According to a popular African saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Traditionally however, American families tend to make child rearing a personal task – where family takes care of other members of the family. The village in this sense can literally be the entire community of people that surrounds the child the moment he is born. In this case, the community or village is responsible perhaps not for the particular way that the child is raised in its own family but more so in inculcating in the child the mores and culture that is practiced in the community/village. In a larger sense, the US government stands in recognition of the community’s role in nation building in general and in developing and educating the child in particular. For this reason, the government has made available to its citizens various financial assistance to help bring up the child in the proper environment. It has established programs that grant funds that the community can spend to develop quality child care and make it available and affordable if not totally free, to low income families and children.

One of the most sought after funding program of the government for children is the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) which has been authorized by the Child Care and Development Block Grant. It is the main source of federal funds for low income families need child care subsidies and at the same time the main source too of federal funding to increase the quality of child care all over the country. In fulfillment of this program, each state receives an annual fund allocation to be spent on projects designed to carry out the program’s goal. Each state can receive more federal funds if it spends the funds on subsidizing child care and initiating steps to improve child care. The funds are mainly used to assist families belonging to low-income brackets, those families who are recipients of temporary public assistance and those who want to receive child care assistance so they can work, study or go on training.

The Child Care and Development Fund is intended to be a cooperative program between the federal and state governments. In this arrangement, it is the federal government that gives the needed funds to each state, which in turn must comply with the requirements set by the federal government. Each state is responsible for determining the lead agency responsible for dispersing the funds to different institutions that need them. This lead agency will also be tasked to develop a state plan and programs for child care and early childhood development. The majority of the funds allocated to each state are used for subsidizing child care services to eligible families. Parents have the freedom to select any child care provider that operates legally. These child care providers must meet basic health and safety requirement as determined by the State such as prevention and control of diseases, and safety on the building and physical premises. Each state is required to spend at least 4% of the CCDF funds allocated to them for the improvement of the quality of child care and for providing parental consumer education.

As a response to these requirements, many states have improved their monitoring system, established adequate compensation projects, initiated training programs and provided grants and loans to legal child care providers.

Author Bio: Loren Yadeski, author of this article, is knowledgeable in child care and daycare grants. If you live in Kentucky, check out DaycareGrants.org — Kentucky for more detailed information on how you can avail of financial aid grants for daycare facilities in Kentucky.

Category: Business
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