BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 598
Page 1
Date of Hearing: January 12, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Kansen Chu, Chair
AB 598
(Rendon) - As Amended January 4, 2016
SUBJECT: Child care: family child care home education networks
SUMMARY: Specifically, this bill:
1)Adopts additional requirements for family child care home
education network (FCCHEN) contractors, including:
a) Using assessment tools that are appropriate to family
child care home settings when conducting mandated
assessments, as specified, of each FCCHEN provider;
b) Clarifying steps to be taken when ensuring that a
developmental profile for each child is completed, as
specified, which include, but are not limited to,
collaboratively completing the developmental child
assessment profile selected by the department and
conducting a parent survey concerning his or her child's
developmental progress as directed by the department and
incorporating it into the developmental profile;
c) Conducting a minimum of nine site visits per calendar
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year to each affiliated provider for purposes of conducting
assessments and providing technical assistance, training,
and support;
d) Supporting affiliated providers in meeting standards for
program quality, as specified;
e) Offering providers at least 12 hours of training and
technical assistance, as specified, with training topics
including, but not limited to, appropriate care and
supervision of children, parenting and parent involvement
in the development of children, and provider and family
communication;
f) Implementing a universal complaint procedure, as
specified, that complies with regulations adopted by the
California Department of Education (CDE);
g) Employing at least one child development specialist, as
specified, to provide training, technical assistance, and
coaching to providers; and
h) Maintaining a signed, written agreement with each
affiliated provider and an authorized representative of the
FCCHEN to include, but not be limited to, the provider's
status as an independent contractor with the FCCHEN, the
provider's nondiscrimination policy, and the established
reimbursement rates.
2)Adopts requirements for FCCHEN providers, including:
a) Using a curriculum or curricula of the provider's
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choosing, and appropriate for the age range of the children
in the home, and that, where applicable, abide by any
policy that the contractor may adopt limiting the curricula
acceptable within the network, as specified;
b) Providing age- and developmentally-appropriate
educational activities for children;
c) Providing care and supervision of children;
d) Providing parenting education to parents, as specified;
e) Identifying child and family social service or health
needs, and sharing those needs with the contractor;
f) Providing nutrition that is consistent with the
standards of the United States Department of Agriculture's
Child and Adult Care Food Program;
g) Collaborating with the contractor in completion of the
developmental profile for each child, as specified;
h) Providing the contractor with copies of all citations
issued to the provider by the Community Care Licensing
Division within the Department of Social Services within
five calendar days of the issuing date of the citation; and
i) Obtaining no less than 12 hours of professional training
per year, as specified, and maintaining documentation of
this training for three years.
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1)Permits FCCHEN providers to encourage parent involvement in
the provider's home program.
2)Specifies that providers are not required to maintain a parent
advisory committee.
3)Makes additional technical amendments.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes the Child Care and Development Services Act to
provide child care and development services as part of a
coordinated, comprehensive, and cost-effective system serving
children from birth to 13 years old and their parents
including a full range of supervision, health, and support
services through full- and part-time programs. (EDC 8200 et
seq.)
2)Defines "child care and development services" to mean services
designed to meet a wide variety of children's and families'
needs while parents and guardians are working, in training,
seeking employment, incapacitated, or in need of respite.
(EDC 8208)
3)States the intent of the Legislature that all families have
access to child care and development services, through
resource and referral where appropriate, and regardless of
demographic background or special needs, and that families are
provided the opportunity to attain financial stability through
employment, while maximizing growth and development of their
children, and enhancing their parenting skills through
participation in child care and development programs. (EDC
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8202)
4)Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to
administer general child care and development programs to
include, among other things as specified, age- and
developmentally-appropriate activities, supervision, parenting
education and involvement, and nutrition. Further allows such
programs to be designed to meet child-related needs identified
by parents or guardians, as specified. (EDC 8240 and 8241)
5)Defines a "family child care home education network" to mean
an entity organized under law that contracts with CDE, as
specified, to make payments to licensed family child care home
providers, and to provide educational and support services to
providers and to children and families eligible for
state-subsidized child care and development services. (EDC
8208(p))
6)Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to contract
with entities organized under law to operate FCCHENs, as
specified, and establishes requirements for FCCHEN programs.
(EDC 8245 and 8246)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.
COMMENTS:
Subsidized child care: California offers subsidized child care
through a number of programs, as well as State Preschool to
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eligible three- and four-year olds. Generally, families are
eligible for subsidized child care if they meet certain
requirements, including: parents earning incomes less than 70%
of the 2007-08 state median income (up to approximately $42,000
per year for a family of 3); parents having a need related to
work, training, or education; and children being ages 12 and
under (or 21 and under if they have exceptional needs).
