Human Services

BSF Child Care Assistance Grants

Statewide Outcome(s):

Basic Sliding Fee Child Care Assistance Grants supports the following statewide outcome(s).

Strong and stable families and communities.

Minnesotans have the education and skills needed to achieve their goals.

Context:

About three-quarters of Minnesota households with children ages 12 and younger use child care. These families are challenged to knit together child care that fits their preferences and needs, and is affordable, according to a 2009 study commissioned by the Minnesota Department of Human Services and conducted by Wilder Research. In households with low incomes, 20 percent of parents reported that child care problems interfered with their getting or keeping a job in the past year. Without this program, many low-income families would not be able to pay for child care and would be unable to work or pursue education leading to work.

Basic Sliding Fee (BSF) Child Care Assistance Grants provide financial subsidies to help low-income families who are not participating in the Minnesota Family Investment Program or the Diversionary Work Program pay for child care so that parents may pursue employment or education leading to employment, and so children are well-cared for and prepared to enter school ready to learn. In FY 2011, an average of 10,090 families with 17,978 children per month was served, with a monthly average payment of $814 per family. State law determines the maximum rates the program will pay to providers. This program is funded with county, state and federal funds that include the federal Child Care and Development Fund and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) fund. Not all families who meet eligibility requirements under this program receive benefits because funding is capped at a specific amount each year. Counties administer the Child Care Assistance Program.

Strategies:

The BSF program provides supports to help improve outcomes for the most at-risk children and their families by increasing access to high quality child care.

·         Receipt of child care assistance helps families with low incomes access quality child care. Families choose their providers in the private child care market. Maximum rates paid through the program are set for each type of care: center-based, family child care, and legal non-licensed care.

·         A higher reimbursement rate is paid to child care providers who provide high quality child care. Participation in high quality care increases the likelihood of improved school readiness.

Results:

Maximum rates paid to providers under the child care assistance program may not cover the full cost of care because they are not based on the current market rates. This may be a barrier to parents’ access to many of the child care providers in their communities. The percent of child care provider rates that are fully covered by the Child Care Assistance Program is worsening. If maximum rates are held constant or reduced, this trend will continue as rates in the private child care market increase.

High quality early child care and education experiences are associated with better child outcomes, particularly for children from low-income families. Up to a 15 percent higher maximum rate is paid to providers who meet certain accreditation or education standards established in statute. In 2011 and 2012, one-fifth of the children served by the Child Care Assistance Program received care from a provider who met these quality standards.

Basic Sliding Fee funds are allocated to counties. Counties sometimes do not have adequate funds to serve all families who apply, in which case they are placed on a waiting list. Other counties do not spend all available funds. This results in unspent funds in some counties while families are being added to a waiting list in other counties.

Performance Measures Notes:

1.     Child Care Assistance Program Family Profile, 2010 (Previous), 2011 (Current). http://www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/groups/economic_support/documents/pub/dhs_id_057781.pdf

2.     Quality Child Care Assistance, Children and Family Services Dashboard, 2011 (Previous), 2012 (Current).

3.     Child Care Assistance Program Waiting List; May 2011 (Previous), 2012 (Current). May 2012 link: http://www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/groups/economic_support/documents/pub/dhs_id_057782.pdf

For additional information on the Child Care Assistance Programs, see: https://edocs.dhs.state.mn.us/lfserver/Public/DHS-4745-ENG