safety

69%

Language/Literacy skills

69%

Age-appropriate activities

70%

Social/Emotional development

71%

Children's behavior issues

77%

Choosing quality child care

78%

0%

While most CCR&Rs offered workshops only in English, 34 percent conducting workshops also offered them in other languages, with Spanish being the most popular second language. CCR&Rs in the West were most likely to offer workshops in other languages (62 percent compared to 23 percent in the Northeast, 18 percent in the Midwest and 28 percent in the South), possibly because these CCR&Rs are located in areas where they are providing services to more linguistically diverse communities.

Who Are the Parents Attending Workshops Although CCR&Rs offer workshops to parents with children of all ages, over 90 percent provide workshops specifically targeted to parents of very

Figure 6: Who Attends CCR&R Workshops? (Percent of CCR&Rs) Other

18%

Court-Ordered Parents

42%

Expecting Parents

61%

First-Time Parents

69%

Parents of School-Age Children

79%

Parents of Children Birth to Age Three Parents of Pre-School Age Children 0%

92%

93%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

young children (birth to age three). As Figure 6 shows, 93 percent of CCR&Rs offering workshops work with parents of preschool age children, 92 percent with parents with children from birth to age three, 79 percent with parents of school-age children and 61 percent with expecting parents. In addition, 69 percent of these CCR&Rs work with first-time parents and 42 percent offer training to parents who have been ordered by the courts to attend specific classes. Workshops are available for other parents, such as foster parents, grandparents, etc. from 18 percent of CCR&Rs offering this service.

Content of Workshops Given that CCR&Rs are in the business of creating quality child care in their communities and connecting parents to these programs, it is not surprising that the most prevalent area of workshops offered to parents is related to recognizing and choosing high-quality child care.

78 percent of CCR&Rs with training programs offer workshops on this topic.

Other workshop topics include addressing children’s behavioral issues (77 percent), social/ emotional development of children (71 percent), age-appropriate activities for children (70 percent),

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

11

Figure 8: Workshops CCR&Rs Offer Parents of Young Children (Percent of CCR&Rs) Other

17% 2%

Child abuse prevention Health and nutrition

4%

Quality child care

4%

Parenting skills

6%

Home visit

6%

Prenatal classes

15%

Preparing for parenting

36%

Shaken Baby Syndrome

47%

SIDS

60%

Language/Literacy

68%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

developing children’s language and literacy skills (69 percent), ensuring children’s health and safety (69 percent) and the parent/provider relationship (60 percent).

percent at parents’ homes (see Figure 9). About one-third of these CCR&Rs (34 percent) offer workshops in other settings such as hospitals, child care centers, family child care homes, etc.

Over half of CCR&Rs (55 percent) provide training workshops for parents of children with special needs and nearly half (47 percent) of CCR&Rs offer workshops to parents to prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Figure 7 shows the various subject areas in which CCR&Rs train parents.

Most CCR&Rs deliver the workshops in group settings (98 percent), although some also conduct one-on-one training with parents (28 percent).

CCR&Rs targeting parents of young children (birth to age three) for training were asked about the topics of the workshops they provided to these parents. Most often, as shown in Figure 8, they offered targeted workshops in developing children’s language and literacy skills (68 percent), Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) prevention (62 percent), Shaken Baby Syndrome awareness (47 percent), preparing for parenting (36 percent) and pre-natal classes (15 percent).

Figure 9: Where Do CCR&Rs Offer Parent Workshops? (Percent of CCR&Rs) 34%

Other

Parents’ Home

5%

16%

Parents' Workplace

Community Center or Public School

67%

At CCR&R Space

68%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Delivering the Workshops CCR&Rs offer workshops to parents in a wide range of settings. While the most common settings are usually the CCR&Rs own training space (68 percent) or at a community center or public school (67 percent), 16 percent of them offer workshops at parents’ workplaces and 5

12

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

Language And Literacy Activities

A

lmost all CCR&Rs are engaged in providing information and/or training to parents on child care and child development issues. CCR&Rs routinely cover indicators of high-quality child care during referral calls and send follow-up packets to parents including information promoting the social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development of children.

CCR&Rs are also working with parents in their communities to promote children’s language and literacy skills. Almost 8 in 10 CCR&Rs (79 percent) are involved in language and literacy enhancing activities.

