A Look at Legally-Exempt Child Care in New York State Janice Molnar NYS Office of Children and Family Services Marsha Basloe Early Care & Learning Council 2012 National Child Care Policy Symposium Child Care and Education: Unequal Opportunities National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies March 6-10, 2012  Washington, D.C.

Learning Objectives To inform participants about New York State’s child care subsidy program, which served 246,000 children in FFY 2011 To review the legally-exempt child care system in New York State To offer a look at the research and quality- improvement work in progress in New York State To participate in a discussion of strategies to affect policy planning

Janice Molnar Overview Child Care in New York State What is Legally-Exempt? Promoting Health and Safety OCFS’s Role Additional Standards Training & Professional Development Next Steps

Regulated Child Care in NYS ModalityRegulated ProvidersCapacity Child Care Center4,089273,289 Family Child Care Home6,81051,536 Group Family Child Care Homes7,789115,208 School-Age Child Care Program2,570239,648 Total:21,258679,681 (*Data as of 1/1/12)

Subsidized Child Care in NYS

In FFY 2011, the modalities of care for children receiving subsidies: – 61% in regulated care (34% in licensed child care centers, 27% in regulated family child care homes, including group family child care) – 39% in legally-exempt care, almost exclusively home- based setting – 51,103 legally-exempt providers served 95,887 subsidized children over the course of the year

Legally-Exempt Definition NYS Social Services Law: defines “child day care” and dictates which providers must be licensed or registered to operate a child care program in New York State. Identifies types of child care that are not included in the definition of day care and therefore not subject to licensing or registration, “legally-exempt.”

Types & Distribution of Legally- Exempt Care Legally-Exempt Family Child Care – Relative: 12,862 Providers (22,284 Children) – Non-Relative: 17,450 (25,903) Legally-Exempt In-Home Child Care – Relative: 11,839 (20,148) – Non-Relative: 8,517 (14,372) Legally-Exempt Group Child Care – 435 (13,180)

History of Legally-Exempt in NYS 1990: Legislation enacted expanding Federal support for child care New federal guidelines Late 1990’s: OCFS convened committee 1999: OCFS established minimum requirements for NYS

History of Legally-Exempt in NYS 2004: Audit conducted by the NYS Office of the State Comptroller, in conjunction with OCFS Led to regulations focused on verifying information from legally-exempt family and in- home child care providers 2006: New regulations required verification of information from legally-exempt providers

History of Legally-Exempt in NYS 2006: In response to local district concerns, “Legally-Exempt Caregiver Enrollment Agencies” were established in regulation 2006: CCFS becomes system of record for legally-exempt provider enrollment 2010: New legislation passed 2011: Child Care Time and Attendance System (CCTA) developed

Legally-Exempt Providers & Subsidized Children Served

Health and Safety Federal statute requires that all states have requirements in place designed to protect the health and safety of children. In NYS all child care providers caring for subsidized children must demonstrate that they meet basic health and safety standards through one of the following processes: Licensing, Registration or Enrollment.

Promoting Health and Safety of Children in Legally-Exempt Care Legally-exempt enrollment process Current requirements Significant events in provider’s history

What OCFS Does Steps OCFS has taken to improve quality of legally-exempt care: – Enhanced rate for in-home or family child care providers – Legislative proposal – CCFS enhancements

Additional Standards for Legally- Exempt Providers 23 counties have additional family child care standards – 10 counties have a criminal convictions check – 12 counties have a verification that the provider gave true and accurate information regarding CPS indications to the parent – 4 counties require home visits – 6 counties have an additional standard that is not one of the four mentioned above.

On-site Inspections for Legally- Exempt Providers OCFS requires on-site inspections of 20% of legally- exempt providers who do not participate in CACFP Of the 17, 926 enrolled legally-exempt family child care providers, 3% (600) participate in CACFP. Counties with participation rates of 10% or higher are: Chautauqua, Erie, Monroe, Essex, Washington, Madison, Niagara, and Oneida.

Legally-Exempt Training and Professional Development Enhanced subsidy rate for providers with 10 hours of approved training per year Partnerships with the unions Development of 10 hour legally-exempt provider training curriculum

Next Steps Rollout of legally-exempt module in provider database of record Regulatory review – Fall 2012

Marsha Basloe Overview Overview of Current Legally-Exempt Research Project Review of License-Exempt Literature Crosswalk of License-Exempt Child Care in NYS and Other States Conducting License-Exempt Key Informant Interviews Policy Strategies/Recommendations

Work in Progress ECLC Legally-Exempt Research Project – Investigate legally-exempt child care in New York State – Literature review, survey of other states, key-informant interviews, policy recommendations Research Questions – What are the most recent research findings on license-exempt child care? – What are the similarities and differences between New York State and some other states in terms of license-exempt child care? – What are some of the experiences and expectations of key individuals involved in the legally-exempt system in New York State? – What can New York State do to elevate the quality, affordability, and availability of subsidized child care?

