Deadlines to Implement Child Care & Development Block Grant Reauthorization

On November 19, 2014, President Obama signed the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014 into law. It is the first time the program has been reauthorized in 18 years.  The law includes several new requirements, including health and safety requirements for child care providers, family-friendly eligibility policies, and transparent information about the child care choices available to parents.

The National Women’s Law Center has created a timeline listing all deadlines for state and federal agency compliance. In addition, the Office of Child Care of the U.S. Administration for Children and Families has created a CCDF Reauthorization page, which will be regularly updated with guidance related to CCDBG Reauthorization and its implementation.

While the law has been reauthorized, it has not yet been funded. Additional funding will be
necessary to implement the provisions included in the CCDBG reauthorization and achieve the
legislation’s goals of improving the health, safety, and quality of care and increasing families’
access to child care assistance, while stemming the steady decline in the number of children and
families able to receive child care assistance.

Several national groups have signed a letter calling on Congress to appropriately fund CCDBG.  They write:

“With its strong bipartisan support for the CCDBG reauthorization, Congress demonstrated its commitment to protecting the health and safety of children in care, encouraging efforts to raise the quality of care, and making it easier for families to obtain and retain help paying for care. However, states will only be able to effectively implement the changes in the legislation and take full advantage of the opportunities it offers to strengthen their child care programs if they receive additional resources.” 

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