More than half the CCR&Rs (54 percent) provide young children with free books, 36 percent partner with local libraries, 23 percent have book exchange programs for young children, 13 percent run mobile book libraries that visit neighborhoods in their communities, 13 percent have staff visiting parents’ homes to educate them about developing children’s language and literacy skills and 40 percent mentioned other activities such as running reading programs, resource libraries, and providing caregivers with books. See Figure 10 for details.

Figure 10: Language/Literacy Enhancing Activities (Percent of CCR&Rs

40%

Other Visit homes to educate parents

13%

Run mobile book library

13%

23%

Has book exchange program Partner with local libraries to provide books

36%

Provide free books to young children

54%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

13

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

Training Child Care Providers

I

n order to strengthen the quality of child care in all communities, CCR&Rs train child care workers in centers, family child care homes and other informal settings.

Annually, CCR&Rs train about 500,000 child care providers, nearly half of the entire child care workforce in center-based and family child care home settings.

Providing training to caregivers is a core CCR&R activity and an important way in which they help parents, children and the community.

Children and parents benefit from trained child care providers who, studies have shown, are more likely to provide a high-quality child care environment promoting positive and healthy child development. Trained caregivers are more likely to interact better with children, offer a variety of age-appropriate activities, and be rated as providing higher quality care.

Additionally, trained providers implement more appropriate and effective curricula and activities.

Children benefit by gaining better language skills and overall cognitive scores compared to children in classrooms without a structured curricula and trained provider.

Parents look for a loving and nurturing caregiver, which is the core of any high-quality child care.

However, training helps to ensure that the caregiver and the setting best meets a child’s social, emotional, physical and cognitive needs.

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

15

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

CCR&R Funding For Operations & Activities

C

CR&Rs rely on a mix of public and private funding, including funds from foundations, corporations, and local, state, and federal funds. The largest source of funding for CCR&Rs is the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), which is a stream of federal funds allotted to the states through a formula to be used for child care and related purposes. Each state sets their own rules for child care and determines how the federal funds will be spent.

Given the constraints on child care funding, there are always difficult decisions that must be made with regard to how much of the funding will be used for subsidies (and at what rate subsidies will be paid) and how much of the funding will be used to improve the quality of child care.

Under the CCDBG law, states must use at least 4 percent of CCDBG funding “for activities that are designed to provide comprehensive consumer education to parents and the public, activities that increase parental choice, and activities designed to improve the quality and availability of child care (such as resource and referral services).”

This set-aside and language is often referred to as “the quality set-aside”.

Activities undertaken by CCR&Rs primarily are geared toward helping parents find child care and strengthening the child care quality within a community, so that parents can choose among quality settings to best meet their needs. On average, states are spending about 6 percent of funding on quality-related activities although some states are spending much more than that. While the amount of federal funds allocated for child care has been roughly frozen since 2002, the price of child care each week or month has increased significantly, which affects how many families can receive subsidy assistance and the actual amount of the subsidy that they will receive.

To continue working with child care providers, either to offer training or help to comply with state licensing requirements, and to continue to expand the number of parents receiving child care referrals and information about quality child care and related child development information, CCR&Rs need additional federal funding. At a minimum, 12 percent of CCDBG funding should be set-aside for quality related activities, which includes parent services and information.

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

17

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

Summary And Recommendations

C

CR&Rs are a vital community resource, helping nearly 7 million families in 2006. Not only do CCR&Rs offer child care referrals and related information to parents, but they also provide parenting information, parent workshops, and serve as a gateway to additional resources within their communities. Almost 8 in 10 CCR&Rs work with parents to promote children’s language and literacy skills, and more than 9 in 10 provide parents with referrals to other vital programs within their communities.

CCR&Rs are, however, primarily involved in strengthening the quality of child care within communities by providing information and referrals to parents so that they can become more educated consumers, and by providing training to providers to strengthen the quality of child care that is available. CCR&Rs distributed almost 11 million consumer education materials to more than 5 million parents in 2006. In addition, 6 in 10 CCR&Rs offer training workshops to parents, and in 2006, they trained 134,000 parents.

Finally, many CCR&Rs are working closely with families earning low-incomes and those who receive public assistance. By administering child care subsidy programs, CCR&Rs help working families earning low-incomes to find the child care they need. This service helps not just families earning low-incomes by providing them with fee assistance to pay for child care, but it also helps families transitioning out of public assistance programs, such as TANF, to become self-sufficient.

