Showing posts with label child care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label child care. Show all posts

Monday, May 14, 2018

I Wonder If The FEC Is Going To...

Image result for kid wondering
"I hope the FEC stops the bribes to pass laws and
hand out contracts to traffic tiny humans."
The FEC is issuing advisory opinions on the use of campaign funds.

I wonder if anyone is going to ask them about using campaign funds for staff to go shopping, lunch, casino, massages on congressional time?

I wonder if anyone, perhaps someone from DOJ OIG, is going to ask the FEC about using a congressional campaign committee to launder money...on congressional time, using congressional resources?

I wonder if anyone is going to ask them about congressional staffers using congressional campaign committee funds to fund state candidate campaigns?

I wonder if anyone is going to ask about setting up fake candidates to launder money through the fake campaigns?

I wonder if anyone is going to ask about bribery payments masked as campaign contributions?

I wonder if anyone is going to ask about corporations that have paid civil monetary penalties for fraud, funding political campaigns and having Political Action Committees?

I wonder if anyone is going to ask about foreign corporations setting up PACs funding political campaigns?

Well, I guess I will just have to ask and I just did.

Children are an extension of the parent, and in this situation, the candidate.

The FEC Is Alive!

US Federal Elections Commission bannerAO 2018-06: Use of campaign funds for childcare expenses

Campaign funds may be used to pay for a candidate’s childcare expenses that are incurred as a direct result of campaign activity.

Background

Liuba Grechen Shirley is a candidate for the 2nd Congressional District of New York. Prior to becoming a candidate, she worked from home as a consultant while providing full-time care for her children. When Ms. Shirley started her campaign (Liuba for Congress), she hired a part-time childcare provider. As the primary election approaches, Ms. Shirley anticipates that she will need additional full-time, evening and weekend childcare for her children so that she can devote time to running her campaign. Luiba for Congress asks if it may use campaign funds to pay for Ms. Shirley’s campaign-related childcare expenses.

Analysis

Under the Federal Election Campaign Act (the Act) and Commission regulations, campaign funds may be used to defray expenses in connection with a candidate’s campaign for federal office. However, campaign funds may not be converted to personal use by any person. Personal use occurs when campaign funds are used to fulfill any commitment, obligation, or expense that would exist irrespective of a candidate’s campaign or an individual’s duties as a federal officeholder. For items not listed in the regulations as examples of personal use, the Commission determines on a case-by-case basis whether an expense would constitute personal use.

The Act and Commission regulations do not expressly address payments for childcare expenses. The Commission thus examined whether the proposed childcare expenses would exist irrespective of Ms. Shirley’s campaign for federal office. The Commission considered its previous decision in advisory opinion 1995-42 where it allowed campaign funds to be used for the occasional childcare expenses that arose while the candidate campaigned. In that case, the Commission concluded that the childcare expenses were a direct result of campaign activity and would not otherwise exist.

Likewise here, the Commission concluded that childcare expenses that are a direct result of Ms. Shirley’s campaign activity would not exist irrespective of her campaign. Therefore, the Commission concluded that Liuba for Congress may use its campaign funds to pay for Ms. Shirley’s campaign-related childcare expenses, to the extent such expenses are incurred as a direct result of campaign activity.

Date issued: May 10, 2018; Length: 3 pages

Citations

Regulations
11 CFR 113.1(g)
Definition of personal use

Resources:




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Monday, April 30, 2018

DOJ: Michigan Justice Department Reaches Settlement with Learning Care Group Inc. to Resolve ADA Violations

Now, how about those children and youth in foster care, or even those who survived foster care as lab rats?

A little help over here would be greatly appreciated. 


The Justice Department announced that it has reached a settlement agreement with Learning Care Group (LCG), the second largest for-profit child care provider in North America, headquartered in Novi, Michigan.  LCG owns and operates over 900 child care centers nation-wide operating under seven brand names including, but not limited to: La Petite Academy, Childtime Learning Centers, Tutor Time Child Care/Learning Centers, The Children’s Courtyard, Montessori Unlimited, Everbrook Academy, and Creative Kids Learning Center.  The matter was handled by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.

