Coordination with Partners to Expand Accessibility and Continuity of Care
Coordination has taken on new significance under the CCDBG Act. The law identifies specific entities that Lead Agencies must coordinate with over the 3-year plan period to do the following:
- Expand accessibility and continuity of care
- Help children enrolled in early childhood programs receive full-day services that meet the needs of working families
Lead Agencies must describe how they will coordinate child care services supported by CCDF with other federal, state, and local programs serving children (including programs for the benefit of American Indian and Alaska Native children, infants and toddlers, children with disabilities, children experiencing homelessness, and children in foster care). Coordination can help states reach goals related to expanding accessibility and continuity of care, such as the following:
- Extending the day or year of services
- Smoothing transitions for children in programs or as they age into school
- Enhancing and aligning the quality of services for infants and toddlers through school-age children
- Linking comprehensive services to children in child care or school-age settings
- Developing the supply of quality care for vulnerable populations (as defined by the Lead Agency) in child care and out-of-school time settings
As outlined in the CCDF final rule, Lead Agencies are required to coordinate with all of the following entities or agencies: [2]
✔️ Appropriate representatives of the general purpose local government, which can include counties, municipalities, or townships and towns
✔️State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care or similar coordinating body.
✔️Indian tribe(s) and/or tribal organization(s), at the option of individual tribes.
✔️State or territory agency (or agencies) responsible for programs for children with special needs, including early intervention programs authorized under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (Part C for infants and toddlers and Part B, Section 619, for preschool).
✔️State or territory office and director for Head Start state collaboration.
✔️State or territory agency responsible for public health, including the agency responsible for immunizations.
✔️State or territory agency responsible for employment services/workforce development.
✔️State or territory agency responsible for public education, including prekindergarten Prekindergarten(Pre-K).
✔️State or territory agency responsible for child care licensing.
✔️State or territory agency responsible for the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and other relevant nutrition programs.
✔️McKinney-Vento state coordinators for homeless education and other agencies providing services for children experiencing homelessness and, to the extent practicable, local McKinney-Vento liaisons.
✔️State or territory agency responsible for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.
✔️Agency responsible for Medicaid and the state Children’s Health Insurance Program.
✔️State or territory agency responsible for mental health.
✔️Child care resource and referral agencies, child care consumer education organizations, and providers of early childhood education training and professional development.
✔️Statewide afterschool network or other coordinating entity for out-of-school time care (if applicable).
✔️Agency responsible for emergency management and response.
Lead Agencies have the option to coordinate the provision of services with the state, territory, local, and tribal agencies that are responsible for the following:
- Early Head Start—Child Care Partnership grants
- Institutions for higher education, including community colleges
- Other federal, state, local, or private agencies providing early childhood and school-age or youth-serving developmental services
- Implementing the Maternal and Child Home Visitation programs grant
- Early and Periodic Screen, Diagnostic, and Treatment Program
- Child welfare
- Provider groups or associations
- Parent groups or associations
To support coordination across these agencies, Lead Agencies must assure that, to the extent practicable and appropriate, any code or software for child care information systems or information technology for which a Lead Agency or other agency expends CCDF funds to develop must be made available on request to other public agencies, including public agencies in other states, for their use in administering child care or related programs.
[1] CCDBG Act of 2014 658E(c)(2)(O); Child Care and Development Fund, 45 C.F.R. § 98.14(a)(1) (2016).
[2] Child Care and Development Fund, 45 C.F.R. § 98.14 (2016).