In the summer of 2013, child care providers in San Rafael received notices to pay business license fees, back penalties, and conditional use permit fees they had never known about. Child Care Law Center gave these providers the tools to fight back against high zoning fees and helped the city update their child care ordinances in accordance to state law.
Policy Updates
Families Enrolled in CalWORKs Are Entitled to Immediate, Stable Child Care
Updated Sept. 9, 2019
New improvements to the CalWORKs Stage 1 child care program will ensure that families get immediate and consistent child care services.[1] The budget provides $56.4 million this year and $70.5 million ongoing, to give an extra 3,724 children in the CalWORKs program 12 months of immediate, full-time child care. The expansion in the Stage 1 child care program will promote stability, foster children’s healthy development, and open opportunities for children, families and communities.
FAMILIES ENROLLED IN CALWORKS NOW HAVE A RIGHT TO:
- Child care that is authorized immediately upon CalWORKs approval, and the authorization lasts for 12 months or until transfer to the Stage 2 program;
- Child care to attend Welfare-to-Work (WTW) activities or work. If the parent hasn’t found suitable child care, they have good cause for not participating;
- Child care so that parents can attend to a broad set of family needs. For example: housing search, domestic violence, addiction or mental health counseling, court and medical appointments, or other similar activities;
- County must verify that the parent has actually secured child care before they need to show up for required activities or welfare appointments;
- Full-time child care, unless a parent decides part-time care better meets their family’s needs;
- Child care for exempt volunteers who choose to participate in activities; and
- Child care for sanctioned adults who indicate an intent to participate in any program activity.
- These provisions go into effect on October 1, 2019.
COUNTY WORKER’S DUTY TO OFFER CHILD CARE
County workers must “offer and make available” child care to families who want to work, or participate in WTW activities, or an expanded list of program activities. Workers must inform participants about the availability of child care when they enroll in the CalWORKs program, at the time of signing a new or amended WTW plan, and whenever they express a need for child care. Once automation is operational (January 2021 or later) the times when child care must be offered will increase to include any time a new activity, job, or earnings are reported.
CHILD CARE AVAILABLE FOR AN EXPANDED LIST OF ACTIVITIES
Program activities for which full-time Stage 1 child care is available include, but are not limited to: any WTW activity, orientation, appraisal, assessment, job search, job club, domestic violence services, court appearances, housing search or classes, homeless support programs, shelter participation requirements, eviction proceedings, mental health services (including therapy or personal counseling), home visiting programs, drug or substance abuse services, parenting classes, and medical or education-related appointments for the participant or their dependents.
TRANSITION BETWEEN CALWORKS CHILD CARE STAGES
There are three stages of CalWORKs child care through which families should seamlessly transition as they move from entry into the CalWORKs program to WTW activities and employment. Families enrolled in Stage 1 child care should seamlessly move to Stage 2 when the county determines they are “stable.” Counties are required to manage the transition from Stage 1 to Stage 2 so that participants do not experience a break in their child care services due to the transfer. The new law makes clear that the County must provide all the information needed to enroll the family in the next stage of child care, and must receive confirmation that the family’s enrollment in the next stage of child care is complete, or that the family is not eligible, before discontinuing Stage 1 child care.[2]
CHILD CARE FOR FAMILIES THAT HAVE BEEN SANCTIONED
Participants that have been sanctioned are eligible to receive full-time Stage 1 child care for 12 months if they express an intent to participate in any program activity or work and need child care in order to do so. CalWORKs participants who are receiving Stage 1 child care services and then are sanctioned should continue to receive their Stage 1 child care services for the remainder of the 12 months, or through their transfer to Stage 2 child care.
DIVERSION SERVICES TO GET CALWORKS CHILD CARE
Counties must inform every applicant for CalWORKs cash assistance at the time of application of the availability of diversion services. A one-time diversion payment or service should be considered when it will resolve the need for ongoing assistance. Diversionary child care services are available for a family who appears to be eligible for CalWORKs, but only needs child care to resolve the circumstances that necessitated the CalWORKs application.[3] For example, CalWORKs Stage 2 or 3 child care services can be provided as a diversionary service to a family who needs child care in order to obtain or maintain employment.[4]
For further information or client-specific questions, please email Patti Prunhuber, Senior Policy Attorney, or call her at 415-523-7800
Endnotes
[1] Human Services Omnibus, S., S. B. 80, 2019-20 Sess., ch. 27 (Cal. 2019) (enacted). See id. §1 (amending Cal. Educ. Code § 8350(c)); id. §§ 46-51 (amending Welf. & Inst. Code §§ 11323.1-.4).
