New report on state child care subsidy activities

The Child Care Bureau recently released the CCDF Report of State and Territory Plans FY 2008-2009,  a summary of activities reported in individual biennial state plans required for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program. As in previous years, the report includes information on a range of state child care policies related to access to child care assistance and quality initiatives, such as how states determine provider payment rates, set income eligibility thresholds, and the types of outreach services offered.

The FY 2008-2009 report differs from prior years as it includes profiles for each state. In addition, this State Plan report includes information on how states are addressing the needs of parents and providers who are limited English proficient. In December, CLASP released a report on state activities to support LEP and immigrant parents and providers based on information in states' 2006-2007 state plans. According to the Child Care Bureau's Report:

• 37 states have bilingual caseworkers available or other translation services (such as language lines) for LEP parents.
• 28 states have information and applications for child care subsidies available in at least one language besides English.
• 7 states provide training and technical assistance for providers in a language other than English.

While more actions are needed to fully meet the needs of linguistically diverse communities, highlighting states' policies regarding LEP populations is a positive development in moving towards child care policies that meet the needs of diverse language groups.