New legislation coming up related to child care

2012 is starting out as a busy year for us in Sacramento. There are several proposals currently on the table that relate to child care services. Some could significantly improve things for providers, and a few others have issues that need to be addressed. Here is a recap of the major bills currently on the table:

AB 2573 (Furitani)—SUPPORT. We (Child Care Providers United) sponsored this bill which would give us a voice in our work and make improvements to our broken child care system. This bill is similar to AB 101 (Perez/Steinberg) which we fought for last year and the Legislature passed, but was vetoed by Governor Brown. The bill just made it past the first step and was passed by the Assembly’s Labor Committee on April 18th.

AB 1673 (Mitchell)—SUPPORT. This bill will adopt 12 month eligibility for parents receiving child care subsidies and streamline reporting requirements. Changes should promote better stability and continuity of care and allow providers to build longer-lasting relationships with children. Additionally, Assemblymember Mitchell may consider other improvements to the child care system that providers have long advocated for, including simplified attendance sheets, a standardized policy on notifying providers of changes in families’ eligibility for subsidies, and a set pay date for providers. We (CCPU) are working to try to strengthen this bill, stay tuned for how you can support our efforts!

AB 1872 (Alejo)—NEUTRAL. This bill focuses on nutrition in family child care homes. Specifically, the bill would require family providers to meet the nutrition standards of the federal Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and self-certify compliance, would add this to licensing reviews, and licensing would be required to provide information on CACFP nutrition standards. Initially, this bill had serious issues; the bill’s author and sponsors wanted additional provisions, including criminal penalties for lack of compliance. We (CCPU) met with the authors to express our concerns, causing those parts to be taken out of the bill, allowing us to be neutral.

AB 2137 (Bradford)—OPPOSE. This bill would have given cities the right to deny the establishment of a large family child care home. We (CCPU) expressed opposition to the bill; because we and others weighed in, Bradford’s office has said they will not move the bill! Stopping a bad bill like this is an example of how we have more power together as providers.

At Cesar Chavez Day festivities in Orange County’s Jerome Park, Assemblyman Jose Solario, Senator Lou Correa and Maria Elena Chavez (the niece of Cesar Chavez) took time to honor the important work of local childcare providers.

As the gathered crowd clapped, Santa Ana providers Yadhira Ramirez, Rosa Fonseca, Elizabeth Lindsay and Gabriella Villanes were presented with Certificates of Recognition for honoring the social foundation of their community by supporting children.

“It’s great to be recognized in this way and seen as more than just babysitters. We’re all very dedicated to educating children and making sure they have the skills to be great citizens in the future,” said Gabriella Villanes, a provider with 16 years of experience.

“They’re carrying on Cesar’s dream by teaching and caring for children whose parents have to work hard to get by,” said Assemblyman Solario. “We want to acknowledge the important work they do for the families in my district.”

Rosa Fonseca, who has been a licensed provider for over six years, added: “We don’t do this work for the money, the value of our work is reflected in the children.”

BAKERSFIELD – On a day when the world recognizes the strength of women worldwide, Kern County’s family child care providers were honored by the community they serve.

Local leaders, parents and children came together on March 8th to celebrate the work of Kern’s providers, presenting them with flowers and taking a moment to voice their appreciation.

“I know that I couldn’t support my family without you. Thank you for everything you do,” said parent Elizabeth Mayoral.

Agapeland Christian Academy Administrator Marisa Banks emphasized the importance of family child care in preparing children for school.

“Family child care plays an important role in building a foundation for learning and development. Your work is crucial to the future of our children and their ability to succeed for years to come.”

Elected leaders expressed concern over recent comments from State Assemblywoman Shannon Grove, who has routinely called family child care providers “babysitters”.

“The Councilman’s cousin is a family child care provider and he understands how much work, dedication and training is needed to run a successful center. It’s disappointing that some of our local leaders are disrespectful and lack a clear understanding how important you all are to the community,” said Chris Chamberlain, Representative for Bakersfield City Councilman Rudy Salas.

Leticia Perez, Representative for State Senator Michael Rubio added, “I can’t express how important you are to our community and to working women everywhere. We can go to work knowing our kids are safe, secure and learning in a family rich environment. Senator Rubio fully supports your vital contributions to our community.”

Providers Laura Rodriguez and Glenda Lomax expressed appreciation to the speakers and emphasized how much she loves the work that she does. “We love taking care of children and watching them grow, thank you for supporting us,” said Rodriguez.

Lomax noted that as a small business owner, Grove should know better than to downplay the work of hard working women. “The support we see here today is welcome and appreciated. We can only hope that Shannon Grove stops disrespecting us, because it sets a dangerous tone that could lead to more cuts, leaving more working families and children without access to quality child care services.”

Kids and parents join providers to protest mismanagement at CCFS in Carson

Published in Our Voice, Jan. 20, 2012.

Eighty local child care providers, parents and children lined the sidewalks and chanted with picket signs to protest mismanagement at the Center for Community and Family Services (CCFS) in Carson, Calif. on Thursday, Jan. 12. CCFS did not pay providers in December and is expected to miss January’s pay date as well — leaving hundreds of child care providers, parents and children on the breaking point wondering about their futures.

