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Introduction

The Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) supports early care and education services for more than 1.75 million children each month in the 50 States and the District of Columbia, four Territories, and among 256 Tribal CCDF grantees. By subsidizing child care services to parents who are entering the labor force or are in job training and education programs, CCDF has played an important role in welfare reform. CCDF has helped low-income families become self-reliant and has helped children become ready for school. In addition to supporting families on the road to economic self-sufficiency, CCDF also has supported the social, emotional, and cognitive development of children to age 13 in a variety of early care and education settings, helping prepare a pathway to future success.

These CCDF-supported services are described in the biennial State Plans that are summarized in this report. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) requires each State to submit a biennial Plan outlining how it will implement its share of the CCDF block grant. CCDF Lead Agencies prepare Plans using a Plan Preprint developed by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This report is an analysis of the ACF-approved State Plans for the period of October 1, 2001 to September 30, 2003. 5

Report Format

The report is organized to follow the approved State Plan Preprint format (Form ACF-118). The Plan is divided into six parts, and each part is divided into sections. Within the sections are specific questions, based on the statute and the regulations. States are required to respond to questions based on guidance in the accompanying Program Instruction (ACYF-PI-CC-01-03). Both the Preprint and Program Instruction are available on the Child Care Bureau's Web site at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ccb. In this report, the questions from the Preprint are provided in italics for the benefit of the reader.

The information presented in the report reflects the submission from each Lead Agency. The report is not an evaluation of the policies developed by the States; instead, it provides a general overview of the strategies States intended to use as they administered funds for child care services as well as for activities that expand the supply and improve the quality of child care in the States.

It is important to remember that the CCDF Plans represent State intentions at a specific point in time. States have considerable flexibility in their administration of CCDF funds and may, at any time in the Plan Period, amend their approved Plan to reflect substantial changes to the CCDF program. This report does not reflect amendments to the State Plans after initial submission and Plan approval and therefore should be considered a "snapshot" of State efforts at the beginning of Federal Fiscal Year 2002. Similarly, information and activities not reported by the States are not included in this report.

Where possible, the language used by the Lead Agency to respond to a question in the Plan has been used in the report. No additional information has been added to that supplied by the Lead Agency. In many cases, examples were taken from the State Plans to highlight a particular topic. These are intended as samples of the wide variety of activities undertaken by the Lead Agencies, and are not meant to serve as best practices or models. In each section, examples are included in alphabetic order by State. Omissions were made based on space constraints only and do not imply a qualitative evaluation of State efforts. The information presented in each section of the report represents the National Child Care Information Center's best understanding of the State Plans. Any errors or inaccuracies are the sole responsibility of the National Child Care Information Center.

State Plans are public information and are part of the public record. Lead Agency contact information is included in the Appendix.

5 This analysis includes information from 48 of the 50 States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Approved plans for Florida and Michigan were not available at the time of this analysis; therefore, information from these States is not included in this report. The report does not include information from U.S. Territorial or Tribal CCDF Grantees. States submitted Plans on July 1, 2001.

Continue to Part I
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