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Rhode Island Department of Human Services Office of Child Care Newsletter
August 2018
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CCAP's Corner: Team News & a DHS First
It's been more than three months since Caitlin Molina joined the Department of Human Services (DHS) as our Assistant Director of Child Care - and the former executive director of Providence Talks has already been instrumental in positive changes.
As you will read in this edition of our Starting Right newsletter, s
ystem improvements (including to the provider portal), a new State Plan and a Market Rate Survey are just some of our latest efforts to enhance services.
This month, DHS also held its first ever Workforce Development Design Session with our child care partners. The goal of this workshop is to coordinate, and design, a pathway for the early learning workforce.
Seventy percent of professional development funded by DHS this fall will focus on supporting 1- and 2-Star providers, and this team will be essential to that. The partnering organizations involved include BrightStars, T.E.A.C.H, Center for Early Learning Professionals, Ready to Learn Providence/Roger Williams University, Genesis Center, RIC, CCRI, SEIU 1199 and Head Start.
At the end of last month, we also added a member to our CCAP team: Jim Logan.
Logan has been with DHS for eight years as a program services officer for the Rhode Island Works program, which provides both financial and employment assistance to individuals so they have the necessary resources to enter the workforce and gain self-sufficiency.
He will now oversee various CCAP contracts as its program manager.
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Teacher Spotlight: At the Genesis of Learning
The teachers make the Genesis Center tick and tock, and two have been dubbed the opener and closer of its educational clock.
Catalina Torres, who is expecting her seventh child soon, is the one who comes to the Potters Avenue school in Providence to let the plumber and others in no matter what hour or day it is - including holidays.
Maria Hernandez-Monti, also a mother, is the last one out despite the long days of teaching toddlers in the most creative ways. She made her way to the rug recently and used puppets, for example, to teach about what happens when classroom visitors come.
"When I come in here, I just transform myself into 18 months to 2 and ½ years," she said explaining her teaching style while her energized students prepared for play time outside.
Both she and Catalina say there isn't a favorite part about their
jobs. They like "all of it."
"Maria and Catalina are passionate early childhood educators," praised Catherine Green, the child care administrator for Genesis, which nearly 95 percent of its students benefit from DHS' CCAP vouchers, Genesis is also one of 12 current SNAP E&T training sites that give education and workforce development services to adults. Its culinary students were preparing plantains, brown rice, veggies and chicken for the children's lunch on the day DHS Director Courtney E. Hawkins visited.
Founded in 1982 to assist refugees from Southeast Asia who were settling in Providence's West End, the center has now expanded to a multi-service organization offering a full range of services to immigrants, refugees and low-income families.
Added Green, "Their dedication to the children and families, Genesis Center and their own professional growth is admirable and inspiring to those around them. Their expertise can't be measured by their qualifications, but by the quality of education that they are providing for their students. They are exemplary educators and we're proud to have them!"
Together, these teachers
earned their Child Development Associates credential a year ago. They are now pursuing a 12-credit certificate through the RIECETP (Rhode Island Early Childhood Education Training Program) at CCRI. They plan to join the TEACH program next, another pathway funded by DHS.
Their pursuit of advanced coursework will support their practice and help Genesis to advance their BrightStars quality rating.
"Child care is critical issue in the State and a critical service that doesn't always get the attention it deserves," said Shannon Carroll, President and CEO at Genesis. "... These two teachers just want these kids to have better lives. They don't do it for the money. They don't do it for the glory. They do it because they are just committed to helping, caring for and educating these children."
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Legislative News: CCAP State Plan & Market Rate Survey
URI is currently reviewing the results of the 2018 Market Rate Survey distributed in July 2018. The Administration of Children and Families requires this survey be distributed to all licensed child care providers every three years in order to determine appropriate rates.
This survey will also help the Department to better
determine priorities for the coming year.
As many of you know, the plan operates as the primary guide for the work we aim to accomplish over the course of the next three years. It upholds the Department's commitment to maintaining a whole family approach. As shared in our PowerPoint at the All Provider meeting in June, key priorities within the State Plan are:
- 12-Month Continuous Eligibility period
- 3 Months of Job Search following permanent job loss
- Strategies to build the supply and quality of child care (Market Rate Survey)
- Prioritization of Homeless Children & Families
- Tiered Rates of Reimbursement for center-based providers
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RI Bridges Update: Recent Improvements
A demo of our summer/fall flip enrollment and other child care portal improvements was made at our June CCAP All Providers Meeting, but since then, DHS has continued to make improvements to business operations, the system and our lobbies.
In July, a dashboard for our worker portal was added to help staff quickly see and track applications to be processed. This will further increase timeliness and worker productivity in the long term. Smart separator sheets with bar code technology and auto indexing for scanning also started last month to prevent lost documents and get them in customers' electronic files sooner.
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Reconciliation Update: Repayment Process Has Begun
More than 70 letters went out last month to providers who submitted a reconciliation report and to whom the State owes a balance.
The process of adjusting payments for child care services from late August 2016 to May 2017 began last year with providers receiving full reports - with a breakdown by payment, child, hours attended and copay - of what had already been paid out.
Providers were asked to review and, if necessary, correct any suspected errors on the report based on their records. These reports were due September 12, 2017.
A thorough review of those returns led to where we are today: appointments between the DHS Finance Team and providers to determine accurate payment for those services rendered.
The Department will continue to process these reconciliations.
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Parent Portal: Back 2 School & Food Allergies
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, in Missouri, states one in 13 children (or about two per classroom) have some type of food allergy. Here are eight tips on how to keep kids safe this school year. https://bit.ly/2B6GvBE
According to the Mayo Clinic, "While there's no cure, some children outgrow their food allergy as they get older."
It is also easy to confuse a food allergy with a much more common reaction known as food intolerance. While bothersome, food intolerance is a less serious condition that does not involve the immune system.
The most common food allergy signs and symptoms include:
- Tingling or itching in the mouth
- Hives, itching or eczema
- Swelling of the lips, face, tongue and throat or other parts of the body
- Wheezing, nasal congestion or trouble breathing
- Abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea or vomiting
- Dizziness, lightheadedness or fainting
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