National Center on Subsidy Innovation and Accountability
The National Center on Subsidy Innovation and Accountability (NCSIA) provides technical assistance to Child Care and Development Fund programs in developing child care subsidy systems that are child-focused, family-friendly, and fair to providers. NCSIA works with grantees to help them reach goals in the following areas:
- Subsidy eligibility
- Integrating quality and subsidy
- Strengthening program integrity and fiscal accountability
- Error rate reporting
- Comprehensive background checks
- Equal access, including rate setting, payment practices, family co-payments, and other policies and practices that support building the supply of and providing high-quality care to more children from low-income families
The Understanding the CARES Act brief is a supplement to the CCDF Information Memorandum (CCDF-ACF-IM-2020-01) released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on April 29, 2020.
Equal access and market rate surveys are important concepts for CCDF leaders. Market rate surveys can impact payment rates, which must be sufficient to ensure equal access.
Collaboration Between CCDF and TANF to Meet the Needs of Low-Income Working Families offers examples of how CCDF and TANF can collaborate, including various state initiatives and highlights fiscal considerations for both programs.
The CCDF Fraud Toolkit is an evolving resource designed to assist CCDF Lead Agencies in increasing program integrity and accountability and decreasing fraud within their child care programs.
The Grantee Internal Controls Self-Assessment Instrument is designed to assist grantees in assessing how well their policies and procedures meet the CCDF regulatory requirements in the areas of program integrity and financial accountability.
Comprehensive background check resources are available that break down the requirements into easier to understand language.
Guidance on Estimating and Reporting the Costs of Child Care aims to support Lead Agencies and their partners as they create cost estimates, prepare detailed reports, and use cost estimates to inform their rate setting.
The Error Rate Review training module provides state administrative staff with background on the federal error rate review and covers the steps needed to complete the error rate review process.