Office of Child Care

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Office of Child Care logo, as of 2018 Office of Child Care logo.png
Office of Child Care logo, as of 2018

The Office of Child Care (OCC) is a division of the US Executive Branch under the Administration for Children and Families and the Department of Health and Human Services. [1] :597 It was officially formed in 2010 and replaced the former Child Care Bureau, which was itself established under the Administration on Children, Youth and Families in 1995 by the Clinton Administration. [2] [3] :275 The OCC had been previously established as an unofficial organization within the Child Care Bureau by psychologist Edward Zigler, composed initially of only two staff members. [3] :275

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is a division of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It is headed by the Assistant Secretary for Children and Families. It has a $49 billion budget for 60 programs that target children, youth and families. These programs include assistance with welfare, child support enforcement, adoption assistance, foster care, child care, and child abuse.

United States Department of Health and Human Services department of the US federal government

The United States Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), also known as the Health Department, is a cabinet-level department of the U.S. federal government with the goal of protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is "Improving the health, safety, and well-being of America". Before the separate federal Department of Education was created in 1979, it was called the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW).

Presidency of Bill Clinton 1993–2001 U.S. presidential administration

The presidency of Bill Clinton began at noon EST on January 20, 1993, when Bill Clinton was inaugurated as the 42nd President of the United States, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat, took office following a decisive victory over Republican incumbent President George H. W. Bush and Independent businessman Ross Perot in the 1992 presidential election. Four years later, in the 1996 election, he defeated Perot and Republican Bob Dole to win re-election. He was succeeded by Republican George W. Bush, who won the 2000 presidential election.

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The OCC administers the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF), to "subsidize the child care expenses of working families with children under age 13", in addition to coordinating with state, territory, and tribal governments on matters relating to child care, supporting child care licensing, and providing guidance and technical assistance. [4] [5] As of 2015 it administered $10 million in funding for research, demonstration and evaluation related to child care, and supports the online archive, Child Care and Early Education Research Connections. [4] As a requirement of the 2014 reauthorization of the CCDF, the OCC also operates the website ChildCare.gov, which provides consumer education to parents, and operates a parental hotline, to report health and safety violations. [6]

The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), also called the Child Care and Development Fund, is the primary source of United States federal funding for child care subsidies for low-income working families and funds to improve child care quality.

Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from six weeks to thirteen years. Child care is the action or skill of looking after children by a day-care center, nannies, babysitter, teachers or other providers. Child care is a broad topic that covers a wide spectrum of professionals, institutions, contexts, activities, and social and cultural conventions. Early child care is an equally important and often overlooked component of child development. Child care providers can be children's first teachers, and therefore play an integral role in systems of early childhood education. Quality care from a young age can have a substantial impact on the future successes of children. The main focus of childcare is on the development of the child, whether that be mental, social, or psychological.

Hotline

A hotline is a point-to-point communications link in which a call is automatically directed to the preselected destination without any additional action by the user when the end instrument goes off-hook. An example would be a phone that automatically connects to emergency services on picking up the receiver. Therefore, dedicated hotline phones do not need a rotary dial or keypad. A hotline can also be called an automatic signaling, ringdown, or off-hook service.

As of 2018 the OCC was headed by Director Shannon Christian, and employed 67 full time staff. [2] [7] :366

See also

Corporate child care is a specific form of child care sponsored or managed by an employer. It may be a perk or a part of the corporate social responsibility policy of the company. It can provide the working parents with an opportunity to find work-life balance. The corporations sponsor child care as it may increase employee loyalty, decrease maternity leaves and improve on-job concentration.

Foster care in the United States

Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in an institution, group home, or private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent". The placement of the child is usually arranged through the government or a social-service agency. The institution, group home or foster parent is provided compensation for expenses.

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Medicaid United States social health care program for families and individuals with limited resources

Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with medical costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and personal care services. The Health Insurance Association of America describes Medicaid as "a government insurance program for persons of all ages whose income and resources are insufficient to pay for health care." Medicaid is the largest source of funding for medical and health-related services for people with low income in the United States, providing free health insurance to 74 million low-income and disabled people as of 2017. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the state and federal governments and managed by the states, with each state currently having broad leeway to determine who is eligible for its implementation of the program. States are not required to participate in the program, although all have since 1982. Medicaid recipients must be U.S. citizens or qualified non-citizens, and may include low-income adults, their children, and people with certain disabilities. Poverty alone does not necessarily qualify someone for Medicaid.

United States Department of Education United States government department

The United States Department of Education, also referred to as the ED for (the) Education Department, is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services by the Department of Education Organization Act, which President Jimmy Carter signed into law on October 17, 1979.

Head Start (program) U.S. federal aid program for low-income childcare

Head Start is a program of the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provides comprehensive early childhood education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children and their families. The program's services and resources are designed to foster stable family relationships, enhance children's physical and emotional well-being, and establish an environment to develop strong cognitive skills. The transition from preschool to elementary school imposes diverse developmental challenges that include requiring the children to engage successfully with their peers outside the family network, adjust to the space of a classroom, and meet the expectations the school setting provides.

