7.23.2013 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently released a proposed rule for the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF). When final, this rule will set certain health and safety standards for fund recipients. In California, CCDF money supports child care subsidies (e.g., CalWORKs, HeadStart, State Preschool), which serves over 100,000 low-income children each month. However, the impact of the new CCDF requirements will reach much further than children utilizing subsidies – all children under the care of a provider who accepts child care subsidies will benefit from these quality improvements.
HHS’s goals of safety and quality are laudable; nonetheless, there is concern among the child care community that the new requirements would be costly and come without additional resources. CFPA sees this as an opportunity to build upon the power and resources of the federally-funded Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) to support and strengthen the recommendations. CFPA submitted comments with the goals of increasing visibility, awareness, and utilization of CACFP.
We encourage all child care stakeholders to comment on the proposed HHS rule. More specifically, we encourage all child care stakeholders to advocate for alignment of CACFP and CCDF in their comments. This is a unique opportunity to suggest ideas and policies that will benefit our youngest children in California and across the nation. Here’s what you need to know about the rulemaking process and commenting:
1. Regulations are posted and open for public comment until August 23, 2013.
2. Comments should be submitted to HHS directly, either:
Or via postal mail at:
Docket No. ACF-2013-0001
Attention: Cheryl Vincent
Office of Child Care
370 L’Enfant Promenade, SW
Washington, DC 20024
3. In your comments, include your name and address, identify the docket number for this rulemaking (ACF-2013-0001), indicate the specific section of this document to which each comment applies, and give the reason for each comment.
4. Your comments will be read by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as it considers how to proceed.
Read CFPA’s comments. PDF
Individualize these sample comments that CFPA created in collaboration with Food Research and Action Center, the Child Care Food Program Roundtable, and other national organizations. doc
Questions? Contact Elyse Homel Vitale at 510.433.1122 ext. 206