The settlement agreement resolves complaints under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that LCG was discriminating against children with insulin dependent diabetes, on the basis of disability, by failing to make certain reasonable modifications for those children.  Under the agreement, LCG agreed to pay $10,000 in compensatory damages to each of the eight aggrieved individuals and families identified.

LCG also agreed to evaluate each request for reasonable modification on an individualized basis, using objective evidence and current medical standards, and where appropriate, will train child care staff members to assist with routine diabetes care tasks, including the administration of insulin by pen, syringe, or pump.

 “The ADA guarantees all children, including those with insulin dependent diabetes, equal access to child care centers,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John M. Gore of the Civil Rights Division.  “We applaud LCG for taking steps to enable parents of children with diabetes to enjoy the benefits of child care while knowing staff will be trained to ensure that their child is well cared for.”
“Given the critical role that dependable child care plays in a parent’s ability to work or go to school, we are proud that this settlement will ease the struggle to find quality child care for families of children with disabilities,” said United States Attorney Matthew Schneider.  “The United States Attorney’s Office will continue to work to ensure the equal rights of individuals with disabilities in our community.” 

People interested in finding out more about the ADA or this settlement agreement can call the toll-free ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301 or 800-514-0383 (TDD), and access the ADA website at http://www.ada.gov, or contact the U.S. Attorney’s civil rights hotline at 313-226-9151.


Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Friday, September 22, 2017

Center For American Progress Detroit Child Care Desert Study Sucks

Image result for center for american progress
Center for American Progress Sucks
Ahhhhh, the good ole think tank-hedge fund, Center for American Progress, in conjunction with the Clinton Foundation, the very same think tank that was conjured up to pump social media propaganda to implement their privatization agenda through social impact bonds, which are part of the federal investigations, and just so happens to be registered as a charity in the State of Michigan as "Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation",

TRANSLATION:  THE STUDY OF THE CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS SUCKS

Here is the link for the interactive study for Michigan and child care deserts.

This study was made really pretty, with lots of stratified, interactive data, to make it look really cool, so where is the meat?

Here it is:  This study is the launch of an entire strategic plan of land redevelopment because it always starts with the children.

Anything dealing with child policy is never vetted, as no one would ever do anything to harm a child, but I best there is a riveting scheme to maximize revenues implementing privatized human service programs in the assailing of education, property and industry.

Consider this study as a high quality geodemographic mining to create predictive modeling on the "best interests of the child", or rather how they can profit from this same targeted population, "The Poors, (always said with clinched teeth).

International investors are already locked and loaded in the so-called children's trust funds.

So, why is Detroit a "child care desert"?

A child care desert is just CAP's way of calling poor people poor without having to say the word poverty.

 I like my term, "The Poors", better.

Or, perhaps it is just a new term for gerrymandering political districts.

Well, for starters, Michigan, the last time I checked, only pays $2.51 an hour for daycare, which means, unless the caregiver operating at maximum capacity, they probably are still eligible for SNAP benefits.

Next, child care is for those who work, and since the jobs are at slave wages, with out of control auto insurance, someone is taking the bus to work, far away, because there are no jobs in the neighborhoods.

Then there are the homeless, whose children are eventually processed through foster care programs, which makes Detroit's children a targeted population to fraudulently bill federal programs like Medicaid, Targeted Case Management.

Foster care also is a form of child care, but, of course, the study failed to mention the number of foster care homes, residential institutions and group homes.

Last but not least to consider is that Detroit has, the last time I checked, the highest rates of cognitive and psychological developmental disabilities in the world, which means these child caregivers are not trained, qualified, nor get paid enough to take care of special needs children.

