Evaluating the Impact of Connecticut’s CCDF Subsidy Payment Policies on Provider and Family Participation

Challenge

The Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) is the largest source of federal funding to states to provide child care assistance for low-income working families. The Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (OEC) has made several significant changes to its CCDF subsidy payment policies that have the potential to affect the supply of affordable child care. OEC now needs to understand the impact of the new subsidy payment policies.

EDC is partnering with Yale University and OEC to evaluate these policies and their impact on children and families in Connecticut. The goals of this project are to identify whether OEC’s subsidy payment policies have increased families’ access to affordable, quality child care and to advance knowledge of how child care providers and families understand and experience these policies.

Key Activities

The project is carrying out the following activities:

• Conduct interrupted time-series analysis using administrative data to examine provider participation in the subsidy program and families’ access to affordable, quality child care
• Conduct surveys and interviews with child care providers to learn about their experiences with subsidy payment policies
• Conduct surveys and focus groups with parents and caregivers to learn about their perceptions of child care options and what they prioritize when searching for care
• Engage with a consortium of eight other grantees to identify common measures, instruments, and analytic approaches

Impact

• The evaluation will help inform OEC about the impact of its subsidy payment policies on provider and family participation
• The project will provide new insights into providers’ and families’ perceptions of, and experiences with, subsidy payment policies
• The research team’s cross-project collaboration with other grantees will result in measures and findings that can inform work in other states