The Florida Senate

402.3015  Subsidized child care program; purpose; fees; contracts.--

(1)  The purpose of the subsidized child care program is to provide quality child care to enhance the development, including language, cognitive, motor, social, and self-help skills of children who are at risk of abuse or neglect and children of low-income families, and to promote financial self-sufficiency and life skills for the families of these children, unless prohibited by federal law. Priority for participation in the subsidized child care program shall be accorded to children under 13 years of age who are:

(a)  Determined to be at risk of abuse, neglect, or exploitation and who are currently clients of the department's ¹Children and Families Services Program Office;

(b)  Children at risk of welfare dependency, including children of participants in the WAGES Program, children of migrant farmworkers, children of teen parents, and children from other families at risk of welfare dependency due to a family income of less than 100 percent of the federal poverty level; and

(c)  Children of working families whose family income is equal to or greater than 100 percent, but does not exceed 150 percent, of the federal poverty level.

(2)  To the extent resources are available, each child in a family that is eligible may participate in the subsidized child care program.

(3)  Transitional child care shall be available for up to 2 years after eligibility for the WAGES Program ends, at which time child care may continue under paragraph (1)(b) or paragraph (1)(c), as applicable.

(4)  A child who is eligible for child care under this section may continue to participate in the subsidized child care program, if the family's income does not exceed 185 percent of the federal poverty level.

(5)  The department shall establish a fee schedule for participants in the subsidized child care program. The fee schedule must be based on the total income of the family. Each participating family shall contribute to the cost of child care, unless prohibited by federal law.

(6)(a)  The department, within each district, shall contract for the provision of subsidized child care services. At least once every 3 years, each district shall select community child care coordinating agencies through a competitive bid.

(b)  Child care services, unless directly operated by a community child care coordinating agency, shall be provided under a service agreement or by voucher, which ensures, to the maximum extent possible, parental choice through flexibility in child care arrangements and payment arrangements. When used, a voucher must bear the name of the beneficiary and the child care provider and, when redeemed, must bear the signature of both the beneficiary and an authorized representative of the child care provider. If it is determined that a child care provider has provided any cash to the beneficiary in return for receiving the voucher, the license for each child care facility operated by the provider shall be immediately revoked and any facility operated by the provider is ineligible for relicensure for 3 years. Whether or not the provider is licensed, the department shall refer the matter to the Division of Public Assistance Fraud of the Office of the Auditor General for investigation.

(c)  The community child care coordinating agency shall monitor child care providers to ensure that appropriate services are provided.

(d)  Public funds may not be expended to a provider unless the provider agrees to allow the community child care coordinating agency access to fulfill its monitoring requirements.

(e)  A licensed child care facility that provides contracted services under the subsidized child care program must provide at least 10 hours of child care each day, 261 days per year, excluding approved holidays.

(f)  The Division of Risk Management of the Department of Insurance shall provide coverage through the department to the community child care coordinating agencies for the subsidized child care program. The coverage shall be provided from the general liability account of the Florida Casualty Insurance Risk Management Trust Fund, and the coverage shall be primary. The coverage is limited to general liability claims arising from the management of the subsidized child care program under a contract with the department and under guidelines established through policy, rule, or law. Coverage shall be limited as provided in ss. 284.38 and 284.385, and the exclusions set forth therein, together with other exclusions that are set forth in the certificate of coverage issued by the trust fund, shall apply. A community child care coordinating agency covered under the general liability account pursuant to this paragraph shall immediately notify the Division of Risk Management of the Department of Insurance of any potential or actual claim.

(7)  To the extent funds are available, the department shall contract for support services for children who are clients of the department's Children and Families Program Office and who participate in the subsidized child care program. Support services shall include, but need not be limited to, transportation, child development programs, child nutrition services, and parent training and family counseling activities.

(8)  The community child care coordinating agencies shall assist participants in the WAGES Program and former participants of the program who are eligible for subsidized child care in developing cooperative child care arrangements whereby participants support and assist one another in meeting child care needs at minimal cost to the individual participant.

(9)  The central agency for state subsidized child care or the local service district of the ²Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services shall cooperate with the local interagency coordinating council as defined in s. 230.2305 in the development of written collaborative agreements with each local school district.

(a)  The central agency shall develop in consultation with the local interagency council a plan for implementing and conducting a child care program. Such plan shall include the tentative budget and measures for maximizing public resources.

(b)  The department shall monitor each subsidized child care provider at least annually to determine compliance with the collaborative agreement facilitated by the local interagency coordinating council. If a provider fails to bring its program into compliance with the agreement or the plan within 3 months after an evaluation citing deficiencies, the department must withhold such administrative funds as have been allocated to the program and which have not yet been released.

³(10)  For the 1996-1997 fiscal year only, funds may be appropriated for subsidized child care for children of working parents whose family incomes do not exceed 150 percent of the federal poverty income guidelines. This subsection is repealed on July 1, 1997.

History.--s. 33, ch. 90-306; s. 63, ch. 95-228; s. 73, ch. 96-175; s. 11, ch. 96-420.

¹Note.--The name of the office as established in s. 20.19(4)(b)3. is the Children and Families Program Office.

²Note.--The Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services was redesignated as the Department of Children and Family Services by s. 5, ch. 96-403, and the Department of Health was created by s. 8, ch. 96-403.

³Note.--Section 11, ch. 96-420, added subsection (5), redesignated as subsection (10), "[i]n order to implement Specific Appropriation 394 of the 1996-1997 General Appropriations Act."