[2] Cal. Educ. Code § 8350(c), amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 27, Sec. 1. (SB 80) Effective June 27, 2019. See also, Cal. Dept. of Social Services ACIN I-19-17; CDE Management Bulletin 18-05.
[3] Department of Social Services, Manual of Policies and Procedures, Secs. 81-200 and 81.215.2.
[4] Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code § 11266.5(i).
Affordable Child Care Family Fees Act (Gómez Reyes)
The Basics on AB 92
What does AB 92 do?
California can fund our child care system, but instead relies on child care fees paid by families of color (mostly mothers) who utilize subsidized child care, are low-paid, and who can least afford it. AB 92 (Gómes Reyes) heals the harm of an unjust child care family fees system that creates racist outcomes by temporarily waiving family fees through October 2022, followed by an equitable sliding scale.
Why do California families need AB 92?
Parents should not have to face impossible choices each month about whether to pay for food, rent, or their child care family fee. Currently, California collects $66-100M in child care family fees from families with low incomes to subsidize child care for other families like them. Child care providers often take the hit financially when families cannot pay. In addition, families at or near poverty, women, and Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian and other people of color have been hardest hit by COVID-19 and are also most impacted by the current family fees system.
How does AB 92 work?
- Temporarily waives family fees for all families until October 31, 2022 to reduce the hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic
- Convenes a workgroup of parents, child care providers, state agency staff and other stakeholders to create an equitable sliding scale for family fees
- Ensures that revised family fees shall not exceed 1% of a family’s monthly income, and that no family earning below 75% of the state median income (SMI) pays family fees
- Protects child care providers by ensuring they do not absorb the reduction in family fees, and that the number of child care spaces is not reduced
Why must we pass AB 92?
This is a pandemic relief bill that gives immediate relief and long-term solutions to families and child care providers. AB 92 immediately puts money back into the pockets of families and child care providers, especially from communities of color, hit hardest by the pandemic.
This policy helps dismantle legacy stereotypes about women of color that have caused harm and created systems that punish families for building wealth.
The federal government is allowing states to take action now and this window will close.
Contact
Laurie Furstenfeld, Child Care Law Center, lfurstenfeld@childcarelaw.org
Mary Ignatius, Parent Voices California, mary@parentvoices.org
Click here to download a copy of The Basics
Learn more about AB 92 through these additional resources:
- To learn more about what family fees are and how it is hurting California families, please read the Family Fees Primer.
- You can view the language of the bill through this link.
- Here is a Family Fees Factsheet provided by the Office of Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes.
- Our blog post, Child Care Law Center Cosponsors AB 92, Family Fee Pandemic Relief Bill, provides a brief explanation of the issue and how AB 92 can be the solution.
- The California Budget & Policy Center shows exactly how high California families are paying for their subsidized child care through this infographic.
- Read the Assembly Committee on Human Services Analysis of AB 92.
- Read the Assembly Committee on Education Analysis of AB 92.
- Read the Budget Request Letter written by Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes.
Here’s how you can help pass AB 92:
- Submit your own AB 92 Support Letter to the Assembly Education Committee through the legislature’s online portal. Click the template in your preferred language:
- Download and share our AB 92 One Pager to let your community know about the Family Fee Pandemic Relief Bill.
- Help us activate the people through social media by using our AB 92 Toolkit.
Supporters:
Stronger California Network
Dream Alliance
American Association of University Women
Email Updates
Click here to get the latest updates about this legislation!
Racial Justice
BLACK LIVES MATTER
Even as Derek Chauvin is found guilty of the murder of George Floyd, the police continue to murder Black and Brown people. Black people, Asian Americans, and many individuals of color are made to feel unsafe in their own neighborhoods and workplaces. The policies in our society that favor white people in our country are deeply embedded.
For too long, our government has created policies that target and hurt Black individuals. One example is the limitations recently placed on voter rights in Georgia. Another is the child care policies in effect today, which were written based on negative stereotypes of Black women.
The Child Care Law Center’s mission is to make child care a civil right. We recognize injustice happening and we’re working to bring equity and justice to child care polices, for every family, child, and child care provider.
We know you share our value and support this work.
TAKE ACTION:
- Support us as we work to pass the Family Fee Pandemic Relief bill (AB 92),which begins to undo the deep harm caused by anti-Black child care policies.
- Take our 21 Day Challenge to learn about how child care is a racial justice issue.
- Check out the infographic Racist Roots of Child Care Law and Policy
- Use these resources to be a stronger ally to the Asian American and Pacific Islander community
TO THE AAPI COMMUNITY AND EVERYONE WHO HAS BEEN IMPACTED AND HURT, WE SEE YOU AND STAND WITH YOU
The Child Care Law Center stands united with Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to end the on-going racism that escalated into the horrific Atlanta shooting on March 16, 2021. In this hate crime where Asian American women were targeted, we say their names in reverence for their lives that were wrongfully taken.
