The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act was signed in 2014, reauthorizing the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) program. CCDF is the primary federal funding source dedicated to helping low-income families pay for child care through child care subsidies, while also setting new requirements to improve child care quality across the country. Improving school readiness and promoting healthy child development is one of the key purposes of the CCDBG Act. The 2014 reauthorization created new requirements for states to expand access to child care, expand education to families around child development and other financial assistance programs, enhance health and safety practices to all the providers under the grant, and several other requirements. In addition to insufficient funding for eligible families, many states found themselves struggling to meet the new requirements that were set in place with the 2014 reauthorization, prompting Congress to respond to these concerns by providing a national increase by $2.37 billion dollars to the CCDBG. States could choose how to allocate their increased funding to best align with the needs of their communities.
The indicator tracks whether states responded yes to allocating increased CCDBG funding to access to child care services and specified increasing the number of childcare slots for infants and toddlers. The data are current as of August 2019.
Office of the Administration for Children & Families: Office of Child Care. (2016). Child Care and Development Fund Final Rule Frequently Asked Questions. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/occ/faq/child-care-and-development-fund-final-rule-frequently-asked-questions#Reauthorization%20and%20the%20New%20Regulations%20(OR%20FINAL%20RULE)
Banghart, P., King, C., Bedrick, E., Hirilall, A., Daily, S. (2019). States’ use of the Child Care and Development Block Grant funding increase. Child Trends. https://www.childtrends.org/publications/states-use-of-the-child-care-and-development-block-grant-funding-increase
Ibid.
Source:
Banghart, P., King, C., Bedrick, E., Hirilall, A., Daily, S. (2019). States’ use of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Funding increase. Child Trends. https://www.childtrends.org/publications/states-use-of-the-child-care-and-development-block-grant-funding-increase