Nearly all the funding for providing services to parents comes from the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), which is federal funding allotted to the states to be used for child care and related purposes at state discretion. Under current law, a minimum of 4 percent of these funds are set-aside to improve child care quality and promote parent education and choice with regard to child care settings and early childhood development. Legislation to reauthorize CCDBG has been pending in

Congress, but to date, Congress has failed to reauthorize CCDBG since 2002, and essentially funds have been frozen for the past six years.

In order for CCR&Rs to continue providing services to parents, and to expand the number of parents who can receive services, NACCRRA and its members call on Congress, the states and individual CCR&Rs to take the following actions: Recommendations for Congress u Reauthorize the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) and increase the quality set-aside to 12 percent. u Authorize

specific funds for a communitybased child care provider training system run through the CCR&Rs in every state to strengthen the quality of child care to enable more parents to choose among quality options.

Recommendations for State Governments u Set-aside a minimum of 12 percent of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) for initiatives designed to strengthen the quality of child care. u Allocate

funds sufficient enough for initiatives run by CCR&Rs to:

n provide

parent information and consumer education, including parent workshops on topics to promote positive and healthy early childhood development.

n provide

parent referrals, including on-line capability to search for area child care options through the Internet.

u Increase

the amount of CCDBG funding available for low-income working families to ensure they have access to high-quality child care.

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

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NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

Appendix A: Questionnaire 1.

State CCR&R is located in:

6. Please tell us how many (continued):

2. ZIP Code CCR&R is located in:

3. Does your CCR&R provide any services to parents?

p 1 Yes p 2 No [End Survey]

Referrals 4. Does your CCR&R provide parents with child care referrals?

p 1 Yes p 2 No [go to question 21]

5. Which of the following types of care does your CCR&R refer parents to? CHECK ALL THAT APPLY

p Licensed p b Registered or certified p c Legally operating but not licensed, a

registered or certified

p d Other (specify)

6. Please tell us how many:

a. Families did your CCR&R provide referrals to in 2006 (please count each family only once, even if you gave them multiple referrals):

b. Families, who were first-time parents, did your CCR&R provide referrals to in 2006 (please count each family only once, even if you gave them multiple referrals):

c. Children did your CCR&R provide referrals for in 2006 (please count each child only once, even if you gave multiple referrals for them):

7. Please tell us how long (in minutes) does an average referral call or contact last (please estimate this average based on one referral per call or contact): mins 8. Please tell us the: Note: count each individual request for child care referrals that you have provided in each of these age groups – count request for referral for each child separately, even if it was requested during one contact.

a. The number of requests for child care referrals provided in 2006 for infant/ toddlers:

b. The number of requests for child care referrals provided in 2006 for pre-school age children:

c. The number of requests for child care referrals provided in 2006 for school-age children:

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

21

8. Please tell us the (continued):

d. The total number of requests for child care referrals provided in 2006 for all children (D Must Equal A + B + C):

9. Does your referral staff provide consumer education to parents during all referral calls?

p 1 Yes p 2 No * Please explain [go to question 12]

10. Which of the following topics does your referral staff routinely go over with parents during a referral call? CHECK ALL THAT APPLY

p a Newsletter created by your CCR&R p b Daily Parent (a NACCRRA publication) p c Group size p d Staff : child ratios p e Health and safety indicators p f Caregiver education, training and turnover

p g Accreditation p h Average price of care p i Licensing contact information p j Financial assistance information (public or

11. Do all parents routinely receive follow-up packets after a referral call?

p 1 Yes p 2 No * Please explain

12. Does your CCR&R provide child care referrals online?

p 1 Yes p 2 No [go to question 14]

13. Please tell us how many:

a. Online requests for child care referrals you provided to parents in 2006, where they searched online for information themselves:

b. Online requests for child care referrals you provided to parents in 2006, where parents fill out a form and e-mail it to one of your referral specialists requesting referrals:

14. Do you provide referrals to parents in any language(s) other than English?

p 1 Yes p 2 Yes * Which languages?

government subsidies)

p k Other financial assistance information (private programs, Head Start, PreKindergarten etc.)

p l Earned Income Tax Credit information p m Family support materials specific to the family’s needs

22

p n Community resources p o Other (specify)

15. Which of the following do you do with parents after you have provided them with referrals? CHECK ALL THAT APPLY

p a Follow-up to find out if parents found child care

p b Follow-up with a survey to assess parents’ satisfaction with the referral process

p c Other (specify)

