EVALUATING CCDBG IN OREGON: IMPACT OF THE 2014 ACT ON CHILDREN, FAMILIES, AND THE QUALITY OF HOME-BASED CARE IN OREGON

Oregon Department Of Education, Salem OR

Investigators

Abstract

The 2014 Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014 has potentially large impacts on the children, families, and providers that participate in the child care subsidy system. The impacts are likely to be particularly salient for homebased providers and the children and families they serve due to increased requirements for some. Such is the case in Oregon where approximately seven in ten children in the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) program are in homebased care and over three in ten are in homes that were not inspected or monitored prior to implementation of the 2014 CCDBG Act. Since passage of the new law, the Oregon Legislature increased requirements and quality investments to ensure healthy, safe, and high-quality home-based options for children and families in the subsidy program. The state also implemented 12-month eligibility and 3-month job search policies aimed to increase continuity. Oregon also made a number of investments designed to increase the supply of home-based care and improve its quality. The policy changes and investments put in place to implement the CCDBG Act of 2014 make Oregon ideally situated for a study of the impact of the Act on children, families, and providers, especially home-based providers. Increased understanding of home-based care within CCDF programs has policy implications for Oregon and the nation. Home-based care is a predominant form of care in the United States and is sometimes the best, or only, option for families. For example, families from traditionally underserved populations such as racial and/or linguistic minorities may find home-based care best able to provide cultural and/or linguistic congruency. Another example involves families with a child with special developmental needs who require or prefer care in a home. A third group includes families with employment constraints such as unpredictable schedules and nontraditional hours that typically make home-based care the only option. Oregon legislators and other policymakers are committed to ensuring that these targeted populations have access to healthy, safe, and high-quality home-based child care within the CCDF program.Building on the work accomplished in Phase I, Oregon will launch rigorous research on the effect of core components of the new law: strengthened criminal background checks, increased training requirements, inspections and monitoring of nonrelativehome-based providers, 12-month eligibility, and 3-month job search. The quasiexperimental research project, using a rich set of merged administrative data on subsidy program participants before and after implementation, will document changes in who is served as well as the quality and stability of the care provided. The testing of two Professional Development/ Support initiatives, using a randomized control trial design, will inform efforts in Oregon and the nation to improve the supply and quality ofhome-based early care and education. Z10