Image via hhs.gov
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a new regulation for public comment to ensure children’s health and safety in child care and promote school readiness. The proposed rule would only impact child care providers who accept funding from the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF).
The regulations propose long overdue reforms to better ensure that low-income working families have access to safe, high-quality child care that is essential for healthy early childhood development.
A few highlights include:
- Allowing states the flexibility to tailor their specific approaches to best meet the needs of the children and families they serve.
- A professional development system to help ensure a well-qualified workforce.
- Establishing stronger minimum standards to improve the quality of child care programs.
- Providing more transparent information to parents to help them make well-informed decisions about their children’s child care.
- Building upon best practices and establishing quality indicators through a Quality Rating Improvement System (QRIS). QRIS serves as a consumer education tool for parents to know what quality child care looks like and provides an organizational framework to improving the quality of child care by focusing on teaching staff qualifications, learning environment and curricula. It serves as an accountability measure to help child care providers meet higher standards and continuously improve the quality of care they provide.
It has been over 15 years since the CCDF has undergone any significant review, and we applaud the stronger focus on quality. Combined with the flexibility afforded to the states, this is certainly a step in the right direction for improving quality care for kids!
Click here to read the full proposed rule in its entirety.