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

[Answer questions 16 and 17, if you checked “Follow-up with a survey to assess parents’ satisfaction with the referral process” in Question 15] 16. Do you survey all the parents you provide referrals to or a sample of them?

p 1 All parents p 2 A sample of parents p 3 Other (specify)

19. To whom does your CCR&R provide enhanced referrals? CHECK ALL THAT APPLY

p a Employees of area businesses p b U.S. Military or the Department of Defense personnel (through NACCRRA)

p c Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients

p d Children with special needs p e Non-English speakers p f Other (specify):

17. Which of the following methods do you use to survey parents? CHECK ALL THAT APPLY

p a Phone p b Mail p c Internet/E-mail p c Other (specify)

Enhanced Referrals 18. Does your CCR&R provide enhanced referrals?

Enhanced referral is defined as not just conducting a search based on parameters provided by parents, such as type of care, area, time of care, etc., but also providing a higher level of service than basic referral, such as conducting vacancy checks and continuing to follow-up parents till they have found care that meets their need.

p 1 Yes p 2 No [go to question 21]

20. Please tell us how many:

a. Families your CCR&R provided enhanced referrals to in 2006 (please count each family only once, even if you gave them multiple referrals):

b. Children your CCR&R provided enhanced referrals for in 2006 (please count each child only once, even if you gave multiple referrals for them):

Other Referrals 21. Do you offer to refer parents to other services that they might need? CHECK ALL THAT APPLY

p a No p b Yes, health care services p c Yes, mental health care services p d Yes, dental care services p e Yes, Pre-Kindergarten programs p f Yes, services to receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) assistance.

p g Yes, services to receive assistance to pay for child care (child care subsidy).

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

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21. Do you offer to refer parents to other services that they might need? CHECK ALL THAT APPLY (continued)

26. Which of the following types of parents does your CCR&R train? CHECK ALL THAT APPLY

p h Yes, services to receive assistance children’s health insurance eligibility (State Children’s Health Insurance Program)

p i Yes, services to help parents find employment

p j Yes, other services (specify)

p a Expecting parents (still pregnant) p b Parents of first-borns p c Parents of children from birth to age three

p d Parents of pre-school age children p e Parents of school-age children p f Parents who have been ordered by the court to attend specific training

22. Please tell us how many families your CCR&R provided with these other referral services.

Note: Count each family only once, even if you provided them with referrals to multiple services.

(Enter 0 if you do not provide other referral services)

27. In which of the following areas does your CCR&R offer training to parents? CHECK ALL THAT APPLY

Parent Training 23. Do you offer any type of training to parents?

p 1 Yes p 2 No [go to question 34]

p a At the parent’s home p b At the parent’s workplace p c At CCR&R training space p d At a community center or public school p e Other (specify)

25. Training to parents is offered in: CHECK ALL THAT APPLY

24

p a First aid and CPR p b Fire safety p c SIDS p d Developing children’s language and literacy skills

24. In which of the following settings does your CCR&R train parents? CHECK ALL THAT APPLY

p g Other parents (specify)

p e Addressing children’s behavior issues p f Ensuring children’s health and safety p g Caring for children with special needs p h Age-appropriate activities for children p i Social/emotional development of children p j Adult literacy classes p k English as Second Language (ESL) classes

p l Choosing quality child care p m Parent/Provider relationship p n Other (specify)

p a Group settings p b One-on-one p c Other (specify)

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

28. Please tell us:

a. Number of parent training workshops your CCR&R provided in 2006:

33. If Yes, which of the following topics or services does your CCR&R offer in training specifically for parents of children between birth and age three: CHECK ALL THAT APPLY

b. Number of unduplicated parents your CCR&R trained in 2006:

c. The average number of parents who attended training sessions in 2006:

29. Do you provide training to parents in any language(s) other than English?

developing children’s language/literacy skills (e.g., Parents as Teachers)

30. Training is provided by: CHECK ALL THAT APPLY

p a Trainers employed by the CCR&R p b Trainers with whom the CCR&R contracts p c Other (specify)

p f Home visiting, other language/literacyrelated activities, or other topics specifically for parents of children from birth to age three (please describe)

p 1 No p 2 Yes * Which languages?

p a Prenatal classes p b Preparing for parenting p c SIDS prevention p d Shaken Baby Syndrome awareness p e Efforts to educate parents about