Soon Chung Park, 74
Hyun Jung Grant, 51
Suncha Kim, 69
Yong Ae Yue, 63
Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33
Xiaojie Tan, 49
Daoyou Feng, 44
Paul Andre Michels, 54
Elcias R. Hernandez-Ortiz, 30
This event is an egregious continuation of the dangerous actions and rhetoric used against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, another mark following the nearly 150% growth[1] in hate crimes against the AAPI community since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, called the “China flu” by the vindictive and uninformed.
The events in the past year, and those that occurred in Atlanta is another example in the pattern of anti-Asian hate in American history. From the Chinese Exclusion Act, to the WWII Japanese internment camps, to the limitation of the 5th Preference, to the “model minority” myth, the Asian American experience has been marred by pain and rejection.
The Child Care Law Center is an advocate for all child care providers and families, and we serve diverse communities including communities of color, immigrant communities, and people with the least resources. We recognize the slavery origins of child care and how anti-Black and anti-immigrant policies have contributed to the unfair pay and lack of protection for those who work the hardest to serve our children.
As the only legal center addressing issues in the child care field, we commit ourselves to the work of removing anti-Black and anti-Brown laws and policies that uphold the racist systems in child care and prevent equitable access to services and pay.
We extend our hands, hearts, and voices to the AAPI community in solidarity, comfort, and support. We rise on behalf of all those suffering to address and combat the poison of racism in our country that continues to let events like these happen against any community. The pain in the AAPI community is not unique or singular, but shared by all communities bearing injustices.
Our work is only one piece in the answer on how to dismantle these racist systems. We stand together in strength to weather what is to come. We will overcome oppression, xenophobia, hate, and racism. We will heal and find peace.
Sincerely,
Rachel Boyce, Chair & Lisa Holder, Vice Chair
Child Care Law Center Board of Directors
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[1] Review the Anti-Asian Prejudice March 2020 fact sheet by the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism here.
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We have compiled a list of resources to help your understanding and conversations during these trying times, to view the list please click here.
ECE Advocates’ Toolkit for Effective Messaging
“The job of a good message is to make popular what we need said. The question for us is, ‘what do we wish people believed?’” – Anat Shenker Osorio
We are thrilled to announce the release of our ECE Advocates’ Toolkit for Effective Messaging! This toolkit offers guidance to educate and inspire action in the early childhood education community through clear and targeted messaging. Guiding advocates toward community and research-based communication strategies will help win more child care funding and ensure fair wages and nurturing care for child care providers and families.
Our partners in this 2-year project, cognitive linguist Anat Shenker-Osorio of ASO Communications, strategic communications firm, Lightbox Collaborative, and input from more than 30 organizations in Los Angeles, have collaborated with us to set the tone on the conversation of child care.
When we can advocate for child care as a racial justice issue and basic human right, we are shifting the frame through which we look at child care. Under our model, we should care for children because it’s the right thing to do for a just society, not because of future economic gain. Providers deserve fair wages to care for their own families and to repair the harm of racist child care policies. Children deserve to be seen, nurtured, and raised with dignity and love.
Please join us in our messaging journey by using this toolkit and sharing it with your partners and supporters.
Click here to read and download the full toolkit.
Child Care and the Black Lives Matter Movement
The last few weeks have been very intense – especially since George Floyd was killed by the police. This is a harsh reminder of the systemic and structural racism in our society.
Black women – and women of color – have been demeaned for too long by lawmakers who have refused to fund child care adequately or accept recommendations to create an equitable child care program.
Standing up for justice and equity is the Child Care Law Center’s mission. We bring to light the inequitable child care policies that deny black children equal rights to education. We are demanding that the government increase funds to subsidized child care programs – which care for a majority of children of color and are staffed primarily by women of color – during the coronavirus pandemic.
We are telling the Legislature to reinstate Proposition 16 by putting a repeal of Prop 209 on the ballot. We are applying a race-equity lens to all the policies we support.
We know you are pro-racial justice. Here are some actions you can take:
- Ask Congress to support the Child Care is Essential Act
- Vote to end discriminatory practicesin November
- Learn about how racism is embedded in early childhood policy in this paper from CLASP
Whichever action you choose, you will make a difference. As the leaders of the Law Center’s board of directors, where people of color are the majority and black women are leaders, we can tell you that we are involved in the Law Center because child care is a racial justice issue.
Thank you for your unwavering support for the Law Center, for justice for black families, for children.
Sincerely,
Rachel Boyce, Chair & Lisa Holder, Vice Chair
Child Care Law Center Board of Directors
