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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 10-18-2007-5The Board of Social Services Annual Report on Child Care September 2007 Background The Orange County Board of County Commissioners created the Orange County Child Care Task Force in 2006 as a response to the growing demand for child care subsidy and the long wait periods experienced by working families needing subsidy. The Task Force was charged with creating community awareness of and support for the benefits of early childhood education, increasing private, business and public financial contributions for child care subsidies or scholarships, and improving workplace support for children and families. Members of the Task Force included individuals representing university, business, child care providers, schools, non-profit agencies, and local government interests. When the Task Force was created, there were over 500 children eligible for child care subsidy who were unable to receive it due to a lack of funds. Some families with eligible children had been waiting more than sixteen months. In September 2006, the Task Force made its final report to the Board of Commissioners with broad goals that included: establishing baselines so that progress could be measured objectively; assuring that all local government entities at least maintained their current level of support for subsidy programs; working with economic development and other county staff to encourage support from private businesses and to encourage the inclusion of child care needs in future development projects; identifying ways to improve access to subsidy for families; and, seeking other funding sources that could be matched with county funds. The Social Services Board was charged with reporting annually to the Board of County Commissioners on the progress in these areas. During the 2006-07 budget process, the Board of County Commissioners showed its concern for this issue by providing three distinct funding sources for child care subsidies: $30,000 to "pay back" the costs of employee subsidies used the previous year; $50,000 to allow for matching of any business or other agency that also committed funds; and $100,000 from the Medicaid relief savings to be used to help serve the waiting list. Current Situation The Department of Social Services (DSS) received additional funds from state and federal resources for both Fiscal Year 2006-2007 and Fiscal Year 2007-2008. The total expenditure for subsidy by the agency in 2005-2006 was $3,946,852 compared to expenditures of $4,303,412 in 2006-2007. The expenditures last year included approximately $150,000 in county funds. The allocation for the current year is $4,570,922, which includes $70,000 in county funds. The total number of children served last year was 1138 at an average monthly cost of $497 per child (this is the amount paid by the agency and does not count the funds paid by the families). This compares to a total number of 1025 children served the previous year. The additional state and county fiends received last year allowed the agency to serve all children on the agency's waiting list in January of 2007. It then became necessary to begin the waiting list again as ail the additional resources had been committed. Currently, 408 children are waiting for DSS subsidy although Child Care Services Association is serving 115 of these children. There are children of working parents who have been waiting for subsidy since February of this year. The confirmation of the new state allocation was recently received by the agency and staff members will now start serving some of the children on the waiting list. The Department of Social Services has continued to offer the Day Care Sponsorship Program, but has had difficulty securing sponsors, other than child care providers, to use the matching funds allocated by the county. However, the funds were used to sponsor More at Four families last year, and the funds were used to match reallocated funds made available by the state during last fiscal year. Although neither the towns nor the university are contributing fluids directly to DSS, the towns have maintained their commitment to Child Care Service Association (CCSA) and the university continues to contribute to CCSA. The Department of Social Services had been working with the Economic Development Commission (EDC) on the recommendations regarding education of employers and development of financial incentives for employers. After a new EDC director is hired, the agencies will again try to work on these issues. DSS has also been reviewing issues related to access to subsidy programs and is continuing to explore ways to improve access including having both public subsidy programs being administered by one agency. Benchmarks for Measurement The Social Services Board has established the following benchmarks for the subsidy program. This data will be used to determine progress and identify the need for additional funding beginning in Fiscal Year 2007-08. 1. The average length of time for working families to wait for subsidy is three months with the maximum time that they wait being four months. When the wait times exceed these amounts, the DSS Board will inform the Board of Commissioners of the need for additional resources. 2. The amount of state and federal subsidy received by DSS in Fiscal Year 2006- 2007 was $4,153,607 and the total subsidy expenditures were $4,303,412. These amounts are the baseline for DSS to determine progress in securing additional funds for subsidy. 3. The average number of children served each month for 2006-2007 was 708 and will be the baseline for services to families. 4. The number of fenders of child care at DSS during 2006-2007 was 7 and will be the baseline for measuring progress in this area. The Social Services Board requests that the Board of County Commissioners consider appropriating county funds for subsidy when the wait time is longer than four months for employed parents and there are no identified funds to serve the children on the waiting list. The Social Services Board believes that longer wait times result in lost employment for families, which jeopardize their ability to support their own families.