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Resource and Referral DSS also funds contracts with child care resource and referral agencies which perform a variety of services for the families and child care providers in this state. Resource and referral agencies educate parents on how to recognize good child care and refer them to child care facilities operating near their home or workplace. They also help to build the child care supply by encouraging providers to enter the child care market or to expand their operations. Resource and Referral also offers training and technical assistance to child care providers to help them meet licensing or registration requirements and improve the quality of the care the children receive. A list of Resource and Referral Agencies follows. |
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Child Care for Protective Service Cases The Office of Community Services, in the Department of Social Services, administers a portion of the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) to pay for child care for children who may be in danger of abuse or neglect. The department provides a constellation of services to families, including child care, so that children can safely remain in their homes instead of being forced into the overcrowded Foster Care system. Child Care and Development Fund Advisory Council This Council, appointed by the governor, makes recommendations to DSS about activities that can improve the quality of child care in Louisiana. Licensing and Monitoring One of the functions which states are encouraged to fund with the CCDF is the licensing and monitoring of child care facilities to ensure the health and safety of children in out-of-home care. With the CCDF, the DSS Licensing Bureau was able to increase its staff and modernize its computer system. Quality Incentives Class A child care centers which are accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) can receive an incentive payment each calendar quarter for the care they provide to children subsidized by the Child Care Assistance Program. Repair and Improvement Grants Grant amounts of up to $3500 are available to child care providers to allow them to make repairs or purchases that would help them to meet licensing or registration requirements. Application is made through parish offices handling child care activities. Distance Learning Through contracts with Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB), the department has offered child care training, which qualifies for licensing credit, over public television stations statewide. Federal welfare reform legislation has combined several child care funding streams with the original Child Care and Development Block Grant to create a single fund with uniform federal and state requirements instead of the complex and often conflicting rules of the various earlier programs. We hope to continue to offer a wide variety of services and even increase the number of different approaches to improving the affordability, availability and quality of child care in Louisiana. Downloadable form: The following standard form can be downloaded to a disk and then completed on the user's PC. To download a form, simply click on the desired title below, then follow the prompts given by your browser. (On most browsers, you will need to choose the "Save to Disk" option, and then choose the drive and directory you wish to save to.) Click here to download the Application for Child Care Assistance (CCAP 2). Click here to download the Instructions for the Application for Child Care Assistance (CCAP 2). |
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