Office of Child Development and Early Learning

1. Office of Child Developmentand Early Learning Because every child is Pennsylvania’s future

2. OCDEL Programs

3. Subsidy Services

4. Why Subsidy Services? Eligible families obtain the financial assistance to supplement the high cost of child care. Families can receive counseling and information on early childhood education options and finding high quality child care. Families gain the assistance needed to become self-sufficient and the knowledge of the full range of quality early learning choices for their child.

5. Subsidy Services at a Glance Child Care Works provides financial assistance to income eligible families so they can afford quality child care. Child Care Information Services (CCIS) enroll families in Child Care Works and provide family counseling services to all families wanting to learn about the full range of their early care and education opportunities for their child.

6. Child Care Works Distributes subsidy reimbursements to child care providers enrolling children eligible for subsidy. Working families must meet income and work eligibility guidelines and pay a co-payment to the child care provider based on family size and income. Child Care Works reimburses the provider for the child eligible for subsidy, up to the rate ceiling, minus the family’s co-pay. Subsidy payment rates are based on Market Rate Surveys up to the Maximum Child Care Allowance (MCCA). As of June 2010, nearly 134,000 children were provided subsidies on a monthly basis.

7. Who’s eligible to receive Child Care Works The annual income for a family to be eligible to receive subsidy is 200 percent or less of the Federal Poverty Income Guidelines:

8. How to apply for Child Care Works Visit your county Child Care Information Services (CCIS) agency to apply. Find agencies online at www.dpw.state.pa.us. Parents can apply online through the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Access to Social Services (COMPASS). Apply at: https://www.humanservices.state.pa.us/compass/CMHOM.aspx

9. Child Care Information Services (CCIS) Acts as the hub of early care and education information for all families, assisting and counseling parents on quality child care and early learning options that best meet their needs. Determines eligibility and signs up income eligible families for Child Care Works. Enrolls program participating children with child care providers. Distributes subsidy payments to child care providers.

10. How to use your CCIS Learn about quality child care, Keystone STARS, PA Pre-K Counts, Early Intervention, Head Start, and more. Request listing of child care programs in your area, based on wide variety of criteria to meet your family’s needs. Request information on other family services such as: Nurse-Family Partnership; Women, Infants and Children (WIC); Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP); and more. Apply for subsidy services.

11. Results: Child Care Works Keeps working families working, while making it possible for child care programs to serve children whose families could not otherwise afford care. Serving more than 136,000 families each month. Those families served are up to 15% more likely to be employed, stay off welfare, and have higher earnings. 77% of subsidized children receiving child care assistance in regulated child care programs. 53% of children receiving Child Care Works are enrolled in Keystone STARS programs.

12. Child Care Works: Achievements in 2009-2010 Child Care programs participating in Keystone STARS at STAR 2 level or higher received an increase on the “subsidy add-on” to the Child Care Works subsidy they receive for serving a Child Care Works child. The subsidy add-on is another incentive for continuous quality improvement through the Keystone STARS program and helps to more appropriately reimburse child care programs offering higher quality early learning opportunities through Keystone STARS. Approximately 77% of all children enrolled in Child Care Works are using regulated child care, and approximately 53% of Child Care works children in regulated child care are enrolled with Keystone STARS providers. Expanded efforts to provide enhanced parent counseling and resource and referral information to increase the public’s knowledge of all OCDEL programs and providers, especially through on line provider search. Thewait list was eliminated with the use of ARRA stimulus dollars in early May 2010.

13. Child Care Works: What’s ahead Continue to deepen parent counseling and resource and referral information and have CCISs be the “hub” of family information for early care and education programs. Increase the use of public access to OCDEL early care and education services through COMPASS Provider Search. Implement in April 2011, On Line Provider Attendance/Invoice Initiative so providers who serve Child Care Works subsidized children can do attendance and invoicing on-line rather than through a paper invoice. Implement use of Keystone STARS as the child care provider for county Children & Youth (CYS) funded child care programming so these at-risk children benefit from quality early childhood education.

14. Children served by program

15. 2011-2012 Highlights: State and Federal Investment (in thousands) References in Governor’s proposed budget Listed below are the appropriations by Department and the page number on which you can find these appropriations in the Governor’s budget proposal. The full document is available online at www.budget.state.pa.us DPW programs Early Intervention – E35.9 Child Care Works/ Keystone STARS - Child Care Services – E35.9 - Child Care Assistance - E35.9 Nurse Family Partnership – E35.9 PDE programs PA Pre-K Counts - E14.6 Head Start Supplemental - E14.6 Early Intervention - E14.6

16. Useful links Pennsylvania Department of Education – www.education.state.pa.us Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare – www.dpw.state.pa.us Pennsylvania Key – www.pakeys.org Pennsylvania’s Promise for Children – www.papromiseforchildren.com

17. Resources OCDEL Annual Report: http://www.pakeys.org/pages/get.aspx?page=EarlyLearning_Tools Program Reach & Risk Assessment: http://www.pakeys.org/pages/get.aspx?page=EarlyLearning_Reach BUILD ECE News: http://paprom.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=Build_home_page