Child Care Rate Setting: Using Cost Data to Inform More Equitable Subsidy Payment Rates
States, territories, and tribes actively seek to ensure family access to child care and child care provider access to subsidized payment rates to support them in serving children and families. The Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), a core part of the child care market, allows flexibility in its implementation by states, territories, and tribes. This flexibility supports access and quality and ensures that families whose child care is covered by subsidy funding have the same experience selecting and accessing it as families who are not eligible to receive child care assistance. This brief discusses the role policies related to subsidy-rate-setting can play in supporting equitable access for families and equity in funding amounts of reimbursement rates.
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Improving Outcomes for Children in the Child Welfare System: Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation is Key
Blog January 27, 2025
Since 2020, BUILD Initiative has explored how the child welfare and early childhood systems – including all child-and-family serving systems -- can align and work together to achieve better outcomes for children and families. According to Dr. Cynthia Tate, who leads the project, several states are developing promising programs, policies, and strategies that can provide inspiration for other states.
From Mandated Reporting to Mandated Supporting: What Will It Take?
Video January 17, 2025
This recording and slide deck are from the third webinar in the "Moving Away from Family Separation: Cross-systems Strategies to Support Young Children and Families at Risk of Child Welfare Involvement" webinar series.
From Barriers to Opportunity: Confronting Systemic Barriers to Early Childhood and Poverty-Reduction Programs
Report December 12, 2024
This report from EdTrust-New York highlights a crisis in childcare availability, with more than 60% of New York classified as a childcare desert. Recent improvements to the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) have not significantly increased accessibility, as families still encounter complex application processes and stringent eligibility requirements. Many parents struggle to find available slots or are unaware of available programs altogether.