Childrens Health Insurance Program

The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) – formerly known as the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) – is a program administered by the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provides matching funds to states for health insurance to families with children. The program was designed to cover uninsured children in families with incomes that are modest but too high to qualify for Medicaid.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services located in North Bethesda, Maryland. It is the primary federal agency for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated or medically vulnerable.

The United States Children's Bureau is a federal agency organized under the United States Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families. Today, the bureau's operations involve improving child abuse prevention, foster care, and adoption. Historically, its work was much broader, as shown by the 1912 act which created and funded it:

The said bureau shall investigate and report to [the Department of Commerce and Labor] upon all matters pertaining to the welfare of children and child life among all classes of our people, and shall especially investigate the questions of infant mortality, the birth-rate, orphanage, juvenile courts, desertion, dangerous occupations, accidents and diseases of children, employment, legislation affecting children in the several states and territories.

Federal Medical Assistance Percentages (FMAP) are the percentage rates used to determine the matching funds rate allocated annually to certain medical and social service programs in the United States of America. FMAP eligible programs are joint federal-state partnerships between the federal government of the United States and state governments, which are administered by the states. Thus, FMAP is an example of administration of federal assistance in the United States.

Susan Orr American anti-abortion and anti-contraception activist

Susan Orr Headed the United States Children's Bureau, a federal agency organized under the United States Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families, Administration for Children and Families, as Associate Commissioner.

Maternal and Child Health Bureau

The Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), is one of six Bureaus within the Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services located in Rockville, Maryland.

Social programs in the United States

Social programs in the United States are welfare subsidies designed to meet needs of the American population. Federal and state welfare programs include cash assistance, healthcare and medical provisions, food assistance, housing subsidies, energy and utilities subsidies, education and childcare assistance, and subsidies and assistance for other basic services. Private provisions from employers, either mandated by policy or voluntary, also provide similar social welfare benefits.

Bright from the Start, also known as Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, was established on July 1, 2004. The main office is located in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. The department licenses and monitors daycare centers and all state funded pre-k. Bright from the Start is headed by one commissioner and by a board of administrators. Bright from the Start provides children with quality preschool knowledge that will be necessary for their future school achievements. They want to offer a system of professional development for the providers and for the staff.

The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 was an Act of Congress in the United States signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 7, 2008. It was previously unanimously passed in both the House of Representatives and in the Senate. The law made numerous changes to the child welfare system, mostly to Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, which covers federal payments to states for foster care and adoption assistance. According to child welfare experts and advocates, the law made the most significant federal improvements to the child welfare system in over a decade.

The Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) is a United States government office responsible for overseeing the U.S. child support program. Child support is the obligation on parents to provide financial support for their children. OCSE was established with the Federal Government’s enactment of Child Support Enforcement and Paternity Establishment Program (CSE) in 1975, which was enacted to reduce welfare expenses by collecting child support from non-custodial parents.

Wisconsin Department of Children and Families

The Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF) is a governmental agency of the U.S. State of Wisconsin responsible for providing services to assist children and families, including services for children in need of protection or services for their families, adoption and foster care services, licensing of facilities that care for children, background investigations of child caregivers, refugee family services, and child abuse and neglect investigations. It administers the Wisconsin Works (W-2) program, including the child care subsidy program, child support enforcement and paternity establishment, and programs related to the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) income support program. The department is also responsible for early child care and education and also administers the licensing and regulation of day care centers.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) is a program of the Administration for Children and Families, an office within the United States Department of Health and Human Services, created with the passing of the United States Refugee Act of 1980. The ORR offers support for refugees seeking safe haven within the United States, including victims of human trafficking, those seeking asylum from persecution, survivors of torture and war, and unaccompanied alien children. The mission and purpose of the ORR is to assist in the relocation process and provide needed services to individuals granted asylum within the United States.

Edward Frank Zigler was an American developmental psychologist and Sterling Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Yale University. In addition to his academic research on child development, he was best known as one of the architects of the federal Head Start program.

Family and Youth Services Bureau

The Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) is a division of the US Executive Branch under the Administration for Children and Families and the Department of Health and Human Services. The FYSB's primary purpose is to support programs for at-risk youth and their families.

References

  1. ↑ CQ Press (4 November 2013). Federal Regulatory Directory: The Essential Guide to the History, Organization, and Impact of U.S. Federal Regulation. CQ Press. ISBN   9781452290188 . Retrieved May 5, 2018.
  2. 1 2 "About". Office of Child Care. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  3. 1 2 Zigler, Edward; Styfco, Sally J. (7 May 2010). The Hidden History of Head Start. Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780195393767 . Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  4. 1 2 "OCC Fact Sheet". Office of Child Care. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  5. ↑ Lynch, Karen E. (September 17, 2014). "The Child Care and Development Block Grant: Background and Funding" (PDF). United States House Committee on Ways and Means . Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  6. ↑ "Office of Child Care Initiatives". Office of Child Care. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  7. ↑ "Department for Health and Human Services: Fiscal Year 2019" (PDF). Administration for Children and Families . Retrieved 5 May 2018.
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