Prairie State Wire

Illinois Department of Human Services Child Care Advisory Council met July 28.

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

Attendance:

Members and Public: Ayesha Calhoun, Brenda Eastham, Brynn Seibert, Carie Bires, Carisa Hurley, Casey Craft-Cortes, Cerathel Burgess-Burnett, Charles Montorio-Archer, Chris Tokarski, Curtis Peace, Dan Harris, Edie Washington, Jamilah R. Jor'dan, Jean Davis, Jenna Kelly, Lauri Morrison-Frichtl, Laurie Rhodes, Leslie K. Cully, Lori Longueville, Marcy Mendenhall, Maricela Garcia, Mykela Collins, Nicole J. Craft, Shauna Ejeh, Sara Mickelson, Stacie Ealey, Tamara Fair, Teri Talan, Theresa D'Angelo, Tina Staley, Tracy Carls, Vanessa Castro, Vicki Hodges

IDHS Staff: Bethany Patten, Carolyn Marmolejo, Cindy Wall, Hollie A. Hoole, Joselle Escobar, Kelly Spencer, Kisha Davis, Lanette Woodard, Michael Garner-Jones

Full Council: 1:00 - 2:15 pm

• Welcome and introductions
  • Dan welcomed all attendees and asked that all input their name in the chat for attendance purposes
• Approval of meeting minutes for March, April, and May
  • A motion was made and seconded for the acceptance and approval of all three sets of minutes from the last three CCAC meetings
• IDHS Updates - Bethany went over updates and a timeline of the 'Next Steps' of the State Plan
  • FFY2022-2024 CCDF State Plan has been submitted
  • Updating Council focus areas for the rest of 2021
• State Advisory Council scan and analysis (Dr. Jor'dan)
• Federal relief funds update
  • GOECD-administered GEER funds (Dr. Jor'dan)
  • Child Care Restoration Grants (Sara Mickelson)

Break: 2:15-2:30 pm

Committees: 2:30 - 3:40 pm

Discussion: Identify areas of focus for recommendations

• Family engagement through outreach and consumer education
• CCAP policy
• Quality and Workforce

Regroup and Discussion: 3:40 - 3:55 pm

CCAC Policy Committee

Additional discussions on policies

3.1.2

Application submitted indicating an applicant is seeking employment applicant would be granted 90-day approval. Add reason code in CCMS and box "seeking employment" to application - recommendation should up to five full-time days per week of eligibility for non-school aged children. Consider cost and usage from other states or consider piloting in a geographical area if data from other states is not available. Consider referrals to workforce programs if parent is engaging in job search. Take parent's assertion that he or she is seeking a job at face value without additional verification. Consider temporary policy and collect data throughout process. Consider simplified application for job/school seekers.

Simplify application - Model based on essential workers application during beginning of Covid. Create subgroup to further investigate.

Use current policy on two parent household and extend to single parents. ELC has a definition of a disabled parent. Issue is that if definition covers temporary situations (post surgery, chemo, etc.). Change policy/procedure that if a disability is permanent, documentation is not required at rede.

3.1.3

Use current earned income calculation. Do not include: child support, SSA/SSI, unemployment, determine other income to specifically recommend that should not be included. Need to change to admin rule.

3.1.6

Carie will work with ELC and start a subgroup to look at proposed changes including 20% special needs add-on rate for all child care providers.

3.3.2

Simplified application.

Contract Resource, Documentation - https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ecd/homelessnesschildcaresubsidy_compliant.pdf Group can post resources on Box page for next steps. Learn from other States' usage. NAEYC committee that Carie chairs has people and resources to help with this conversation.

3.3.5

R&R's can support IDHS to determine how to complete a 12-month eligibility period. Policy update is required. Consider the opportunities for how to connect 12-month eligibility to pair resources with

families experiencing homelessness on CCAP. Protective services could allow families experiencing homelessness to be eligible for 12 months (Vermont as example.)

Shared services model to support providers. Inclusion support.

Additional information: https://www.childcareaware.org/our-issues/health-nutrition/inclusivechildcare/

Potential for McKinney-Vento support in CCR&R's and/or regional hubs. How does system have adequate support for providers in a variety of areas (inclusion specialists, mental health, developmental specialists, infant/toddler, nurse, nutrition)

4.1.3

Charles and team are piloting - changing nature of COVID requires some fluidity to recommendation

4.1.6

Bethany to provide some feedback on support IDHS is requesting

Quality and Workforce

Members present: Laurie Rhodes, Teri Talan, Marcy Mendenhall, Stacie Ealey, Curtis Peace, Edie Washington, Casey Craft-Cortes, Tina Staley, Dan Harris, Cindy Wall, Jenna Kelly, Ayesha Calhoun

Guests present Hollie Hoole, Kelly Spencer

Introductions were done

Laurie Rhodes gave a brief overview of the recommendation document. Discussion around how to proceed took place. Do we, as a committee, look at the initial sections charged to this committee (Sections 5,6,7). Committee was encouraged to do a global look. Marcy opened discussion for "CCAC recommendations that have not been incorporated;" Laurie moved to the section "CCAC that require further discussion." Cindy encouraged the committee to look for concrete ideas to implement and in addition, what fiscal impact there might be.

A walk through of the document took place. Comments on specific points are listed below. Committee reviewed each section through the lens based on the scope of the work for this committee.

Marcy inquired if there is a specific recommendation we want to "take on"?

Question was asked if there is any communication between committees so not to duplicate work. Yes, Laurie & Marcy will reach out to other co-chairs to coordinate the work.

Section 2:

• Discussion around 2.2.2 and 2.2.3
  • Abuse/neglect complaint would go thru the hotline and child protection - regarding license /license exempt
  • Licensing complaints would be handled by the licensing unit
  • Question around privacy -what is the difference between a licensed family child care and license-exempt family child care information being public? Licensed family child care information is on the Sunshine website.
  • No further recommendations around these recommendations.

Section 3

• 3.1.2
  • Not sure how this could be implemented. Would documentation from a physician be sufficient?
  • Comment around the definition of "disability"
    • maybe include short / long term
    • how will the State define this? (examples mentioned: mental health or addiction)
    • suggested to look at EI standards - at risk criteria https://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=96963
• 3.1.6: Committee interested in this item
  • Need to clarify the definition of "demonstrated disability"
  • What professional development supports need to be there to make staff comfortable, so the add on is beneficial for the child and the classroom as well
  • May want to look at recommendations from the ELC's Integration and Alignment Committee

Section 4

• No specific comments on any recommendation in this section
• Some discussion around 4.1.6, but no recommendations for implementation

Section 7

• 7.3 -
  • Cindy reported that this recommendation is "in the works" -there isn't a set timeline at this point, but it is being worked on. To align with ExceleRate, SACERS will be the tool used.
• 7.6.3
  • Concern expressed about other license-exempt programs, not just school-age, that aren't able to access quality improvement funding. Montessori programs provided as an example during discussion.

Laurie and Marcy will reach out to other co-chairs on the highlighted sections. Recognizing we did not get through the entire document, there may be other areas that would specifically fall to the QW Committee.

https://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=137645