Description:
As the Lead Agency for administration of the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF) provides child care assistance to approximately 45,000 families each month through the Wisconsin Shares child care subsidy program. The Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014 (CCDBG) has resulted in substantial policy changes, including implementation of the required 12-month eligibility period for families receiving Wisconsin Shares. The purpose of this project is to develop a research and evaluation plan to determine how CCDBG changes impact children and families who receive Wisconsin Shares. The objectives of this project are to: 1) conduct a thorough review of the literature to inform our project plan; 2) develop a rigorous research and evaluation plan to examine the impact of the 12-month authorization change on child care access and continuity, parent selection of high-quality care, and parent employment; 3) develop the design for a data warehouse that will combine administrative data from existing data systems to answer the research and evaluation plan questions; and 4) develop an action plan to increase collaboration among researchers and policymakers at DCF to increase the utility of research results for informing policy.
Resource Type:
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
Grantee(s)/Contrator(s):