Other Services To Enhance Literacy And Engage Parents 34. Do you do any of the following language/ literacy-related activities? CHECK ALL THAT APPLY

p a Partner with local libraries to provide books to young children

p b Have a book exchange program for young children

31. Do these trainers also train child care providers?

p 1 Yes, all of them p 2 Yes, some of them p 3 No, none of them

Services To Parents Of Very Young Children 32. Does your CCR&R offer training specifically targeted to parents of children from birth to age three?

p c Provide young children with books for free

p d Have a mobile book library that visits neighborhoods in your community

p e Visit parents’ homes to educate them about developing children’s language/ literacy skills

p f Other language/literacy-related activities (please describe)

p 1 Yes p 2 No [go to question 34]

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

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35. Does your CCR&R engage parents in advocacy activities? CHECK ALL THAT APPLY

p a No p b Yes, send advocacy e-mail alerts to parents

p d Yes, have an advocacy section on CCR&R’s website that parents can use

p

p g Yes, participate in NACCRRA’s

f

Yes, participate with other advocacy groups to mobilize parents Parent Central

p

h

p a Newsletter created by your CCR&R p b Daily Parent (a NACCRRA publication) p c Group size p d Staff : child ratios p e Health and safety indicators p f Caregiver education, training and turnover

family’s needs

37. Does your CCR&R have any written materials for parents in any language(s) other than English?

p g Accreditation p h Average price of care p i Licensing contact information p j Financial assistance information (public or p k Other financial assistance information (private programs, Head Start, PreKindergarten etc.)

26

p 1 No [go to question 39] p 2 Yes * Which languages?

38. Which of the following types of materials does your CCR&R provide to the parents you come in contact with in a language other than English? CHECK ALL THAT APPLY

p a Newsletter created by your CCR&R p b Daily Parent (a NACCRRA publication) p c Group size p d Staff : child ratios p e Health and safety indicators p f Caregiver education, training and turnover

p g Accreditation p h Average price of care p i Licensing contact information p j Financial assistance information (public or government subsidies)

p k Other financial assistance information (private programs, Head Start, PreKindergarten etc.)

government subsidies)

p n Community resources p o Other (specify)

Yes, other (specify)

Written Materials 36. Which of the following types of materials does your CCR&R provide to the parents you come in contact with? CHECK ALL THAT APPLY

p l Earned Income Tax Credit information p m Family support materials specific to the

p e Yes, coordinate a grassroots parents’ advocacy group

p c Yes, send advocacy alerts to parents by regular mail

36. Which of the following types of materials does your CCR&R provide to the parents you come in contact with? CHECK ALL THAT APPLY (continued)

p l Earned Income Tax Credit information p m Family support materials specific to the family’s needs

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

38. Which of the following types of materials does your CCR&R provide to the parents you come in contact with in a language other than English? CHECK ALL THAT APPLY (continued)

p a Community resources p a Other (specify)

Subsidy Administration 40. Does your CCR&R administer child care subsidies?

41. Please tell us how many:

p a Not applicable – CCR&R does not have a website

p b Newsletter created by your CCR&R p c Daily Parent (a NACCRRA publication) p d Group size p e Staff : child ratios p f Health and safety indicators p g Caregiver education, training and

p h Accreditation p i Average price of care p j Licensing contact information p k Financial assistance information (public

p b Families you provided subsidies to in 2006, who also received child care referrals (please count each family only once, even if you gave them multiple referrals):

p c Families you provided subsidies to in 2006, who also received child care consumer education (please count each family only once, even if you gave them multiple types of education):

turnover

p a Families you provided subsidies to in 2006 (please count each family only once):

39. On which of the following topics do you have information on your CCR&R’s website?

CHECK ALL THAT APPLY

p 1 Yes p 2 No [go to question 48]

p d Children you provided subsidies for in 2006 (please count each child only once):

or government subsidies)

p l Other financial assistance information (private programs, Head Start, PreKindergarten etc.)

p m Earned Income Tax Credit information p n Family support materials specific to the family’s needs

p o Community resources p p Other (specify)

42. Please tell us the dollar amount available to you to administer child care subsidies from all sources in 2006. $ 43. How many full-time equivalent (FTE) staff does your CCR&R employ to administer child care subsidies, who work directly with parents?

