Fiscal Year 2004 Proposed Budget

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DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES
CHILD CARE OFFICE AND CHILD DAY CARE SERVICES

PROGRAM MISSION: To reduce risks and ensure the health, safety and welfare of children in child care facilities through licensure and training, and to assist parents to become more self-sufficient by providing financial support to low-income families.

• Licensure of day care facilities. The Child Care Office staff licenses early childhood programs; family day care homes; and private, parochial and technical schools through implementation of three local ordinances. Compliance with standards, as outlined in each code, is determined by licensing studies, announced and unannounced monitoring visits, and the investigations of complaints. Local codes are more stringent than state licensing regulations, which address early childhood programs and only family day care homes with six to nine children. The County licensing program supplements, as well as complements, the state's efforts in preventing risks to children and assuring an acceptable level of quality care.

• Training caregivers to upgrade the quality of care for children. Training is designed in collaboration with the Northern Virginia Community College for family day care providers and child care center staff on a variety of topics related to child care and early childhood education. Topics include infant-child CPR, first aid for caregivers (taught in English and Spanish), creative activities, health and safety, and language development. In addition, the Toy Lending and Resource Library provides educational toys, equipment and resource materials. The Office also provides technical assistance and counseling, issues a quarterly newsletter with resource information, and coordinates with Public Health, the Public Library and other County agencies for additional training.

• Direct financial support to low-income families. The Child Care Services staff purchases child care on behalf of eligible residents after assessing the initial and continued eligibility of residents for day care services. A child care subsidy is provided for TANF clients and other low income working families earning up to 185% of the federal poverty level. Parents pay a portion of the day care cost, based on their income and family size. The average monthly day care cost for the County is $525 per child. The major funding for this program is supported by the Federal and State Child Care Block Grant Program.

SIGNIFICANT BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS:

• Personnel costs increase due to normal step increases.

• Non-Personnel costs increase due to rent increase for 3033 Wilson Boulevard ($1,296) and telephone charges ($3,228).

• State Share revenues increase based on prior year actuals and the FY 2003 state allocation.

• Purchase of Service revenue increases to more accurately reflect the increased availability of federal and state funding.

• Net Tax Support decreases due to increased availability of federal and state funding, which requires less local match funding.

PERFORMANCE MEASURES:

Child Care Office Objective: To reduce risks to children by providing safe, licensed child care facilities which are monitored on a minimum of two visits per year, one of which is unannounced (facilities include Family Day Care Homes and Early Childhood Programs).

• Licensing studies, complaint investigations and monitoring visits are conducted by five Child Care Specialists. Over 69 percent of the specialists' time is involved with licensing activities. The minimum standard is two visits per facility per year, however staff will continue to give priority to visiting programs where safety hazards or the potential for improved quality of service has been identified. These facilities often require several additional visits.

• Problems, which have been found but not corrected within the year, are generally unrelated to safety issues, where staff continues to work with the provider to correct the problem.

Child Day Care Subsidy Program Objective: To enable recipients to move to employment and self-sufficiency by providing day care assistance.

Proposed Budget Contents | Section H Contents | Child and Family Services Contents