Family childcare home education networks.

Existing law, the Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Social Services, establishes a system of child care and development services for children up to 13 years of age. The act requires the department to contract with entities organized to operate family childcare home education networks that support educational objectives for children in licensed family childcare homes that serve families eligible for subsidized care. Existing law requires the family childcare home education network programs to include certain components, including an assessment of each family childcare home provider to ensure that services are of high quality and are educationally and developmentally appropriate. Existing law also imposes various requirements on family childcare home education network contractors, including ensuring that a developmental profile is completed for each child. This bill would require that tools used to make the family assessments be appropriate to family childcare home settings, and would require a family childcare home education network program to maintain a developmental portfolio for each child, as provided, and include opportunities for parent involvement. This bill would impose additional requirements on family childcare home education network contractors, including that the developmental profiles specified above be completed in accordance with the provider's observations and that the contractors conduct a parent survey. The bill would also impose various duties on family childcare home education network providers, including requiring providers to adopt and use a curriculum and to provide age-appropriate and developmentally appropriate educational activities for children.