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

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44. Does your CCR&R employ any staff whose only job is to process subsidy payments?

p 1 No p 2 Yes * How many full-time equivalent

About Your CCR&R 48. Please estimate, to the best of your ability, the total number of UNDUPLICATED parents your CCR&R were in contact with in 2006?

(FTE) staff?

49. How many full-time equivalent (FTE) staff does your CCR&R employ?

45. Does your CCR&R employ any staff whose only job is to work with providers to guide them through the subsidy process?

p 1 No p 2 Yes * How many full-time equivalent (FTE) staff?

46. Which of the following activities are staff members, who administer subsidies and work directly with parents, responsible for?

CHECK ALL THAT APPLY

p a Child care referrals and consumer education

p b ntake p c Eligibility determination p d Approval p e Re-determination p f Changes in provider p g Provider application p h Provider approval p i Subsidy payment processing p j Other (specify)

50. How many full-time equivalent (FTE) staff does your CCR&R employ for parent services? (Note: Parent services staff include those providing referrals, consumer education, training to parents, administering child care subsidies and working on any other type of parentrelated activities that your CCR&R engages in.)

51. Total annual operating budget of your CCR&R, excluding pass through (subsidy, provider scholarships, salary supplements, etc.) funds (round to nearest whole number) $ 52. Total annual pass through (subsidy, provider scholarships, salary supplements, etc.) funds (round to nearest whole number) $ 53. Is your agency: (CHECK ONE)

47. Please tell us the average number of families subsidy staff members worked with in the last month:

p 1 A stand alone CCR&R p 2 Within a government agency p 3 Within a college or university p 4 A part of another organization

56. Additional Comments:

Thank You For Completing The Survey

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NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

Appendix B: Comparison Of CCR&R Population To Those Who Responded

Region

Size Based on Budget

CCR&R Population*

Respondents*

Northeast

21%

19%

Midwest

22%

22%

South

34%

33%

West

23%

26%

Total

100%

100%

Under 100K (small)

28%

27%

100K-300K (medium)

36%

32%

301K-900K (large)

20%

23%

More than 900K (large)

16%

18%

100%

100%

Stand alone

25%

27%

Government

6%

10%

College

10%

11%

Other Org

59%

52%

100%

100%

Total

Auspice/Organization Type**

Total Number of States Represented

ALL

43

Response Rate: (adjusted for CCR&Rs closed, merged, etc.)

64%

Margin of Error

Âą 6.0%

N=189

* Based on data collected in 2005. ** Respondent numbers based on data collected in this survey.

NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

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Endnotes 1

U.S. Census Bureau. Who’s Minding the Kids? Child Care Arrangements: Winter 2002: October, 2005

U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. Women in the Labor Force: A Databook. May 2005. (http://www.bls. gov/cps/wlf-databook2005.htm) 2

3

Center for Economic and Policy Research. Working Moms and Child Care. May 2004

RAND Corporation. (2005). Proven benefits of early childhood interventions. RAND Labor and Population. Accessed at http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9145/index1.html.

4

5

Friedman, D.E. (1986). Child care for employees’ kids. Harvard business review, 64 (2), 28-32.

Gennetian, L.A., Huston, A.C., Crosby, D.A., Chang, Y.E., Lowe, E.D., & Weisner, T.S. (2002). Making child care choices: How welfare and work policies influence parents’ decisions. MDRC (Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation) Policy Brief.

August 2002.

6

Marshall, N.L., Creps, C.L., Burstein, N.R, Glantz, F.B., Robeson, W.W., Wang, S.Y., et al. (2001). The cost and quality of full-day, year-round early care and education in Massachusettes: Preschool classrooms. Wellesley Centers for Women and Abt Associates.

7

Zaslow, M., Halle, T., Guzman, L., Lavelle, B., Keith, J., Berry, D., & Dent, A. (2006). Review and synthesis of selected research reports submitted to the Child Care Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Washington, DC: Child Trends. Accessed on the web at http://www.childtrends.org/Files//Child_Trends-2006_03_01_FR_CCBLitReview.pdf.

8

Knab, J. T., Bos, J.M., Friedlander, D., & Weissman, J.W. (2000). Do mandates matter? The effects of a mandate to enter a welfare-to-work program. New York: MDRC. Accessed at http://www.mdrc.org/publications/265/full.pdf.

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NACCRRA’s Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States

National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies 3101 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 350, Arlington, VA 22201 Phone (703) 341-4100 Fax (703) 341-4101 www.naccrra.org Š 2008 NACCRRA

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