Linking Early Childhood and Refugee Resettlement

Networks 

March 25, 2014

• Welcome

• Federal Program Structure and Funding Flow

• Child Care Landscape

• Federal Programs: U.S. Administration for Children and Families Office of Child Care Office of Refugee Resettlement Office of Head Start

• Intersection of Refugee Resettlement and Early Childhood

• National Resources and How to Connect

• Building Partnerships Between the Early Childhood and Refugee Resettlement Communities

• Next Steps

• Questions and Answers

Agenda

Flor Philips, Project Director, Child Care Aware

United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families:

• Shannon Rudisill, Director, Office of Child Care • Eskinder Negash, Director, Office of Refugee Resettlement

Welcome!

PresentersPaula Bendl Smith, Child Care

Program Specialist, OCCMariestella Fischer, Special

Assistant to Director of ORREricka Medalen, Program

Director, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare

Jacqueline Rose, Director of ORR Child Care Microenterprise Project

ACF Program Funding Flow

• Regulations differ in every state and in some cases county

• Federal Child Care and Development Fund ( CCDF) gives broad authority to State to determine eligibility, make rules; asks states to assure safe and healthy child care and quality improvement goals

• CCR&Rs Resources

Child Care Landscape

Question

Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF)

OCC Vision

More children in low-income families able to access high quality care

CCDF Purpose

Assists low-income working families obtain child care so they can work or attend training/education

Improves quality of child care and promotes coordination among early childhood development and afterschool programs

CCDF Law

Child Care and Development Block Grant Act (CCDBG) of 1990 Section 418 of Social Security Act

Office of Child Care

Who Benefits from CCDF…

Children from birth until age 13 in vulnerable families have access to child care settings that meet their needs

Parents in eligible low-income families who are working or in training receive help paying for child care at a provider of their choice.

Child care providers receive reimbursement for serving low-income families. Child care providers receive supports from States and Territories to improve quality of care.

Office of Child Care

CCDF Overview

Grantees. 50 States, DC, Territories, and 260 Tribal entities.

Funding. Jointly financed by Federal and State governments. CCDF program combined federal funding for FY2012 – 5.2 billion.

Flexibility. CCDF provides flexibility to States, Territories, and Tribes in establishing polices that support families’ access to child care through subsidies.

Coordination. CCDF allows States, Territories, and Tribes to serve families through a single, integrated child care subsidy program under the rules of CCDBG Act. States coordinate CCDF with Head Start, pre-kindergarten and other early childhood programs.

Office of Child Care

CCDF Grantee Flexibility

Eligibility. States, Territories, and Tribes set policy on how often to re-determine a family’s subsidy eligibility, and income level for eligibility.

Co-payment. Most families who receive child care assistance are required to pay co-payments. States can waive copays for families below poverty.

Payment Rates. Subsidized payment rates and parent fees must be established in a way that allows families equal access to all types of care.

Quality Investments. Partnerships can be established to improve quality through: increased access to professional development; aligned standards; expanded supply; and provision of comprehensive services.

Office of Child Care

Question

Office of Refugee ResettlementWho are Refugees?

Office of Refugee ResettlementORR is committed to helping refugees and other vulnerable populations transition

into their new lives in the U.S.

How? By providing benefits, services and linkages that enable refugees to achieve economic self-sufficiency and become integrated members of U.S. society.

ORR Refugee Program Caseload Projections for FY2014

Office of Refugee Resettlement

FY2013 Top 4 Refugee Countries of Origin

Office of Refugee Resettlement

ORR’s “Village”

Office of Refugee Resettlement

Office of Refugee Resettlement◦ Refugees are eligible for most of the same mainstream

benefits as U.S. citizens.

TANF

Medicaid/SCHIP

SNAP/Nutritional Assist./School LunchSSI

Child Care/Head Start

ORR State-Administered Services:

Each State has a State Refugee Coordinator (SRC) and often a State Refugee Health Coordinator (SRHC).

Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA) & Refugee Medical Assistance (RMA) for up to 8 mos. from date of arrival/eligibility through the State Refugee office

Additional Social Services up to 5 yrs.

Office of Refugee Resettlement

Employment Services English as a Second LanguageOrientation Transportation Interpretation and Translation Skills / Vocational TrainingHealth-related Services

State-Administered Social Services◦ Refugees are eligible for social services for the first five years

after arrival in the U.S. Culturally/Linguistically appropriate services include:

Office of Refugee Resettlement

ORR Providers and Funding by State

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/state-programs-annual-overview

Office of Refugee Resettlement

ORR Home-Based Child Care

Project: Using a strengths-based approach, it provides

business opportunities to primarily refugee women by focusing

on child care mentoring programs • Through the grant, mentors (grantees) can help refugees establish local

agreement/contracts to qualify for State/County child care reimbursement as service providers

• Other beneficiaries include refugee families needing culturally/linguistically appropriate child care services.

