SECTIONS 8350-8359.1 - California Statutes

EDUCATION CODE

SECTION 8350-8359.1

8350. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this
article to ensure that recipients of aid under Chapter 2 (commencing
with Section 11200) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code, or any successor program, and former recipients
who have left aid for employment, are connected as soon as possible
to local child care resources, make stable child care arrangements,
and continue to receive subsidized child care services after they no
longer receive aid as long as they require those services and meet
the eligibility requirements set forth in Sections 8263 and 8263.1.
(b) This article establishes three stages of child care services
through which a recipient of aid under Chapter 2 (commencing with
Section 11200) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code, or any successor program, will pass. Further, as
families' child care needs are met by county welfare departments and
later by other local child care and development contractors, it is
the intent of the Legislature that families experience no break in
their child care services due to a transition between the three
stages of child care services.

8350.5. Current CalWORKs recipients are eligible for all child care
services under this article as long as they continue to receive aid
under Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3 of Division
9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, or any successor program.
Family size and income, for purposes of calculating family fees,
shall be determined pursuant to Section 8263.

8350.5. Current CalWORKs recipients are eligible for all child care
services under this article as long as they continue to receive aid
under Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3 of Division
9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, or any successor program.
Family size and income, for purposes of calculating family fees,
shall be determined pursuant to Section 8263.

8351. (a) The county welfare department shall manage the first
stage during which a family shall receive a child care subsidy for
any legal care chosen by the parent. The first stage begins upon the
entry of a person into the program prescribed by Chapter 2
(commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the
Welfare and Institutions Code.
(b) A county shall move recipients out of this first response
stage as quickly as possible after the county determines that the
need for child care is stable. A recipient may be served in this
stage for a maximum of six months. The six-month time limit may be
extended if the county determines that the recipient's situation is
too unstable to be shifted to the second stage or if no funds are
available to provide child care services in the second stage.
(c) Former CalWORKs recipients who cannot be transitioned from the
first stage of child care because no funded slot is available are
eligible to receive the first stage and any subsequent stage two
child care services for up to a total of 24 months after they leave
cash aid, or until they are otherwise ineligible within that 24-month
period. Family size and income for purposes of determining
eligibility and family fee shall be determined pursuant to Sections
8263 and 8263.1.
(d) The county welfare department shall also begin the first stage
of child care when an individual who applies for aid under the
program described in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of
Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
participating as a volunteer pursuant to Article 3.2 (commencing with
Section 11320) of Chapter 2 of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare
and Institutions Code.
(e) A county may contract with public or private child care
providers to provide any or all of the services during the first
stage. If the county welfare department elects to contract with any
child care provider that is also under contract with the State
Department of Education, these contracts shall be consistent with
state law.

8352. (a) As soon as appropriate, a county welfare department shall
refer families needing child care services to the local child care
resource and referral program funded pursuant to Article 2
(commencing with Section 8210). Resource and referral program staff
shall colocate with a county welfare department's case management
offices for aid under Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of
Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, or any
successor program, or arrange other means of swift communication with
parents and case managers of this aid. The local child care resource
and referral program shall assist families to establish stable child
care arrangements as soon as possible. These child care arrangements
may include licensed and license-exempt care.
(b) A program operating pursuant to this article shall, within two
business days of being notified of a revocation or a temporary
suspension order for a licensed child day care facility, do both of
the following:
(1) Terminate payment to the facility.
(2) Notify each parent and the facility in writing that payment
has been terminated and the reason for the termination.
(c) A program operating pursuant to this article shall, upon being
notified that a licensed child care facility has been placed on
probation, provide written notice to each parent utilizing the
facility that the facility has been placed on probation and that the
parent has the option of selecting a different child day care
provider or remaining with the facility without risk of subsidy
payments to the provider being terminated. The Legislature urges each
agency operating pursuant to this section to provide the written
notice required by this subdivision in the primary language of the
parent, to the extent feasible.

