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.
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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
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 outlines why collaboration with TANF is important and the beginning steps in collaboration. It also 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 Child Care and Development Fund's (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..
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This webinar covered the fundamentals of program integrity and an overview of what program integrity is in CCDF, why it’s important, and the benefits of increasing program integrity strategies in the child care program. Specific topics presented and discussed included:
- Regulations ...
This resource provides an overview of the Child Care and Development Fund through a fiscal accountability lens and is intended to help Lead Agencies understand the basics of federal funding streams, including allowable uses and limitations.
This PowerPoint was used in a STAM 2019 presentation on the data needed by a lead agency for the rate setting process.
This resource was developed for an Open Space Session: Special and Vulnerable Populations. It is a compilation of all notations of special and vulnerable populations in the CCDF Final Rule and serves as a quick reference guide on serving special and vulnerable populations.
This program integrity webinar shared CCDF Lead Agency strategies related to appeals, hearings, recovery and sanctions. In addition to the NCSIA presentation, two states presented on the webinar; Utah shared their appeals and recovery strategies, while Alaska presented on their fraud claims...
This checklist allows users to evaluate progress made in addressing each component of Equal Access.
This PowerPoint presentation provides information on developing and implementing Tribal alternative approaches for conducting background checks and monitoring and inspections of child care providers.
A video recording and transcript are available on...
This module covers the planning required to do a market rate survey.
This module covers two major terms that you need to understand fully to conduct a market rate survey successfully: equal access and valid and reliable market rate survey.
A governmental inter-agency written agreement is often referred to as a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) or Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). In general, written agreements bind two or more agencies to terms outlined within the agreement. Written agreements may specify the mutual roles and...