POLICY & SUBSIDY REFORM PROGRAM

hild care subsidies are an important investment in all our futures. Yet Mississippi serves only a fraction of income-eligible families through its Child Care Certificate Program (CCDF). As currently structured, CCDF also suffers from bureaucratic and unfairly administered regulations, creating obstacles for those most in need of help.

Furthermore, there are some $30 million in unspent federal TANF funds that could be allocated to child care>> to help the neediest have the opportunity to achieve. MLICCI is committed to educating policymakers and the public about the benefits of quality child care for all our children through research, outreach, and policy recommendations.

Legal Remedies Project

1. Free assistance for parents & providers

Parents and providers frequently report instances of DHS subcontractors obstructing, terminating, or disallowing payment for child care services. MLICCI is assessing legal protections for families and child care centers participating in CCDF. In addition, MLICCI is pressing for a fairer administrative grievance procedure by DHS.    TOP  »

Through a partnership with the Mississippi Center for Justice (MCJ), MLICCI is working to identify violations and provide pro-bono legal assistance to parents and providers, and to promote reforms that would improve services to families.

Read about MLICCI’s recent victories establishing a fair appeals process for CCDF and repealing unfair restrictions on new centers occupying the disbarred providers' buildings or hiring ex-employees.    TOP  »

The Legal Remedies Project:

• identifies situations where legal assistance can result in increased protection of child care centers and parents from wrongful actions;
• provides (or helps to make accessible) such legal assistance;
• pursues "impact litigation"
• recruits and advises other attorneys (a handbook is available)

For more information, contact the supervising attorney, Beth Orlansky of the Mississippi Center for Justice at 1-877-352-2269.    TOP  »

2. Educating policymakers

State policymakers need accurate information to evaluate the child care certificate program and how to improve it. MLICCI is providing research and policy analysis to help them weigh the issues and the options for addressing them.

In 2004, MLICCI commissioned a report from the Stennis Institute on MS’s use of federal child care money, Mississippi Child Care Development Fund: Program Implementation Evaluation and Impact Analysis. The report provides an excellent and comprehensive look at Mississippi’s child care subsidy program and makes recommendations for improvement.

In the 2005 state legislative session, a bill was passed to require external auditing of DHS subcontractors in the child care certificate program. The State Auditor's Office completed these audits in March 2007. This report can be downloaded from the State Auditor's Office (report #111); MLICCI will follow-up on the State Auditor's Office findings to promote fiscal reforms    TOP  »

The System Improvement Project will:

• provide objective research about problems identified by the child care certificate reform project
• educate policymakers about CCDF program and strategic reforms

3. Building consensus for reform:
    engaging the public and child care community

Many problems with the child care certificate program could be addressed through administrative changes, yet DHS aggressively opposes reforms.In addition to information included in the Stennis report, MLICCI is gathering information from providers statewide to assess implementation of OCY’s policy manual from district to district, develop options for reform, and build consensus on priorities for change among parents and providers.     TOP  »

MLICCI will also work to reinforce the emerging consensus about reform through a state-wide communications campaign, which will:

• survey and meet with parents and providers around the state to identify and build consensus around strategic reform priorities;
• promote these reforms with policy makers; and
• develop a media strategy to promote the need for child care certificate reforms

Assessing the Impact of Mississippi’s
Quality Rating System (QRS)

The Mississippi Department of Human Services (DHS) is piloting a quality rating system (QRS) using tiered reimbursements. In tiered systems, child care providers receive higher ratings and rates of reimbursement for achieving specific quality improvements.    TOP  »

These improvements cost money. States that have successfully implemented tiered systems have made significant investments to help low-income child care centers pay for required improvements. However, DHS is proposing to implement Mississippi’s system with no such additional funding And it plans to target only the most financially vulnerable centers — due to their reliance on the inadequate and insecure child care certificate program.

This proposal threatens to create a segregated child care system in which only centers with the resources to finance quality improvements can afford to participate. Since most child care centers’ funds come from parent fees, centers serving parents who can afford to pay will get higher reimbursements, and centers serving parents who cannot afford to pay will be left behind.

MLICCI is monitoring the program’s impact on child care centers serving low-income families, so that emerging inequities can be identified and addressed before the pilot moves to state-wide implementation. And we plan to support low-income child care centers' quality improvement efforts through training, technical assistance, and parental engagement.    TOP  »

Aligning Early Childhood Systems:
Best Practice Policy Briefs

MLICCI is examining how Mississippi can coordinate federal child care programs so that they align to more effectively serve the working poor. Policy briefs outlining best practices will be widely disseminated.    TOP  »

Minimizing interruptions in child care services

Poorly designed child care policies and regulations create unnecessary burdens for parents and child care providers. In Mississippi, families often suffer interruptions in child care and providers have to deal with payment shortfalls and administrative headaches. MLICCI has commissioned the Urban Institute to draft a policy brief on how our state can best design child care subsidy policies to minimize these problems. Contact us for more information.    TOP  »

Promoting head start / child care partnerships

Head Start programs and local child care providers can share resources and work together to provide the best quality early care for children. MLICCI has commissioned the Center on Law and Social Policy to create policy recommendations on how child care / Head Start partnerships can be promoted and supported at the state level. Contact us for more information.    TOP  »

Also of interest: see our comparison of Head Start and CCDF.

Providers Surveyed About CCDF:
Program Found Lacking

In November 2006, MLICCI sent a survey about implementation of the CCDF program to 590 child care providers around the state. The aim of the survey was to identify violations or unfair administration of the program, and to use the information to make policy recommendations that would improve CCDF for parents and providers. Responses from 122 providers indicate that there are significant waiting lists and a dire need for additional funds for child care certificates. The survey results are available along with recommendations in a letter sent to the director of the Office of Children and Youth.

See MLICCI’s earlier survey work on child care reforms:

• Stennis Survey of TANF Grantees, 2001
• Stennis Survey of Child Care Providers, 2002
• Child Support Requirements Survey, October 2004
• Letter to the Governor, October 2004
• Child Care Licensure Survey, June 2005

"Investing in Futures:
The Business of Child Care in Mississippi"

Child care in Mississippi is a big business. It creates jobs, enables citizens to work, generates tax dollars, and contributes to local economies. According to the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, the child care industry in Mississippi in 2001 directly generated or indirectly facilitated:

• 37,900 to 55,700 jobs
• $571 to $830 million in personal income
• $33.7 to $49 million in state general fund revenue.

MLICCI published "Investing in Futures" to underscore the importance of child care as an important business and driver of economic development in all sectors in Mississippi. This four-page report quantifies child care’s critical role in the state’s economy. View the report or read the press release.    TOP  »