Quality child care is an essential component of any meaningful effort to address homelessness. Without child care, parents – including youth and young adult parents – struggle to pursue the education that is necessary for livable wage employment and to find and keep the employment they need to maintain housing. And without high-quality child care, children’s health and development are compromised, putting children at risk of lifelong challenges. Yet children experiencing homelessness participate in
Congress recognized the barriers to child care created by homelessness, as well as the developmental harms of
More recently, Congress increased FY2018 child care funding by $2.37 billion – the largest increase ever in child care funding.
Opportunity for action: The deadline for the submission of the FY 2017-2019 triennial Plan has been extended until August 31, 2018. Each Lead Agency posts their draft State Plan for review and must solicit and consider input on the draft.
We urge families, educators, homeless service providers, advocates, and others to ask states to include in their State Plan specific measures to implement the homelessness requirements. We’ve created a sample letter which can be edited to reflect particular priorities and state information.
The timeline and opportunity to weigh in on the State Plan varies from state to state. Please see your state’s CCDF website to learn more about how to provide feedback in your state.