II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 834 

To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to 

ensure access to high-quality child care for homeless children and families, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 25, 2013 

Mrs. MURRAY (for herself and Mr. FRANKEN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant 

Act of 1990 to ensure access to high-quality child care 

for homeless children and families, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Improving Access to 

5 Child Care for Homeless Families Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find8 ings: 


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1 (1) Homelessness among children and youth in 

2 public schools has increased by 57 percent during 

3 the period since 2006. 

4 (2) Among homeless children living in shelters 

5 supported by the Department of Housing and Urban 

6 Development, 50 percent are under 5 years old. 

7 (3) A 2010 study by the Eunice Kennedy Shriv8 er National Institute of Child Health and Human 

9 Development found that children who had received 

10 high-quality care in the first few years of life scored 

11 higher on measures of academic and cognitive 

12 achievement when the children were 19 years old, 

13 and were less likely to misbehave, than children who 

14 had been enrolled in low-quality care in those years. 

15 (4) Homelessness has a negative impact on 

16 child development that surpasses the harmful im17 pacts of poverty. A Head Start demonstration 

18 project serving homeless families indicated that the 

19 homeless children served had more instances of de20 velopmental delay, learning disabilities, and physical 

21 or mental health problems, compared with their low22 income peers in stable housing. 

23 (5) For homeless families, residential insta24 bility, high mobility, documentation requirements, 


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1 and lack of transportation are significant obstacles 

2 to accessing and retaining child care services. 

3 (6) According to a study by the Institute for 

4 Children, Poverty, and Homelessness, homeless fam5 ilies are less likely to receive government financial 

6 assistance for child care than families that are not 

7 homeless. 

8 (7) Without child care, homeless parents of 

9 young children struggle to search for employment, 

10 maintain employment, and enter job training pro11 grams. 

12 (8) Many parents who are domestic violence 

13 survivors who flee their homes try to find employ14 ment, but the parents are often limited by a lack of 

15 child care. In a survey of nearly 1,500 domestic vio16 lence survivors in domestic violence shelters, 29 per17 cent indicated that they needed help with child care. 

18 (9) In school year 2006–2007 there were 

19 22,650 homeless families served by Head Start pro20 grams, and in school year 2011–2012 there were 

21 49,164 homeless families served by Head Start pro22 grams. The number of homeless families being 

23 served by Head Start programs has more than dou24 bled in the past 5 years 


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1 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con2 gress that— 

3 (1)(A) Congress has enacted successful policies 

4 to increase homeless children’s access to and sta5 bility in public elementary and secondary schools 

6 and Head Start programs; and 

7 (B) in order to increase homeless families’ ac8 cess to and continuity in child care, similar policies 

9 should be applied to Federal child care programs; 

10 and 

11 (2) such policies will assist homeless parents in 

12 maintaining employment and regaining housing, and 

13 will provide critical interventions to support that vul14 nerable population of children. 

15 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

16 The purpose of this Act is to ensure access to high17 quality child care for homeless children and families. 

18 SEC. 4. CHILD CARE FOR HOMELESS CHILDREN. 

19 (a) LEAD AGENCY DUTIES.—Section 658D(b)(1)(D) 

20 of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 

21 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858b(b)(1)(D)) is amended by striking 

22 ‘‘Federal, State and local child care and early childhood 

23 development programs.’’ and inserting ‘‘Federal, State, 

24 and local child care, early childhood development, and so25 cial service programs that shall include— 


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1 ‘‘(1) Head Start and Early Head Start pro2 grams under the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9831 

3 et seq.); 

4 ‘‘(2) programs, and services of partners, that 

5 serve vulnerable populations, including programs 

6 serving homeless children and services of local edu7 cational agency liaisons for homeless children and 

8 youths designated under subsection (g)(1)(J)(ii) of 

9 section 722 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assist10 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 11432); and 

11 ‘‘(3) programs, and services of entities receiving 

12 grants, to provide to homeless veterans services au13 thorized under chapter 20 of title 38, United States 

14 Code, consisting of housing, employment-related 

15 services (such as services under section 2021 or 

16 2021A of such title), or supportive services (such as 

17 services authorized under section 2044 of such 

18 title).’’. 

19 (b) PLAN REQUIREMENTS.—Section 658E(c) of the 

20 Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 

21 U.S.C. 9858c(c)) is amended— 

22 (1) in paragraph (2)— 

23 (A) in subparagraph (D), by inserting ‘‘, 

24 Head Start and Early Head Start agencies 

25 under the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9831 et 


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1 seq.), State Coordinators designated under sub2 section (d)(3), and local educational agency liai3 sons for homeless children and youths des4 ignated under subsection (g)(1)(J)(ii), of sec5 tion 722 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless As6 sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11432), local edu7 cational agencies and providers of early inter8 vention services under the Individuals with Dis9 abilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et 

10 seq.),’’ after ‘‘children’’; 

11 (B) in subparagraph (F)(i), by striking the 

12 semicolon and inserting ‘‘and the establishment 

13 of a grace period that allows homeless children 

14 to receive services under this subchapter while 

15 their families are taking any necessary action to 

16 comply with immunization and other health and 

17 safety requirements;’’; and 

18 (C) in subparagraph (H)— 

19 (i) by striking ‘‘and families’’ and in20 serting ‘‘families’’; and 

21 (ii) by inserting ‘‘, and families of 

22 homeless children’’ before the period; 

