|
Dear Child Care Partners,
We know that many of you are looking for steps to support families and the child care and early education field as they navigate the waters of the COVID-19/coronavirus pandemic. Yesterday, CLASP and a group of national partners sent a joint letter to the Office of Child Care at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, asking them to encourage state child care agencies to take practical policy steps in responding to the coronavirus, that would reduce negative impacts on children, families, educators, and child care providers. These recommendations, all of which are allowed under current federal law, include:
- Adjusting payment policies so they are based on enrollment of children rather than actual attendance;
- Waiving any state policies that terminate child eligibility based on a specific number of absent days;
- Temporarily suspending redetermination of family eligibility for child care services;
- Using available state and federal funds (including any forthcoming emergency funds) in ways that most effectively support providers and families through the pandemic;
- Delivering information to providers and parents, in all appropriate languages, about the availability of the USDA Summer Food Service Program (SSFP) or Seamless Summer Option (SSO) meal service;
- Allowing providers to waive co-pays and adjusting reimbursement rates accordingly;
- Working with partner agencies to implement “express lane eligibility” for Medicaid, CHIP, SNAP, and other programs;
- Using consumer education resources to share up-to-date and accurate information about COVID-19 with providers and the families in all relevant languages; and
- Ensuring that licensing staff are well-trained on best practices for safety and hygiene and can help providers meet those requirements.
We hope you will review the details of these recommendations and use them as talking points as you work with your state child care agencies in creating an effective and supportive response to the virus. CLASP is also working with national partners and members of Congress to move forward federal funding and policies to support the child care field with additional federal resources.
For more information about CLASP’s response to COVID-19 across our policy areas and how COVID-19 is impacting people with low incomes, please click here.
Please reach out with any questions to Christine Johnson-Staub at [email protected]
|