8353. (a) The second stage of child care begins when the county
determines that the recipient's work or approved work activity is
stable or when a recipient is transitioning off of aid and child care
is available through a local stage two program. Second stage child
care may be provided to a family who elects to receive a lump-sum
diversion payment or diversion services under Section 11266.5 of the
Welfare and Institutions Code when a funded space is not immediately
available for the family in third stage. The local stage two agency
shall assist in moving families to stage three as quickly as
feasible. Former CalWORKs recipients are eligible to receive child
care services in stage one and stage two for up to a total of no more
than 24 months after they leave cash aid, or until they are
otherwise ineligible within that 24-month period. Family size and
income for purposes of determining eligibility and calculating the
family fee shall be determined pursuant to Sections 8263 and 8263.1.
A family leaving cash aid under the CalWORKS program shall receive up
to two years of child care, if otherwise eligible, as needed to
continue the family's employment. The provision of the two-year time
limit is not intended to limit eligibility for child care under
Section 8354.
(b) The second stage shall be administered by agencies contracting
with the State Department of Education. These contractors may be
either agencies that have an alternative payment contract pursuant to
Section 8220.1 or county welfare departments that choose to
administer this stage in order to continue to provide child care
services for recipients or former recipients of aid. If the county
chooses to contract with the department to provide alternative
payment services, this contract shall not displace, or result in the
reduction of an existing contract of, a current alternative payment
program.

8354. (a) The third stage of child care begins when a funded space
is available. CalWORKs recipients are eligible for the third stage of
child care. Persons who received a lump-sum diversion payment or
diversion services and former CalWORKs participants are eligible if
they have an income that does not exceed 75 percent of the state
median income. The third stage shall be administered by programs
contracting with the State Department of Education. Parents'
eligibility for child care and development services will be governed
by Section 8263 and regulations adopted by the State Department of
Education.
(b) In order to move welfare recipients and former recipients from
their relationship with county welfare departments to relationships
with institutions providing services to working families, it is the
intent of the Legislature that families that are former recipients of
aid, or are transitioning off aid, receive their child care
assistance in the same fashion as other low-income working families.
Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature that families no
longer rely on county welfare departments to obtain child care
subsidies beyond the time they are receiving other services from the
welfare department.
(c) A county welfare department shall not administer the third
stage of child care for CalWORKs recipients except to the extent to
which it delivered those services to families receiving, or within
one year of having received, Aid to Families with Dependent Children
prior to the enactment of this section.
(d) This article does not preclude county welfare departments from
operating an alternative payment program under contract with the
State Department of Education to serve families referred by child
protective services.

8355. Child care during the third stage may be funded with moneys
dedicated to current and former recipients of aid under Chapter 2
(commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the
Welfare and Institutions Code, or any successor program, including
the federal funds appropriated to alternative payment program
contractors in the 1996-97 fiscal year using the Budget Act's Section
28 process as described in subdivision (b). Nothing shall prevent
child care services provided under stage three from being funded with
moneys from other federal or state sources. Nothing in this article
shall preclude current and former recipients of aid under Chapter 2
(commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the
Welfare and Institutions Code, or any successor program, from
receiving child care services pursuant to other provisions of this
chapter.

8356. It is the intent of the Legislature that the State Department
of Education work with Head Start and state preschool programs to
generate extended-day and evening care for recipients of aid under
Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3 of Division 9 of
the Welfare and Institutions Code, or any successor program, through
recruiting and training parents to be licensed and license-exempt
care providers and shall facilitate connections between Head Start
and state preschool contractors and child care certificate
administrators, including counties and other alternative payment
programs, so that funds available for Sections 8351, 8353, and 8354
cover the cost of this care.

8356.1. It is the intent of the Legislature that each county
receive funding for child care services provided in stage two that is
at least equivalent to the amount of funding received in the 1996-97
fiscal year for income disregard pursuant to Section 11451.6 of the
Welfare and Institutions Code and supplemental child care pursuant to
Section 11451.7 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.

