February 23, 2015
Dear Tribal Leader:
Earlier this year, I sent you a letter about the reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act and inviting you to join one or more consultation sessions regarding this historic reform. The law reauthorizes the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) and makes expansive changes to the program that when fully implemented will benefit children, families, and communities. The changes emphasize the dual goals of promoting families' economic stability by making child care more affordable, and fostering healthy child development and school success by improving the quality of child care. The law makes significant advancements by defining health and safety requirements, outlining policies for continuity of care, and promoting investments in quality and professional development.
While this new law provides a much-needed comprehensive update to the CCDF program, the law does not explicitly indicate the extent to which many provisions apply to tribes. The Office of Child Care will be consulting with tribal leaders and their designated representatives before issuing regulations and policy guidance on how these provisions would apply to Tribes. I am pleased to announce these consultation sessions:
March 25th, 1:00-2:00 PM EST
April22nd, 1:00-2:00 PM EST
May 7th, 3:00-4:00 PM EST
All three of these consultation sessions will be held via conference call. Registration and call-in information is available on the OCC website at: /programs/occ/ccdf-reauthorization. We are also planning an additional in-person consultation session and will send out more information when it is finalized.
We are attaching to this letter a summary of the new provisions in the law and a draft agenda of tentative topics we would like to discuss. Please let us know if there are any other topics pertaining to the CCDBG Act you would like to discuss. More information on the new law, including frequently asked questions, is available on the OCC website at: /programs/occ/ccdf-reauthorization.
We will also post consultation updates to the CCDF Reauthorization page. Tribal leaders and their designees are welcome to attend any and all sessions. We also encourage written questions and testimonies which can be submitted by email address at ccdf.reauthorization@acf.hhs.gov.
The Administration for Children and Families is committed to effective and meaningful consultation with Tribes. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact James Henry at (202)-401-1484 or james.henry@acf.hhs.gov. Thank you for the important work that you do. I look forward to working with you as we move to strengthen child care programs and enhance early childhood development in Tribal communities across the nation.
/s/
_________________________
Sincerely,
Rachel Schumacher
Director
Office of Child Care
cc: Tribal CCDF Administrators
Office of Child Care Regional Program Managers
Lillian Sparks Robinson, Commissioner, Administration for Native Americans
Attachments:
Files
- PDF CCDF Reauthorization Consultation Invitation (86.37 KB)