As the United States Senate looks for ways to improve child care policies and programs across America, Rochelle Chronister, Secretary for the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, has been asked to bring to Washington D.C. information on policies and programs now used in Kansas.

Secretary Chronister will testify Wednesday before the Finance Subcommittee on Social Security and Family Policy, chaired by Sen. John Chafee, R-RI. She was asked to present information about the ability of Kansas to move families from welfare to work and the investment required by the state to meet increasing child care demands. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., requested the testimony.

This will be Chronister's second recent trip to Washington D.C. She testified in February concerning the state's effort to reform the adoption and foster care system. In addition, Ann Koci, SRS commissioner of adult and medical services, testified in March about the Kansas program that provides community-based services for people with disabilities.

Senators Chafee and Roberts, along with several other senators, have introduced the "Caring for Children Act," which is aimed at providing additional tax relief to families to increase the affordability of child care. The bill raised the income level for which families become eligible for the maximum child care tax credit. The bill will also make it more feasible for a parent to stay at home to care for a child by extending the eligibility for a tax credit to that family.

In her testimony, Secretary Chronister will present information on how the state of Kansas currently is finding ways to stretch child care block grant funding to meet the needs of families and children. SRS, which administers child care funds, has made the following recent changes to improve the child care system in the state:

*An increase in rates to providers for infant and toddler child care to encourage provider recruiting, retention and quality;

*Grants were awarded to 135 local child care centers and 700 family home providers to establish new sites and enhance the quality of existing programs;

*Funding was increased to improve state and local monitoring of health and safety standards;

*The Child Care Resource and Referral Network was expanded statewide;

*Workgroups were established to work on ways to meet the need of parents with children who have special health care needs.

*Technical assistance and grants were made available to help employers and businesses develop on-site child care facilities;

*A bold state Early Head Start program has been designed which focuses on improving the quality of care provided by family home child care givers;

*And state child care licensing regulations were revised to encourage schools to create before and after school programs.

But Secretary Chronister will tell Senators that challenges remain. She will point out there are communities in Kansas where there is a shortage of infant and toddler, school age, and evening and weekend child care. She also will testify that we must continue to support employers, especially small businesses, to help them develop on-site or near-site child care. She also will say there is a growing concern about the quality of child care programs in Kansas, which will require a comprehensive public awareness campaign about the importance of early childhood experiences and the components of high quality child care.

Chronister will talk about a growing concern that once the public understands how to define quality child care, there won't be enough quality programs around to meet the needs. She will stress the need for muli-level training opportunities for child care workers, a statewide system to help providers achieve national accreditation and an adequate compensation scale to reward and retain a trained child care workforce to eliminate turnover.

Page Last Updated: May 29, 2001