So, this is why these predictive modeling studies are popping up in Detroit, for the strict purposes of redesigning a geopolitical region, to garner the best interests of the child, through social impact bonds, of course.

This entire CAP study could have easily been conducted using economic indicators of poverty, a policy study of why the population of "The Poors" is exponentially expanding, with new members everyday, who are losing their homes to public corruption, but if they did that, who would invest in their children's trust funds?

Detroit is ripe for the pickings to maximize revenues through fraudulent federal funding of privatized initiatives and the plan to make Detroit a child care desert was intentional.

Bankole: Detroit is now tagged as  ‘child care desert’

Any discussion on Detroit’s future is undoubtedly incomplete without examining the amenities, experiences and challenges of the city’s youngest population — children as young as 5 or under — who deserve to be well cared for.

 Children are crucial to repopulating a city like ours with a declining population, more so when families are usually drawn to cities that place top priority on the young population, creating the environment that promotes their safety, healthy growth and well-being.

 But a new report released in late August by liberal think tank Center for American Progress (CAP), has labeled Detroit a “child care desert,” which simply means that it is a city with very limited or no licensed care service for kids. CAP estimates 59 percent of children under five reside in neighborhoods with a scarcity of childcare providers.

 “The supply of licensed child care is pretty low in all parts of Detroit, with the exception being downtown and Midtown. Of course, those are areas where there are few families, so perhaps that’s not surprising,” said Rasheed Malik, one of the authors of the report.

“Our estimate is that 29,040 children under five live in Detroit’s child care deserts.” And which areas specifically are most affected by the lack of child care?

 “Southwest and Mexicantown have a lot of kids and very few child care providers. This may be the area with the lowest supply relative to the child population.

The areas north of Hamtramck (NorHam, Grixdale, Davison, Pershing) are also heavily populated with families but have nowhere near enough child care options,” Malik said.

“Another trouble area is in the northeast part of Detroit (Denby, Burbank, Mount Olivet).” The ramification of this report is far reaching hence it raises serious questions about the ability of children in the mentioned areas to perform well in school and escape the poverty net.

 “Early childhood is a critical period for brain development, and when we don’t provide healthy and stimulating environments for young kids to learn they can have trouble when they enter public school,” Malik said.

“Even when young children are playing, they are learning how to interact with learning environments.

So even the little things have big impacts later in childhood and even adulthood.

Things like literacy, language, and early math skills have their roots in the kind of active play learning environments that quality child care curricula prioritize.” He added: “Without quality child care options, many families in child care deserts are forced to make less than ideal choices about child care so that they can go to work and provide for their families.

It would not surprise me if the city and state’s underinvestment in child care has played a part in the challenges that many children face when they get into Detroit’s public schools.” Asked if the CAP study looked at any significant steps Detroit has taken to address this issue, Malik said it remains to be seen.

 “I’m not aware of any child care policy choices that the city of Detroit has made on child care. I know that they have some pre-kindergarten slots and they also sponsor some Head Start classrooms, which is great,” Malik said.

“But the need far outstrips the supply. When it comes to child care, Michigan has been investing more under Gov. Snyder than in previous years, but not nearly enough from our point of view. The Great Start Readiness Program is a step in the right direction, but the overall public investment is just too low.”

 And when it comes to child care assistance, he described the state as having “one of the stingiest in the nation. Child care assistance is only available to the poorest families, and it doesn’t cover much of the cost, only reimbursing providers $3.25 an hour for three-year-olds.”

 One of the promises Mayor Mike Duggan made four years ago while running for mayor was increasing the city’s population. Four years later, that has not happened.

It will be difficult to see through that promise if Detroit continues down the road of limited care for children being raised in the city.

 Let’s face it.

Why would any family want to move into the city if they cannot be guaranteed child care services in neighborhoods?

 Families who reside in the areas highlighted in the CAP study need help now because the absence of childcare in their communities is directly tied to the educational success of their children.

