Programs that accept and, where possible, attempt to resolve complaints regarding individuals and organizations that provide child care services. Included are complaints concerning licensing, cleanliness and safety of homes or facilities, treatment of children, quality of care, excessive fees, unethical or improper conduct of personnel or other inappropriate business practices of child care providers.
Programs that cover all or part of the cost of child care in public and licensed private child care centers or private family child care homes, usually for low-income families or families which include children with disabilities in situations where parents are working, in school or in a training program.
Programs that provide statewide and community-based services that are designed to improve the availability and quality of child care. These programs maintain lists of child care resources and link families who are in need of child care services with child care centers, licensed family child care homes and other organization-based providers; provide information that helps families become good consumers of child care services; recruit new child care providers to expand the availability of the service locally; provide training and technical assistance for providers; and collect and disseminate data which document the demand for child care services and the current availability of child care resources. Some programs may also make referrals to preschools and many provide referrals to children's play groups.
Programs that provide temporary shelter/residential care for infants and children who are at risk for or who have experienced child abuse or neglect in the home or whose families are experiencing an emergency that makes it untenable for the child to remain in the home. Care is generally provided by licensed family child care homes that are available on a 24-hour basis when needed. Some providers are able to accommodate children to age 12 or 14 and will consider older children on a case-by-case basis, while others limit their services to very young children, generally from birth to age five or six.
Child care centers, family child care homes, schools and recreation centers that provide supervised care for school-age children prior to the beginning and/or following the end of the school day, on school holidays and teacher work/conference days, during school breaks and, in some cases, during the summer when school is not in session in situation where their parents are working or otherwise engaged.
A federally-funded child development program that provides educational experiences, medical and dental services, nutritional meals, counseling and opportunities for parental involvement to help prepare low-income children and children with disabilities age three to five to enter and succeed in school. Included are special preschools that provide educational experiences and activities designed to meet the needs of young children who are at risk for disabilities or who have been identified as having a disability.
