Child care resource and referral programs.

(1) The Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Education, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer child care and development programs. Existing law authorizes funds appropriated for purposes of the act to be used for child care resource and referral programs, which may be operated by public or private nonprofit entities and are required to provide certain information and services to parents and child care providers relating to child care services in a defined geographic area. This bill would require a child care resource and referral program to provide specified additional services, including providing training and workshops relating to child care services, community resource assistance, and collaborating with and assisting other community agencies in planning, coordinating, and improving child care. The bill would delete provisions authorizing a resource and referral program to provide short-term respite care, as defined. The bill would require a resource and referral program to provide basic child care referrals, as defined, at no cost. The bill would require a child care resource and referral program to include additional information in the documentation that a resource and referral program is required to maintain. (2) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to prevent the use of lists containing names, addresses, and other identifying information of facilities identified as small family day care homes, with certain exceptions. This bill, in addition, would require a child care resource and referral program to limit the distribution of lists of small family day care homes except when necessary to collaborate with federal, state, and local emergency response organizations for emergency preparedness and response efforts. (3) Existing law establishes the California Child Care Initiative Project for certain purposes, including increasing the availability of qualified child care programs in the state. This bill would instead establish 2 projects, to be known as the California Child Care Initiative Project - State Program, and the California Child Care Initiative Project - Quality Plan Program. (4) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to establish a trustline registry for purposes of conducting background checks for specified child care service providers, and imposes certain responsibilities on resource and referral programs in the administration of the trustline. This bill would impose additional requirements on resource and referral programs relating to the trustline, including reviewing trustline applications for in-home or license-exempt home-based child care providers who are being paid through state-funded child care subsidies, and facilitating the trustline automated registration process or the trustline Web-based application process. The bill would make other conforming changes.