 It takes no rocket science to figure out that an environment greatly impacts a child’s future, and if many Detroit kids are barely graduating from high school, we need to look at the root causes and begin to address them.

And the lack of adequate childcare would be among the culprits for the poor performance of some kids in school while their suburban counterparts would be expected to excel because childcare in their communities is never an issue.

 This report should remind the drivers of the city’s comeback that the road to recovery is long; Detroit’s compounding issues did not just start overnight.

Yet, every administration that comes and goes presents a laundry list of things it wants to accomplish.
This time around, the nurturing and safety of Detroit’s children should come first on that list.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Department of Defense Shows Lack of Regulation in Child Welfare System

The U.S. Department of Defense has put out an announcement for comments to its proposed rule on background checks for child care.

Comments must be received by December 1, 2014.

The reason this is of importance is because, as we are witnessing, child welfare is not limited to the Department of Health and Human Services and the fact that there are no uniform rules when dealing with children.

The United States is one of the few countries that refuses to adopt universal meanings to the nomenclature of child welfare with extremely poor, if any, regulation to prevent fraud, ,waste and abuse.

The cost of the program is $10 million.

As this applies to military families, it must be understood that the current system child welfare is under the jurisdiction of the DoD, and not any state agency.

You may submit comments, identified by docket number and/or Regulatory Information Number (RIN) number and title, by any of the following methods:

 Federal Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.

Federal Docket Management System Office,
4800 Mark Center Drive,
East Tower, Suite 02G09, Alexandria,
VA 22350–3100.
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Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Will Texas Gov. Rick Perry Face Another Indictment?

He should.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General has seemed to open up another can of Perry worms in Texas.

The latest audit report finds:
"Texas did not comply with Federal requirements for the use of almost $15 million in Child Care and Development Fund targeted funds for fiscal year 2010"
Other recent reports also found that the rate of child poverty, despite the economy surging in the Lone Star State, is rising at astronomical rates.

Despite Economic Strength Number of Texas Children in Poverty Rising  66% of school age children live in poverty, a 47% increase over the last 10 years.
 The should be interpreted as a state government which places more energy and concern on providing assistance to business to increase revenues that to invest in its future workforce, children.

Not only should one be offended with such state policies but should also be outraged that poverty generates future, cheap labor by depriving families of education, child care, food, shelter and other basic needs that are economically out of reach of the average with children in Texas.

Federal child care funds were diverted to assist in mortgage fraud programs.  The rest "disappeared" through poor record keeping.

The principle point of anger should hail from the fact that there will be no criminal charges and the money will be "paid back" over years through a series in cuts of future funding which will continue the cycle of increasing child poverty and cheap labor in Texas.

5 will get you 10 that similar fraud findings will manifest in other Texas child welfare programs.

Thanks Rick Perry for showing the nation on how not to run a stat and showing the world that we need to take better care of our most precious treasures.

Why help the border babies when you do not help your own citizens?

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Friday, April 6, 2012

Iowa Busted In $2.6 Million Child Care Fraud

Keep in mind that these data were not at electronic record keeping levels that we have today, meaning, there was more that was not identified. 

Of the $12,884,014 that the State agency claimed for CCDF targeted funds, the State agency did
not comply with Federal requirements when claiming $2,654,238 for FYs 2004 through 2008.

Specifically, the State agency (1) improperly reobligated $2,464,723 of FY 2004 targeted funds
after the obligation period had ended, (2) improperly obligated $134,209 of FY 2006 CCDF
targeted funds to another entity at the same level in the State government as the State agency,
and (3) did not refund to the Federal Government the $55,306 of targeted funds that either were
returned by the grantee after the obligation period had ended or remained unliquidated after the
liquidation period ended.  For the remaining $10,229,776 of CCDF targeted funds, the State
agency obligated and liquidated the funds in accordance with Federal requirements.

These errors occurred because the State agency did not have adequate policies and procedures in
place to monitor the obligation and liquidation of CCDF targeted funds pursuant to Federal
requirements.