Launch: September 30, 2011 – 13 grantees Current Grantee Total is 30 ($5.4million) Integration/ Collaboration

Grantees are accessing state/local resources for parents with low-income or limited resources.

ORR /ACF’s Early Childhood Development Programs are collaborating to increase access to local resources, networks, partnership/mentorship systems for refugee child care providers

ORR Refugee School Impact Grants (RSIG)◦ Amount of Grant $15 million

◦ Number of grantees 37

◦ States sub-grant to schools and resettlement agencies

◦ Children served: 5-up to 18 yrs of age; approximately 60,000

Office of Refugee Resettlement

Question

To promote the school readiness of low income children by enhancing their cognitive, social and emotional development – and support families as the primary educators of their children

Purpose of Head Start & Early Head Start

Office of Head Start

Office of Head Start

Federal

Local

There are over 1,000,000 children ages birth to 5 and pregnant women served in Head Start in all 50 states, territories and Tribes

© 2012 Child Care Aware ® of America ‹#›

https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/states/collaboration/map/index.html

Connection to State Systems is through Head Start Collaboration Directors

Making the Connection Between Head Start and Refugee Families-ECLKC Resources

https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/tta-system/cultural-linguistic/center/refugee-families.html

Office of Head Start

Intersection of Early Childhood and Refugee Resettlement

CCDF State Policies to Support High Quality, Continuous Care For Refugee Children – Continuity of Care

establish longer periods between redeterminations and prioritizing services

continue eligibility during changes in family circumstance, like job search and tiered eligibility to allow for wage growth

• Coordinate between agencies to increase stability of services, such as by aligning eligibility periods with other early education programs (e.g., Head Start) or sharing information about other benefit programs that may benefit refugee families.

• Review policies and strategies to jointly identify and target vulnerable refugee children for placement in high-quality child care.

• Embed these strategies and others, as appropriate, in quality rating and improvement systems.

CCDF State Policies to Support High Quality, Continuous Care For Refugee Children – Continuity of Care

Child Care Aware® Tools• Parent Resources

– Free child care search– State by State Map– Stay at home or return to work– Publications

• Provider Resources– Getting Started– Business Plan– Training– Program Planning

Linking Early Childhood and Refugee Resettlement Networks -Resource List

National Resources

Building Partnerships between the Early Childhood & Refugee Resettlement Communities

State Administrator’s Experience

Erica Medalen

Program Manager

Idaho Department of Health and Welfare

New Investments; New Opportunities Child Care Business project http://www.metaidaho.org/what-we-do/nino/ Idaho Offi ce for Refugees Strategic Community Plan http://www.idahorefugees.org/home/refugee_community_plan/

ORR Grantee Working With Child Care Community

•Key Partnerships for Implementation and Sustainability of the Project•Resettlement Agency•Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) Agency•Family Child Care (FCC) Providers•Cohort of Refugee Women Participants

Building Partnerships between the Early Childhood & Refugee Resettlement Communities

ACF Encourages Local and State Child Care and Refugee Networks -Enter into formal

agreements, such as Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), with local and state early childhood agencies, after-school programs, and child care resource and referral agencies (CCR&Rs) to:

Help refugee families find and use high quality early learning and afterschool services.

Help child care providers better serve refugee children and families with culturally and linguistically responsive services.

Establish a referral process between resettlement agencies and the child care subsidy program access.

Share health, safety, consumer education, early childhood learning and brain development, and high-quality child care resources.

Develop information and cross-training on the culture and language of refugee populations with Early Head Start, Head Start, child care, Pre-K, CCR&Rs, early childhood education providers and child care subsidy staff.

Refugee Child Care Providers, Families and Networks Partner with ECE.

Actions May Include:

Translate culturally and linguistically appropriate licensing and quality improvement program information for outreach, and T&TA, for refugee consumers and service providers within state and local child care.

Encourage refugees to become child care providers, particularly in areas with large resettled communities.

Refugee Child Care Providers, Families and Networks Partner with ECE.

Actions May Include:

Ask – Are All ECE and Refugee Resettlement Partners Included?

initiatives, discussions, events, agendas, or meetings with partners,

strategic plans and other agency communication,

public engagement, listservs, and outreach efforts,

relevant boards, committees, events, and councils.

Questions?

Office of Child Care

◦ http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/occ Office of Refugee Resettlement

◦ http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr Office of Head Start

◦ http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ohs Child Care Aware ®

◦ www.childcareaware.org

OCC or ORR Regional Program Managers

(see Information Memorandum for contacts)

Contact Information

Image References Slide 13: Courtesy of: United Nations High Commissioner for

Refugees Slide 14: Courtesy of: United Nations High Commissioner for

Refugees Slide 18:  Courtesy of: Institute for Social and Economic

Development Slide 22: Courtesy of: Institute for Social and Economic Development Slide 30: Courtesy of: Ethiopian Community Development Council Slide 34: Courtesy of: Institute for Social and Economic Development