[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 45 (Tuesday, March 8, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12105-12107]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-05085]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


National Child Care Hotline and Web Site; Comment Request

AGENCY: Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: As authorized by section 658L(b) of the Child Care and 
Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act (42 U.S.C. 9858j(b)), as amended by 
the CCDBG Act of 2014 (Pub. L. 113-186), the Administration for 
Children and Families (ACF) is developing a National toll-free hotline 
and Web site for child care. We are interested in comments that 
describe effective design features and easy-to-use functions for a 
national Web site that will link to new and existing state and local 
Web sites. The Web site will disseminate easy-to-understand information 
about Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) funded child care 
providers for parents of eligible children, the general public, and 
providers. The new national hotline will link to new and existing CCDF 
Lead Agency hotlines where users can report possible health and safety 
violations or instances of child abuse and neglect in CCDF-eligible 
provider settings.
    ACF previously asked for comments and suggestions related to the 
national Web site for consumer education, submission of complaints and 
related provisions in the CCDBG Act in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 
(80 FR 80465, Dec. 24, 2015, available online at https://federalregister.gov/a/2015-31883). If you have already commented on 
this regulatory process, there is no need to duplicate your comments. 
However, if your comments are more closely related to the design, 
functionality, or other considerations of the national Web site or 
hotline, we invite your additional comments here.

DATES: The deadline for receipt of comments is midnight, April 7, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments to [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

The CCDBG Act of 2014

    Two of the CCDBG Act's purposes are ``to promote parental choice to 
empower working parents to make their own decisions regarding the child 
care services that best suits their family's needs'' and ``to encourage 
States to provide consumer education information to help parents make 
informed choices about child care services and to promote involvement 
by parents and family members in the development of their children in 
child care settings'' (42 U.S.C. 9857(b)(1) & (3)). Subpart D of the 
proposed

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regulations describes parental rights and responsibilities and 
provisions related to parental choice, including requirements that Lead 
Agencies maintain a record of parental complaints and consumer 
education activities conducted by Lead Agencies to increase parental 
awareness of the range of child care options available to them.

Lead Agency Consumer Education Web site

    ACF has proposed amending paragraph (a) of Sec.  98.33 to require 
Lead Agencies ``to collect and disseminate consumer education 
information to parents of eligible children, the general public, and 
providers through a consumer-friendly and easily accessible Web site'' 
(80 FR 80569-70) Consistent with new requirements enacted by the CCDBG 
Act of 2014, the proposed regulations would require state Web sites to, 
at a minimum, include five components: (1) Lead Agency policies and 
procedures, (2) provider-specific information, (3) aggregate number of 
deaths, serious injuries, and instances of substantiated child abuse in 
child care settings each year, (4) referral to local child care 
resource and referral organizations, and (5) directions on how parents 
can contact the Lead Agency, or its designee, and other programs to 
better understand information on the Web site.
    The reauthorized CCDBG Act also requires the Secretary to operate, 
either directly or through the use of grants or contracts, a national 
Web site and a national toll free hotline. Both the national Web site 
and hotline must have the capacity to help families in every state and 
community in the nation.

National Consumer Education Web site

    While the primary responsibility to operate a parental complaint 
hotline and a consumer education Web site remains with Lead Agencies, 
the CCDBG Act also requires the Secretary to operate a national Web 
site for consumer education and submission of complaints (42 U.S.C. 
9858j(b)). The statute requires several components be included in the 
national Web site, including many of the same requirements of the Lead 
Agency consumer education Web sites. We propose to incorporate all 
requirements of the national Web site into the requirements of the Lead 
Agency consumer education Web site, including the localized list of 
child care providers searchable by zip code proposed at Sec.  
98.33(a)(2)(i) (80 FR 80570). The statute allows for the national Web 
site to provide the information either ``directly or through linkages 
to State databases'' (42 U.S.C. 9858j(b)(2)(b)). It is not feasible or 
practical for HHS to recreate databases many states have already 
created. Therefore, we are proposing to require Lead Agencies to 
include these components in their databases and Web sites to which we 
plan to link the national Web site.
    ACF intends to design a national Web site that will respond to the 
CCDBG Act requirements and will connect to state, territory, and local 
systems, if available, provide an additional entry point to Lead Agency 
Web sites for families seeking information, and make that information 
available in multiple languages. The national Web site will not create 
a national database or duplicate Lead Agency systems already in place.
    The national Web site will be hosted by `childcare.gov' and refer 
users to local child care providers 24 hours a day. The Web site will 
provide easy-to-understand child care consumer education and referral 
services and enable a child care consumer to enter a zip code and 
obtain a referral to local child care providers within a specified 
search radius.
    The national Web site will provide to consumers, directly or 
through linkages to state databases, at a minimum: a localized list of 
all eligible child care providers, differentiating between licensed and 
license-exempt providers; any provider-specific information from a 
Quality Rating and Improvement System or information about other 
quality indicators, any other provider-specific information about 
compliance with licensing and health and safety requirements to the 
extent the information is publicly available and to the extent 
practicable; referrals to local resource and referral organizations 
from which consumers can find more information about child care 
providers; and state information about child care subsidy programs and 
other financial supports available to families.