Acknowledgments Rauch Foundation –A family foundation that provides support for innovative projects on children and families, leadership, and environment –Linda Landsman, Vice President of the Rauch Foundation “We look forward to the study providing much needed information on the legally-exempt child care program in New York State which covers more than 91,000 high needs children.” Evaluation Advisory Committee –Convened by the Early Care & Learning Council to solicit input and feedback on research and evaluation efforts at the Council –Representatives from Columbia University, Cornell University, University at Albany, Center for Assessment & Policy Development, Robin Hood Foundation

License-Exempt Care Research Informal; unlicensed; kin and kith; family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) Nationally, between 33% and 53% of children under five receive FFN care Strengths: Adult to child ratios, positive relationships, trusted caregivers, flexible hours Weaknesses: Lack of education/training, structured learning experiences, screen time

FFN in the Continuum of Child Care Kreader & Lawrence, 2006

% of children in license-exempt care participating in CCDBG Source: CLASP

State Crosswalk Eight States – New York – California – Illinois – Michigan – North Carolina – Oklahoma – Pennsylvania – Washington

State Crosswalk Data Collection Process – Review of existing state and crosswalk data – Development of online survey – Definitions – Enrollment/Cost of Care – Funding – Program Support – Inspections – Termination/Disclosure – Final Comments – Follow-up and phone conversations

State Crosswalk Key Findings Percentage in license-exempt care in 2009 Source: Greenberg, J. (Received March 2011). State by State Comparison of Subsidized Child Care (2009 Data compiled in reports by National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center and Center for Law and Social Policy). Albany, New York: Empire State Justice Center. MIILNYPACAWANCOK License- exempt 63%46%44%28%27%20%1%0%

State Crosswalk Key Findings Relative care reported as the #1 indicator in defining license-exempt child care Support for License-Exempt Providers – 2 states (WA, NC) reported providing no support for license-exempt providers Average Ceiling Reimbursement Rate – NYS’s ceiling reimbursement rate was on average 46.8% higher than PA and 37.8% higher than IL

Key Informant Interviews Data Collection Process – In-depth interviews with various groups and organizations with different levels of involvement, knowledge, and experience with the legally- exempt child care system in New York State

Key Informant Profiles All interviewees will have a long history of experience in the legally-exempt system – Parents – Providers – CCR&R Director of Regulatory Services or Legally-Exempt Coordinator – OCFS Regional Manager – Union Representative – OCFS Representative in leadership – Legal Benefits Expert – Researcher * Some agencies may need to obtain permission from legal departments.

Policy Considerations Substantial amounts of research tell us that the quality of early child care matters – “Children who have spent time in high quality child care environments have lasting benefits from the experience.” –Barnett, NIEER, 1995 Very little is known about the quality of legally-exempt programs

A Balance Game Work SupportQuality/School Readiness A study by the Families and Work Institute found that the quality of care by those who cared for one or two children (many of whom were relatives) was less nurturing and stimulating than that of caregivers who treated their work more as a business. (The study used measures of quality for formal child care homes to evaluate the interactions between relatives and children.) Researchers pointed out that many of the relative caregivers took children to help out the mother, not out of an interest in the children. Collins & Carlson, 1998, p. 6

Policy Strategies Strategies to approach the legally-exempt system moving forward fall into two categories: – Support and strengthen the legally-exempt system as it currently exists – Limit and reduce the amount of legally-exempt child care provided with state dollars

Policy Options Strategy: Support and Strengthen the LE system Limit and Reduce LE care Follows trend of the federal government (RTT-ELC absence, NACCRRA study) Provide Additional Technical Assistance Mandate CACFP Participation Legally-exempt offered as a choice for 2 nd and 3 rd Shift only Set a cap on the number of children that are allowed to be enrolled in LE care Alternate funding streams Continue to professionalize the field of early care and education Work with Caregivers to become licensed

Questions

Panel Presentation Part #1 How do we build quality in legally- exempt child care? Do we build quality in legally-exempt child care?

Panel Presentation Part #2 Do we need to look at legally-exempt based on different shifts – in home and out of home? How do we support families and also support continuity of care?

Contact Janice Molnar NYS Office of Children and Family Services Marsha Basloe Early Care & Learning Council