See attached Q and A from DTA and Department of Early Ed. and Care on access by homeless families to "homeless" child care.

The Office of Child Care Services (OCCS) has developed a Homeless Child- Care Voucher Program to provide child-care services to homeless EA families. This memo describes how to facilitate the processing of child-care requests for EA homeless recipients.

The Child Care Referral notice (formerly called a Child Care Authorization) is a system-generated document used by a recipient to secure child care services through the Child Care Resource and Referral Agency (CCR&R). There is also a paper version (BEA/CCA) for use when the system-generated document is unavailable or inappropriate, such as child care for EA homeless families. BEACON Increment 2.1.13 will have a revised Child Care Referral notice (Attachment A).

Homeless child care assistance is available to all DTA families who are placed into temporary emergency shelter.  These families are automatically eligible for homeless child care assistance through the Early Education and Care (EEC) Homeless Child-Care Voucher Program. In addition to families placed into EA shelters, families who are placed into Domestic Violence (DV) shelters, substance abuse shelters and other non-EA shelters are automatically eligible as well.  Effective December 3, 2007, EEC and DTA are authorizing full-time homeless child care assistance to the aforementioned families immediately upon entering shelter.  However, using the child care assistance is optional for the families.
 

At the completion of a training on procedures to provide referrals to facilitate homeless child care assistance, DTA and EEC staff put together a document entitled, "Streamlining Access to Child Care for DTA Homeless Families Homeless Child Care Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)". The FAQs document provides ready access to DTA homeless child care eligibility information, EEC/CCR&R programmatic issues, EEC website links for resource information and homeless child care referral procedures. This memo instructs TAO staff on how to access the FAQs document.

Increase to the number of child care slots available for homeless families.