23 (2) in paragraph (3)(B)— 

24 (A) by inserting ‘‘activities that improve 

25 access to such services (including transportation 


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1 to child care services, procedures to permit im2 mediate enrollment of homeless children while 

3 required documentation is obtained, training 

4 and technical assistance on identifying and 

5 serving homeless children and their families, 

6 and specific outreach to families described in 

7 paragraph (2)(H)),’’ after ‘‘availability of such 

8 services,’’; and 

9 (B) by inserting ‘‘, to homeless children,’’ 

10 after ‘‘family size)’’; and 

11 (3) in paragraph (5), by adding at the end the 

12 following: ‘‘Each sliding fee scale shall be applied 

13 using measures to ensure that cost sharing is not a 

14 barrier to the enrollment of families of homeless 

15 children.’’. 

16 (c) ACCESS AND OUTREACH TO FAMILIES OF HOME17 LESS CHILDREN.—Section 658G of the Child Care and 

18 Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858e) 

19 is amended— 

20 (1) by inserting ‘‘(such as resource and referral 

21 services)’’ after ‘‘and activities’’; and 

22 (2) by striking ‘‘(such as resource and referral 

23 services).’’ and inserting ‘‘, including developing 

24 strategies and partnerships to provide transportation 

25 to child care services and specific outreach to famiVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:37 May 01, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S834.IS S834

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1 lies described in section 658E(c)(2)(H)).’’ after 

2 ‘‘availability of child care’’. 

3 (d) REPORTS.—Section 658K(a)(1)(B) of the Child 

4 Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 

5 U.S.C. 9858i(a)(1)(B)) is amended— 

6 (1) in clause (ix), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

7 (2) in clause (x), by adding ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

8 and 

9 (3) by inserting after clause (x) the following: 

10 ‘‘(xi) whether the children receiving 

11 assistance under this subchapter are home12 less children;’’. 

13 SEC. 5. PILOT PROGRAM. 

14 (a) REDESIGNATION.—Section 658L of the Child 

15 Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 

16 U.S.C. 9858j) is amended— 

17 (1) by striking the section heading; 

18 (2) by inserting ‘‘(c) REPORT BY SEC19 RETARY.—’’ before ‘‘Not later’’; 

20 (3) by striking ‘‘section 658K’’ and inserting 

21 ‘‘this section’’; and 

22 (4) by moving subsection (c) (as redesignated 

23 by paragraph (2)) to the end of section 658K. 

24 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—The Child Care 

25 and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 


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1 9858 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 658K 

2 (42 U.S.C. 9858i), as amended by subsection (a), the fol3 lowing: 

4 ‘‘SEC. 658L. PILOT PROGRAM. 

5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a 

6 pilot program to identify and implement best practices for 

7 increasing access to and continuity of child care for home8 less children. 

9 ‘‘(b) GRANTS.—In carrying out the pilot program, 

10 the Secretary shall award to States not more than 5 

11 grants of not more than $5,000,000 per grant. Each grant 

12 shall be for a period of not more than 3 years, beginning 

13 not later than March 31, 2014. 

14 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION.—In order to be eligible to receive 

15 a grant under this section, a State shall submit an applica16 tion to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 

17 containing such information as the Secretary shall require. 

18 ‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.—A State that receives a grant 

19 under this section shall use the funds made available 

20 under the grant— 

21 ‘‘(1) to establish a pilot project for— 

22 ‘‘(A) implementing promising practices for 

23 increasing access to and continuity of child care 

24 for homeless children; and 

25 ‘‘(B) identifying the best practices; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) to carry out subsection (e)(1). 

2 ‘‘(e) ASSESSMENTS AND REPORTS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) STATE RESPONSIBILITIES.— 

4 ‘‘(A) ASSESSMENT.—A State that receives 

5 a grant under this section shall carry out data 

6 collection for and an assessment of its pilot 

7 project described in subsection (d)(1). 

8 ‘‘(B) REPORT TO THE SECRETARY.—Not 

9 later than 42 months after the first day of the 

10 grant period for a pilot project described in 

11 subsection (d)(1), the State carrying out the 

12 pilot project shall submit to the Secretary a re13 port containing a summary of the results of the 

14 assessment described in subparagraph (A), in15 cluding a description of the best practices iden16 tified. 

17 ‘‘(2) SECRETARIAL RESPONSIBILITIES.—Not 

18 later than 4 years after the first day of the latest 

19 grant period for a pilot project, the Secretary shall 

20 submit to Congress a report containing a summary 

21 of the reports received under paragraph (1) and a 

22 recommendation concerning whether and how to ex23 pand the pilot projects carried out with best prac24 tices. 


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1 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

3 such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 

4 2014 through 2016, which shall remain available through 

5 fiscal year 2018.’’. 

6 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

7 Section 658P of the Child Care and Development 

8 Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858n) is amended— 

9 (1) in paragraph (4)(C)— 

10 (A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 

11 end; 

12 (B) in clause (ii), by striking the period 

13 and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

14 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(iii) is a homeless child.’’; and 

16 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(15) HOMELESS CHILD.—The term ‘homeless 

18 child’ means a homeless child or youth, as defined 

19 under section 725 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless 

20 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11434a).’’. 

Æ 


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