CCFS is just the latest example of how the California child care system is in crisis. Lack of oversight and accountability allows some agencies responsible for managing family child care to get away with outrageous behavior: delayed payments, payments that fall thousands of dollars short and extreme communication failures. The morning of our rally, CCFS closed its doors and turned away everyone who attempted to come inside. Even providers who were arriving during normal business hours to turn in time sheets for completed work were told to go away.

Vanise Valentine, a parent from Lynwood, spoke passionately about how much she relies on her child care provider. Valentine spoke to several reporters present at the scene and also took the megaphone to tell providers how much she supported our fight for respect.

“We’re on pins and needles,” Valentine told ABC television. “Especially because there’s no communication—CCFS hasn’t communicated anything to anyone.” (Watch the footage here.)

Providers held a similar action against CCFS last summer after some had not been paid for three months; several were missing payments that were five months overdue. Some providers at recent rallies have stated that without Child Care Providers United (CCPU), they would have been getting very little information from the agency.

“I finally was successful in getting a mortgage modification that will help me keep my doors open,” explained LaShaun Merriman, a Los Angeles provider. “That is until I missed my most recent mortgage payment when my automatic deposit from CCFS didn’t hit my bank. Now I’m afraid. Not just of losing my home, but of losing my business. Even if I can find someone kind enough to let me sleep on the couch for a while, no one is going to let me run my business out of their home. I’ll be homeless and out of the job I love and the job I’m great at.”

After a rally on the sidewalk, providers marched to the CCFS front door. Tonia McMillian (pictured), a Bellflower provider, challenged management to come outside and meet with them; no one responded.

Providers then wrote notes to management and taped them onto the front door. The only sign of life from the agency was when a CCFS security guard came out and started ripping the notes off the door.

In addition to ABC, the action was covered by Univision, Telemundo, La Opinión and Intersection (an online publication).

We learned Friday, Jan. 13 the CCFS doors remained closed. There was even a padlock on the door, indicating it was closed for good. The California Department of Education will be working with providers and families to assign them to more reliable local agencies. In the meantime, providers still have not been paid and have not been given a definitive answer as to when they will receive complete payment.

EN ESPAÑOL

We are closer than ever before to winning our union!

On Tuesday we got very disappointing news: Gov. Brown vetoed AB 101, a bill that would have given us a seat at the table to help improve our lives and the lives of the families we serve.

We have good reason to be disappointed. We worked hard this year; visiting legislators, standing together at rallies and getting our message into the media. We were joined by many prominent Californians who expressed their heartfelt support for the work we do. Also, we had faith in Gov. Brown, who in the past has supported women, and workers who were pushing to gain a stronger voice in the services they provide.

But the same reasons why we’re disappointed today are the reasons why we should be optimistic that we can get our bill passed in 2012. Because of our hard work, we are closer than we have ever been to winning the right to have our union. Our bill had the support of many influential people and legislators in California; even Gov. Brown had to acknowledge publicly in his veto message the importance of maintaining quality child care and good working conditions for providers.

These are all indications we are closer than we’ve ever been to winning, and we cannot and will not give up. Tuesday the governor walked away from an opportunity to do something about the struggles working families are facing–but walking away is a luxury we don’t have. Because we love the work we do, and because we face real difficulties every day for reasons that aren’t necessary–things that can be corrected and improved–we will continue to push until we are successful.

Every day we see the need to advocate for affordability and quality–we see the faces of parents who are cut off from assistance or struggle to pay family fees. We know the stories of parents who can’t find or afford quality child care for their children. And we know providers in other states have a track record of addressing these concerns, which tell us it can be done in California as well. We know our state budget is in bad shape–we saw more than 35,000 children lose child care access earlier this year–but we also know the way out of this crisis is to put Californians back to work, and that’s going to take strong child care services.

This is a fight we are in together. The governor needs to know we won’t go away; that in 2012 we will come back stronger than ever before. He has to understand that vetoing our bill was a bad move, not just for us, but for all of California. His decision to veto our bill hurts our economy and helps prevent the families we work with from getting the quality affordable child care they need.

We can take heart in the struggle home healthcare workers had in California on the way to winning their union some years ago. The first time they tried to win an organizing bill under Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, he vetoed the bill. The following year they came back more publicly and stronger than the year before, and Gov. Davis had no choice but to sign the bill and they won their union.

This can be us in 2012. Gov. Brown is starting to understand some of the problems we are facing–in the coming months we must make sure he knows the cost of not taking action to fix child care is just too great. We need to reach out to community, religious and other groups which know we are the bedrock of our communities and come back more united than ever before to tell Gov. Brown California’s working families are counting on him to be the champion we need.

We will be here as long as it takes to win a stronger voice for working families in California. We have no other option.

“I know we’ve only gotten stronger with our efforts during this past year. We can’t give up; we must keep pushing in 2012. We’re facing a Goliath of a fight. We have to keep the faith, stay courageous and just look for the right stone that will bring down Goliath.”
– Alana Lewis, provider from Pasadena