There are three main types of child care providers: licensed
child care centers, licensed child care homes, and
license-exempt providers (for example, family members,
neighbors, or friends). Subsidized child care is paid for
either through contracts with specific providers or vouchers
that families can use for most providers. There are three main
subsidized child care programs in the state, in addition to
programs for special populations and the California State
Preschool Program. The three main programs are:
California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids
(CalWORKs) , for parents receiving or who have received
CalWORKs. CalWORKs child care is paid for using vouchers
and can be provided in either centers, family child care
homes, or license-exempt settings;
Alternative Payment Programs (APPs) , which allow
families to choose their own child care in either centers,
family child care homes, or license-exempt settings and to
pay using vouchers; and
General Child Care , which offers child care and
education/development services through contracted centers
and family child care home networks that are administered
through public or private agencies.
In 2015-16, there are approximately 200,000 subsidized child
care slots offered across the various programs, as well as close
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to 160,000 State Preschool slots.
Home-based child care: Licensed family child care homes in
California must be in a provider's own home and provide a
home-like environment. According to the California Child Care
Resource and Referral Network, the sponsors of this bill, there
were approximately 30,700 licensed family child care homes in
California in 2014.
Families with lower incomes may have a greater need for
home-based child care, both licensed and license-exempt,
compared to higher-earning families. This can be due, in part,
to the types of care that are available during the
nontraditional work hours encountered more often in some
lower-paying jobs. For example, national data from a 2015
United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
report indicate that, in 2013, 40% of individuals classified as
"working poor" - i.e., individuals spending at least 27 weeks in
the labor force yet still earning incomes below the federal
poverty level - worked in service occupations. Jobs in the
service sector can often involve nontraditional and less
predictable work schedules.
Family child care homes are more likely to serve the needs of
families with parents that work nontraditional hours. According
to the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network, in
2014, 39% of licensed family child care homes offered evening,
overnight, and/or weekend care, while only 2% of child care
centers did the same.
Family Child Care Home Education Networks: FCCHENs help
facilitate the provision of high-quality child care and
development services in family child care home settings. CDE
contracts with FCCHEN contractors to provide ongoing training
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and support to network providers in order to assist these family
child care home providers in offering early education and child
care to eligible families with children ages birth through 13
years of age. Providers must meet standards of quality set
forth by CDE. Children's developmental progress is closely
monitored, and children are evaluated using the Desired Results
Developmental Profile (DRDP), which is a CDE-developed formative
assessment instrument for young children and their families,
designed to inform instruction and program development.
Providers must meet a number of other requirements, including
offering parent education.
As of April 2015, there were 83 FCCHEN contractors serving 1,556
licensed family child care homes which, in turn, provided care
and education for 6,853 children.
FCCHENs, although not always referred to by the same name, have
existed in some form in California since the 1970s. It wasn't
until 2004, with AB 379 (Mullin), Chapter 897, Statutes of 2004
that they were defined in statute and that contractor
requirements were adopted in state law. The rationale behind AB
379 was to codify current practice at the time and better define
FCCHEN responsibilities.
Need for this bill: FCCHENs offer the ability for family child
care home providers to access training and services aimed at
providing high-quality care and education for children.
According to the author, "Family Child Care Home Education
Networks offer a promising practice model for the state to
improve the quality of family child care options in California.
It is time to take all the lessons learned through the nearly
twenty years of operating these programs and codify the programs
to provide for greater statewide consistency of services and
increase access to high quality options for families
specifically those with infants and toddlers."
Recommended amendments:
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1)In order to make clear the definition of a "developmental
portfolio," committee staff recommends the following
amendments:
On page 3, after line 7, insert:
(9) Maintenance of a folder, known as the developmental
portfolio, for each child that includes, among other items, a
child's work products and observations of the child by the
provider and/or child development specialist.
On page 3, beginning on line 29:
(2)Utilizing the developmental portfolio, as defined in
paragraph (9) of subsection (b) of Section 8245, maintained by
the provider, including provider observations of each child.
On page 6, beginning on line 16:
(B)Maintaining a developmental portfolio, as defined in
paragraph (9) of subsection (b) of Section 8245, for each
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child that includes items produced by the child.
2)In order to make clear that the requirement for FCCHEN
contractors regarding parent conferences is not related to
requirements regarding developmental profiles, committee staff
recommends the following amendments to subsection (e) of
Section 8246, on page 3 of the bill:
On page 3, strike lines 31 and 32, and after line 35, insert:
(f) Ensure that parent conferences are offered to the parent
of each enrolled child. The parent may decline a parent
conference.
PRIOR LEGISLATION:
AB 379 (Mullin), Chapter 897, Statutes of 2004, defined FCCHENs
in statute and adopted requirements regarding FCCHEN programs.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
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None on file.
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Daphne Hunt / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089