Early Care and Education Systems Building Resources

Since FY 1998, Congress has targeted Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) discretionary funds for the specific purpose of improving the quality of infant and toddler care. These targeted funds support access to safe, reliable child care programs, a necessity for parents working to achieve and maintain self-sufficiency, a primary function of the CCDF.

The resources in this section provide documents and links that will assist States/Territories/Tribes to use a systems approach to improving quality and access to child care for infants and toddlers and to plan for the use of targeted funds. We recognize services for infants and toddlers are a part of the larger early care and education field and therefore, a number of the materials reference work within the 0-5 or 0-12 age populations,. The goal is to ensure that babies and toddlers are intentionally included in early care and education systems building and planning initiatives taking place across the country.

Many of the resources will refer to a system eco-model, Early Care and Education Systems that Support Quality Care for Babies and Toddlers, the planning approach NITCCI developed in 2003 which continues to be the foundation of our comprehensive system planning work.

NITCCI Resources

Tools

• Strategic Planning for I/T Targeted Funds Tool Kit (Feb 2009)
  
  The materials and process suggestions in the tool kit are intended to assist States and Territories in engaging in a strategic planning process to support quality child care for infants and toddlers. The process is modeled on the early care and education system model (eco-model) and planning process used by the National Infant & Toddler Child Care Initiative, a project of the Child Care Bureau. It is designed to maximize involvement of planning committee members and other stakeholders while minimizing face-to-face meeting requirements. The process can be used to conduct a complete analysis of the State/Territory’s early care and education system’s support for infant and toddler child care and/or plan for the use of CCDF infant/toddler targeted funds. It can also be used to address specific issues such as the development of infant/toddler specialist networks or credentials for the infant/toddler workforce.

Fact Sheets

• Early Care and Education Systems That Support Quality Care for Babies and Toddlers Key Elements – Eco-Model (2003)
  
  This document is an overview of key system elements and their characteristics that reflect how an early care and education system can offer quality child care to infants, toddlers and their families.
  222 KB
• Child Care and Development Fund Infant/Toddler Targeted Funds (2009)
  
  This fact sheet presents a national picture of how State and Territory activities funded with the FY2007-2009 infant/toddler earmark address key elements of an early care and education system that supports quality care for babies and toddlers. It includes the percentage of States and Territories that are addressing each element, as well as selected examples of activities. This publication also lists the kinds of activities that are included under each key element, and serves as a good companion to Early Care and Education Systems that Support Quality Care for Babies and Toddlers: Key Elements.
  352 KB

Briefs

• Planning for the Child Care and Development Fund Targeted Funds for infant and Toddlers (2007)
  
  Since FY 1998, Congress has set aside CCDF discretionary funds for the specific purpose of improving the quality of infant and toddler care. These targeted funds support access to safe, reliable child care programs, a necessity for parents working to achieve and maintain self-sufficiency, a primary function of the CCDF. This publication was developed at the request of the Child Care Bureau by the National Infant & Toddler Child Care Initiative to support States and Territories to plan for the effective use of targeted funds.
  5.65 MB
• AT-A-GLANCE: A Place at the Policy Table for Infants and Toddlers (2005)
  
  Effective policies and adequate resources support and sustain essential programs in order to meet the needs of infants , toddlers, and their families. This document provides an overview of policy goals and strategies that support them
  310 KB
• AT-A-GLANCE: Early Childhood Systems Planning for Infants and Toddlers (2005)
  
  Currently across the county there is an unprecedented interest in developing plans to improve and coordinate early childhood services in order to achieve an effective early care and education system. In the last few years system-planning initiatives have been sponsored and supported by federal, state, county and city governments as well as foundations and national organizations. Many states are involved in multiple planning initiatives and are interested in finding ways to integrate efforts and achieve a continuum of quality early care and education for all children birth to five. This document provides an overview of system planning efforts and includes considerations for states and communities who want to assess whether their planning efforts will meet the needs of children under three.
  308 KB
• AT-A-GLANCE: Evaluation and Infant and Toddler Child Care (2005)
  
  Every two years States and Territories engage in the process of developing plans for the use of the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) to provide assistance to families to pay for child care and to improve the quality of care. While the majority of funds are used for child care subsidy, a great deal of attention is given to the potential uses of the quality targeted funds. CCDF administrators and other early care and education leaders want to find the most effective uses of funds to improve services for children. Because the years from birth to three are critical to children's development, school readiness, and future success, the effective use of the infant/toddler targeted funds and other funds for infant/toddler services is of particular concern. This document provides information about ways States and Territories can use system and program evaluation to determine the effective use of funds for children under three.
  312 KB
• AT-A-GLANCE: Financing Infant and Toddler Child Care (2005)
  
  In order to achieve high quality infant and toddler child care, funding needs to come from private and public sources, including parents, employers, civic groups, government, and foundations. Federal, state and community leaders are challenged to find, allocate, and effectively use funds for early childhood services. They face competing interests and priorities for limited resources. This document includes some key considerations to examine in financing services, integration of funding examples, strategic and effective use of funding, supports for families with infant and toddlers, public/private partnership examples and other financing efforts and resources.
  311 KB
• AT-A-GLANCE: Infant and Toddler Child Care Public Knowledge and Engagement (2005)
  
  There is a growing interest across the county in providing effective messages and information to the public regarding the importance of the first three years of life and how parents, family, and other caregivers, as well as early childhood professionals and policy makers, can work within their roles to provide the best start for babies and toddlers. There are new as well as existing efforts to engage parents and the public that may be of interest to States and communities. This document briefly describes some national and state campaigns and provides a few resources.
  294 KB

Related Resources

• Birth to Five Policy Alliance
  
  The Birth to Five Policy Alliance was established in 2005 to help to shift the odds for very young children and narrow the achievement gap. The goal is to promote innovative and successful policy ideas that support families in their parenting role and ensure positive early childhood development and learning opportunities for at-risk infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their families.
  http://birthtofivepolicy.org
• Build Initiative
  
  The Build Initiative supports State efforts to create comprehensive early childhood systems – coordinated, effective policies that address children's health, mental health and nutrition, early care and education, family support and parenting programs, and services for children with special needs.
  http://www.buildinitiative.org/
• Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)
  
  CLASP's child care and early education work is dedicated to promoting policies that support both child development and the needs of low-income working parents. CLASP conducts policy analysis, research, and technical assistance to expand access to and resources for high-quality, comprehensive child care and early education; build effective child care and early education systems including child care subsidies, Head Start, pre-kindergarten and other early education initiatives; and ensure these systems can be responsive to the developmental needs of all children, in particular infants and toddlers and children in immigrant families.
  http://childcareandearlyed.clasp.org/head_start/index.html
• Maternal and Child Health Bureau Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Initiative
  
  The MCHB (Maternal and Child Health Bureau) launched the State Maternal and Child Health Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Initiative (ECCS) to implement the MCHB Strategic Plan for Early Childhood Health. The purpose of ECCS is to support States and communities in their efforts to build and integrate early childhood service systems that address the critical components of access to comprehensive health services and medical homes; social-emotional development and mental health of young children; early care and education; parenting education and family support. The first ECCS grants were issued in 2003. Since that time 49 States, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Republic of Palau and the Commonwealths of Puerto Rico and the Mariana Islands have participated in ECCS. Almost all of these grantees have now developed a plan for building a comprehensive system for young children.
  http://www.state-eccs.org