National Hotline

    The primary purpose of the parental complaint hotline is to provide 
parents with an easy way to submit complaints about unmet health and 
safety regulations or child abuse and neglect by a child care provider 
or their staff.
    The design for a national parental complaint hotline will also 
respond to the CCDBG Act requirements, be toll free, and connect to a 
Lead Agency single point of contact as an additional option for parents 
and the public. While not intended as a child care referral call 
center, the national hotline will provide links to applicable state 
information. It will not serve as a federal investigatory system.
    The value of parental complaint hotlines is illustrated by the 
longstanding national hotline established for the Department of Defense 
(DOD) military child care program. The Military Child Care Act of 1989 
(Pub. L. 101-189) required the creation of a national 24-hour, toll-
free hotline that allows parents to submit complaints about military 
child care centers anonymously. DOD has found the hotline to be an 
important tool in engaging parents in child care. In addition, 
complaints received through the hotline have helped DOD identify 
problematic child care programs. (Campbell, N., Appelbaum, J., 
Martinson, K., Be All That We Can Be: Lessons from the Military for 
Improving Our Nation's Child Care System, National Women's Law Center, 
2000).

Request for Comments

    ACF recognizes the diversity of existing systems and processes, 
information technology (IT) systems' capacity, investments, and limited 
resources (time, people, funding) available to Lead Agencies and their 
partners. We are not only interested in comments that describe 
effective and easy-to-use design features for a national parent 
complaint hotline and a national consumer education Web site, but also 
in how the design of both can help Lead Agencies as they adapt their 
systems to implement federal guidance. We welcome all comments and 
suggestions around the functions and features for both the national Web 
site and the national parent complaint hotline and encourage your input 
around the following:

National Consumer Complaint Hotline

     The national parent complaint hotline will be available 
for parents and providers who want to report health and safety 
violations or child abuse in CCDBG-eligible child care. What will 
parents and providers need to make the hotline easy to find and use?
     What protocols should be included for use with a national 
hotline to make sure that local, state, or territory authorities follow 
up on any complaints reported to the national parent complaint hotline?
     What types of information will help states and territories 
increase their ability to receive and share data with a national 
hotline?
     When thinking about the implementation of a parent 
complaint hotline, what barriers, challenges, and concerns come to mind 
related to current state policy and laws that might

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impact the ability of state and territory agencies and a national 
hotline to share information with each other?

National Consumer Education and Referral Web site

     The CCDBG Act of 2014 and proposed rules list the types of 
information that must be made available for parents and providers on a 
state, territory, and national Web site. What will parents and 
providers need to make this information useful when searching for high-
quality early childhood services? In particular, what Web site design 
features will deliver information that is accurate and easy to find and 
understand, so that parents can easily find high-quality services that 
meet their needs? Are there any priorities?
     Providers may use the national Web site as a way to 
increase visibility of their programs and services. What kinds of 
information should providers be able to include that would help both 
themselves and parents?
     A primary tenant of the national Web site will be to link 
to Web sites, services, and data that state and territory lead agencies 
make available. To remove any overlap of services, what national Web 
site design options will support these efforts?
     When it comes to data availability, what national Web site 
supports will help existing state and local systems to participate in 
the national Web site? For example: would state and local systems 
benefit from guidance on how to develop effective web services, data 
governance, application programming interfaces (API), or creating 
standards for collection of data?
     With a focus on provider quality information and 
availability of data, what information or technical assistance will 
state and territories need to make this information available online?
     What technologies and strategies can be used to overcome 
barriers, challenges, and concerns regarding potential design models of 
a national Web site?

    Dated: March 2, 2016.
Linda K. Smith,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Early Childhood Development, 
Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and 
Human Services.
[FR Doc. 2016-05085 Filed 3-7-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4184-43-P