8357. (a) The cost of child care services provided under this
article shall be governed by regional market rates. Recipients of
child care services provided pursuant to this article shall be
allowed to choose the child care services of licensed child care
providers or child care providers who are, by law, not required to be
licensed, and the cost of that child care shall be reimbursed by
counties or agencies that contract with the State Department of
Education if the cost is within the regional market rate. For
purposes of this section, "regional market rate" means care costing
no more than 1.5 market standard deviations above the mean cost of
care for that region. The regional market rate ceilings shall be
established at the 85th percentile of the 2005 regional market rate
survey for that region.
(b) Reimbursement to license-exempt child care providers shall not
exceed 80 percent of the family child care home rate established
pursuant to subdivision (a).
(c) Reimbursement to child care providers shall not exceed the fee
charged to private clients for the same service.
(d) Reimbursement shall not be made for child care services when
care is provided by parents, legal guardians, or members of the
assistance unit.
(e) A child care provider located on an Indian reservation or
rancheria and exempted from state licensing requirements shall meet
applicable tribal standards.
(f) For purposes of this section, "reimbursement" means a direct
payment to the provider of child care services, including
license-exempt providers. If care is provided in the home of the
recipient, payment may be made to the parent as the employer, and the
parent shall be informed of his or her concomitant legal and
financial reporting requirements. To allow time for the development
of the administrative systems necessary to issue direct payments to
providers, for a period not to exceed six months from the effective
date of this article, a county or an alternative payment agency
contracting with the State Department of Education may reimburse the
cost of child care services through a direct payment to a recipient
of aid rather than to the child care provider.
(g) Counties and alternative payment programs shall not be bound
by the rate limits described in subdivision (a) when there are, in
the region, no more than two child care providers of the type needed
by the recipient of child care services provided under this article.
(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, reimbursements to
child care providers based upon a daily rate may only be authorized
under either of the following circumstances:
(1) A family has an unscheduled but documented need of six hours
or more per occurrence, such as the parent's need to work on a
regularly scheduled day off, that exceeds the certified need for
child care.
(2) A family has a documented need of six hours or more per day
that exceeds no more than 14 days per month. In no event shall
reimbursements to a provider based on the daily rate over one month's
time exceed the provider's equivalent full-time monthly rate or
applicable monthly ceiling.
(3) This subdivision shall not limit providers from being
reimbursed for services using a weekly or monthly rate, pursuant to
subdivision (c) of Section 8222.

8358. (a) By January 31, 1998, the State Department of Education
and the State Department of Social Services shall design a form for
license-exempt child care providers to use for certifying health and
safety requirements to the extent required by federal law. Until the
form is adopted, the information required pursuant to Section 11324
of the Welfare and Institutions Code shall continue to be maintained
by the county welfare department or contractor, as appropriate.
(b) By January 31, 1998, the State Department of Education and the
State Department of Social Services shall do both of the following:
(1) Design a standard process for complaints by parents about the
provision of child care that is exempt from licensure.
(2) Design, in consultation with local planning councils, a single
application for all child care programs and all families.
(c) (1) County welfare departments and alternative payment
programs shall encourage all providers who are licensed or who are
exempt from licensure and who are providing care under Section 8351,
8353, or 8354, to secure training and education in basic child
development.
(2) Child care provider job training provided to CalWORKs
recipients that is funded by either the State Department of Education
or the State Department of Social Services shall include information
on becoming a licensed child care provider.
(d) The State Department of Education shall increase consumer
education and consumer awareness activities so that parents will have
the information needed to seek child care of high quality. High
quality child care shall include both licensed and license-exempt
care.

8358.5. Notwithstanding any other confidentiality requirement, the
government or private agency administering subsidized child care
services shall share information necessary for the administration of
the child care programs pursuant to this article and the CalWORKs
program pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part
3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, for the time
period for which the person receives child care.

8359. (a) County welfare departments and alternative payment
programs shall provide to the State Department of Education or the
State Department of Social Services, whichever is appropriate, and
the local planning council, on a monthly basis, data about child care
usage and demand in each of the three stages. The State Department
of Education and the State Department of Social Services shall
forward this data quarterly to the Department of Finance and the
Joint Legislative Budget Committee for fiscal planning.
(b) By January 10 of each year, the Department of Finance shall
present to the respective legislative budget committees an estimate
of the cost of funding the expected demand for child care as
described in subdivision (a) of Section 8351 and Sections 8353 and
8354.

8359.1. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this
article to provide sufficient funding through an appropriation in the
annual Budget Act to fund the estimated cost of providing child care
for all individuals who are anticipated to need child care to
participate in the welfare-to-work programs and to transition to
work.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that child care and
development contracts in existence on the effective date of this
section be allowed to continue until the end of the 1997-98 fiscal
year.
(c) Funding for purposes of implementing this article shall be
appropriated in the annual Budget Act.