Childhood Begins at Home

Childhood Begins at Home Campaign Launched We are pleased to announce that Childhood Begins at Home, a home visiting campaign PPC is a partner in, officially launched this week with an event at the Lancaster Women and Babies Hospital with Lancaster District Attorney Craig Stedman, Mary Lee Steffy of Nurse-Family Partnership and state Representatives Bryan Cutler, Keith Greiner, Brett Miller, Steven Mentzer and Mike Sturla. Far too many of Pennsylvania’s youngest children are at risk of child abuse and neglect, live in poverty, and experience poor education and health outcomes. At times, parents and others raising these children also need support to improve their education, health and economic stability.  Together with our partners, the Campaign is working to educate the public and policymakers about the benefits of evidence-based home visiting for at-risk families and communities and ensure these vital programs receive a $6.5 million increase in the 2018-19 state budget.  We’ll also be holding events in Delaware, Lehigh, Luzerne and Washington counties to again bring together policymakers, child welfare, law enforcement and health leaders, representatives from four evidence-based home visiting models, and families who have benefitted from voluntary home visits.  The Campaign is just getting started spreading the news that evidence-based home visiting can lead to better outcomes, so stay tuned!  Read our newly-released Childhood Begins at Home report to learn more, and don’t forget to follow the Campaign on Facebook and Twitter!   Kinship Caregiver Navigator Program Bill Passes Committee Vote  House Bill 2133, which would create a statewide Kinship Caregiver Navigator Program, was voted out of the House Children and Youth Committee on Tuesday. PPC extends its gratitude to Chairwoman Watson, Minority Chair Scott Conklin and Representative Eddie Day Pashinski for their leadership and to all the members who voted in support of the bill. PPC sent a sign-on letter in support of the bill in advance of the committee’s consideration and is urging organizations to sign on to this letter to the full House of Representatives, as the bill is expected to be voted on by the full House as early as next week.  Please sign on to the letter if you haven’t done so already! In addition to HB 2133, the committee also approved HB 1539, which would allow for temporary emergency guardianship for grandparents raising grandchildren due to the opioid crisis, and HR 390, which would task the Joint State Government Commission with studying the trend of grandfamilies across the state. PPC supported both pieces of legislation.  We are still collecting caregiver stories so there is time for families to tell us about how HB 2133 would positively impact them. Grandparents or other relatives raising grandchildren outside of the child welfare system who would like to share their story can email Ashleigh Brunsink.  abrunsink@papartnerships.org Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) State Plan Update Child care funding received a huge win earlier this year when legislation passed in Washington that included an unprecedented increase for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), Pennsylvania’s main source of federal support for the Child Care Works subsidy program. The historic investment would nearly double the commonwealth’s CCDBG discretionary funding in FY 2018 and provide an opportunity to not only reduce the unmet need across the state, but also make important improvements to child care quality standards.  Along with the funding increase at the federal level, the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) has been hard at work developing the CCDBG state plan for 2019-21 and this week announced it will release the plan to the public on April 26, 2018. The plan will likely include a detailed proposal on how to effectively allocate the CCDBG increase and the priorities OCDEL will focus on in the coming years.