Iowa Improperly Claimed Some Child Care and Development Targeted Funds (A-07-11-03163)

Let's see what else ya got, George.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

20th Anniversary of the Child Care and Development Block Grant

The biggest change we can make isn't how we provide health care - it's when.  Right now, we have a sick care system, and we need to invest in a health care system. - Secretary Kathleen Sebelius
Photos by Chris Smith

20th Anniversary of the Child Care and Development Block Grant

Washington, DC

October 19, 2010

Thank you, David, for that nice introduction.   I’m pleased to be here 

to help celebrate 20 years of the Child Care and Development Block Grant.  

Before I begin, I want to recognize some of the longstanding champions of 

families and children who worked so hard to see this program enacted. 

Marion Wright Edelman could not be here today, but her work as the 

founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund put child 

care on the national agenda. 

She had help from many great leaders including some who are 

here today like Helen Blank, Barbara Willer, and Abby Cohen.

Finally, I want to welcome the state and tribal child care administrators 

from across the country and everyone here this morning who works every 

day to improve child care in America.

Thanks to all of you, we’ve come a long way in the last 20 years.

I’ve seen this progress firsthand.  When I was first elected to the 

Kansas state legislature in 1986, many people hadn’t come to 

terms with the fact that most women were working outside the home – 

even though two-thirds of mothers were in the workforce, including me.  

Back then, there weren’t many women in state capitals or the U.S. 

Congress who could make the case for child care from personal experience. 

And the men in charge typically didn’t think much of so-called “women’s 

issues” like child care.

To them, child care wasn’t an employment issue like a 40-hour week or 

a pension. It was “babysitting.”  

And they thought babysitting was something “anyone” could do. 

They didn’t see the need for a trained provider or a low staff-child

 ratio. They thought serious health and safety standards were unnecessary.  

They didn’t understand why a child care provider needed a living wage.  

Some of them would have been fine sitting every child in America in 

front of a TV and stopping there.

But there were also women and men who believed children’s 

development was crucial.  And they believed that if you cared about 

child development, you needed to care about the quality of the environment 

where they spent time every day.

They knew that if we wanted children to develop emotionally and cognitively 

and grow up to become engaged citizens and productive workers, we needed 

to engage and nurture them during their early years.

And with their support, leaders in Congress like Senators Dodd, Hatch, and 

Kennedy worked in a bipartisan effort to make the Child Care and 

Development Block Grant a reality.

Over the years, the Child Care and Development Block Grant has supported 

child care for millions of low-income children.  It focused states, tribes, 

and territories’ attention on protecting children’s health and 

safety.  It provided dedicated resources to promote quality.  

As time has passed, we’ve learned that investing in the healthy 

development of our children is one of the best

investments we can make. Study after study has shown that 

children in high quality early learning and 

development programs have a solid foundation for success in 

school and life. 

The President and First Lady understand the importance of these early years.

That’s why over the last two years, we’ve undertaken an ambitious agenda 

to give our children a better start in life.

The reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program helped us 

sign up 2.6 million previously uninsured children for CHIP and Medicaid 

last year and made coverage available to more than 4 million additional children.  

The Recovery Act is investing over $4 billion in child care and early learning 

and supporting an estimated 220,000 child care slots to help families through 

the recession. 

The First Lady’s Let’s Move Campaign has set a goal of ending childhood 

obesity within a generation. 

The Affordable Care Act prohibits new plans from denying children 

coverage because of their preexisting medical conditions and requires 

them to cover the preventive treatments, screenings, and immunizations 

recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

And the President’s 2011 budget doubles the Child and Dependent Care 

Tax Credit for middle-class families, expands affordable, high-quality child 

care services for military families at centers in the U.S. and overseas, 

and increases funding for the Child Care and Development Fund by $1.6 billion.

Combined, these reforms and investments will provide critical support for 

children and families across the country.

But while resources are important, our focus goes well beyond dollars. 

