CHILD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT FUND (CCDF) POLICIES DATABASE PROJECT

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The CCDF Policies Database is a source of information on the detailed policies used to operate child care subsidy programs under the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). Since 2008, The Urban Institute has collected, coded, and disseminated the CCDF policies in effect across the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories and outlying areas, using consistent methods across places and over time. The information in the CCDF Policies Database is based primarily on the documents that caseworkers use as they work with families and providers, as well as the biennial CCDF Plans and amendments submitted by States/Territories to ACF, state law, and regulations used by the staff operating the program. The Database captures detailed information on eligibility, family payments, application procedures, and provider-related policies, including dates of enactment and some of the policy variations that exist within states/territories. The information collected by the project is being disseminated in different forms to meet the needs of different users - quantitative and qualitative researchers, policymakers, and administrators at all levels of government. One product is a complete set of data files, containing the full detail of the database, periodically extracted from the database. Access to the data files allows researchers and others to address important questions concerning the effects of alternative child care subsidy policies and practices on the children and families served, specifically parental employment and self-sufficiency, the availability and quality of care, and children's development. The data files are publicly available at http://www.researchconnections.org/childcare/resources/17048. A second product is a set of reports, or "books of tables." Each book of tables allows easy access to key policies for all states and territories, focusing on a specific point in time. The tables from each report are also available, in various formats suitable for analysis, at http://www.researchconnections.org/. These tables are also updated to reflect any corrections made in the database after the release of the reports.