Our vision is that all children should have access to affordable, 

high-quality early care and education that meets their educational, 

emotional, and developmental needs and helps prepare them for success 

in school and life.

Families aren’t one-size-fits-all and their child care and early education 

needs aren’t either. But whether children are supported by a subsidy or 

their parents pay for care out of pocket; whether they’re in a child 

care center, Head Start, a family child-care home, or a school; whether 

they need full-time care or part-day preschool – every one of them needs 

a high quality program.

Many of our children are already in high-quality programs that give them 

the nurturing and skills they need.  

But too many others are in programs that don’t meet the high standards 

for quality care.

That’s why we’ve undertaken an aggressive agenda to improve quality 

in Head Start.  These quality objectives are clearly expressed in the new 

proposed Head Start regulations we just released.  We believe that if a Head 

Start program doesn’t get results, it should have to reapply for grant money, 

whether it’s run by a nonprofit, a city, or a school district.  And we hope 

many of you will comment on this proposed rule, so we can make it 

as effective and fair as possible.

When it comes to child care, we need to keep that same focus on quality 

and effectiveness.

As you all know, the Child Care and Development Block Grant is due 

to be reauthorized.  If Congress takes up a reauthorization bill, it could 

provide an important opportunity to address health and safety requirements in 

child care, take overdue steps to improve quality standards, support the child 

care workforce, and reinforce our efforts to fight waste and fraud.

The 1.6 million children who get help from Child Care and Development Block 

Grant would benefit, and so would the over 10 million other children in child care.

But we can’t wait for a new law to pass.  In our department, we’re already 

moving ahead.

We’re helping states establish Quality Rating Improvement Systems that will 

give parents information about the quality of their child’s setting, 

and give providers information about best practices. 

We’re supporting improved workforce training.  Whether it’s the center 

director or a caregiver who is rocking your infant to sleep, skilled providers 

make all the difference when it comes to high quality care.

We’re asking states to measure their progress improving child care health 

and safety standards, early learning curricula, and provider training.  

Just as hospitals have reported for years on what they’re doing to 

meet quality benchmarks in Medicare and Medicaid, now states 

will report on their progress to improve child care every year. 

We’re also strengthening coordination across government. 

In August, Education Secretary Duncan and I launched an Interagency 

Policy Board so we can coordinate programs that we administer in 

our department like Head Start, Home Visiting, and the Child Care and 

Development Block Grant with Department of Education programs like 

preschool and infant-toddler special education.

We’ve joined forces with the Department of Defense to raise the quality 

of community child care programs that serve military families.  

This will bring high quality child care programs to neighborhoods across the 

country.

And we’ve already awarded Recovery Act funds to 45 states, DC, and 

territories, to establish early childhood education Advisory Councils.  

These councils are charged with creating one seamless early childhood system 

so Head Start, pre-K, and child care programs all work at the same high 

level—for example, in instruction, professional development, or 

identifying whether a child has special needs.

Finally, we’ve launched a new initiative, the Early Learning Communities, 

which documents and promotes the best ways to create uninterrupted 

services from before birth through age eight, track children’s well-being,

constantly improve quality, and make sure these steps carry forward 

when children start school.

We are committed to weaving together our programs into a seamless, 

high-quality early learning and development system, where every family 

can choose the setting that works best for their children and no 

family has to compromise on quality.

Just as high schools aim to prepare students for college, early childhood 

development programs should be designed with an eye towards the skills 

our children will need to succeed in their next step in life.  Quality 

child care is essential to helping our children succeed and to keeping 

our country competitive.

I look forward to working with Congress, states, parents, teachers, 

providers, and all of you to strengthen the Child Care and Development 

Block Grant and improve child across the country.  We’ve learned a lot in the 

last decades, and I’m committed to building on those successes and ensuring 

that the next decades are ones where we build brighter futures for all of our children.

Thank you.  And now, Joan, I’ll turn the program over to you.