II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3476 

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 

AUGUST 1, 2012 

Mrs. MURRAY (for herself, Mr. FRANKEN, and Mr. KERRY) 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 2012’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

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


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1 (1) Child and youth homelessness has increased 

2 by 38 percent during the period since 2006, and 

3 Head Start programs have registered a 44 percent 

4 increase in the number of homeless children served 

5 over that same period. 

6 (2) Among homeless children living in shelters 

7 supported by the Department of Housing and Urban 

8 Development, 50 percent are under 5 years old. 

9 (3) A 2010 study by the Eunice Kennedy Shriv10 er National Institute of Child Health and Human 

11 Development found that children who had received 

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

13 higher on measures of academic and cognitive 

14 achievement when the children were 19 years old, 

15 and were less likely to misbehave, than children who 

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

17 (4) Homelessness has a negative impact on 

18 child development that surpasses the harmful im19 pacts of poverty. A Head Start demonstration 

20 project serving homeless families indicated that the 

21 homeless children served had more instances of de22 velopmental delay, learning disabilities, and physical 

23 or mental health problems, compared with their low24 income peers in stable housing. 


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1 (5) For homeless families, residential insta2 bility, high mobility, documentation requirements, 

3 and lack of transportation are significant obstacles 

4 to accessing and retaining child care services. 

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

6 Children, Poverty, and Homelessness, homeless fam7 ilies are less likely to receive government financial 

8 assistance for child care than families that are not 

9 homeless. 

10 (7) Without child care, homeless parents of 

11 young children struggle to search for employment, 

12 maintain employment, and enter job training pro13 grams. 

14 (8) Many parents who are domestic violence 

15 survivors who flee their homes try to find employ16 ment, but the parents are often limited by a lack of 

17 child care. In a survey of nearly 1,500 domestic vio18 lence survivors in domestic violence shelters, 29 per19 cent indicated that they needed help with child care. 

20 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con21 gress that— 

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

23 to increase homeless children’s access to and sta24 bility in public elementary and secondary schools 

25 and Head Start programs; and 


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1 (B) in order to increase homeless families’ ac2 cess to and continuity in child care, similar policies 

3 should be applied to Federal child care programs; 

4 and 

5 (2) such policies will assist homeless parents in 

6 maintaining employment and regaining housing, and 

7 will provide critical interventions to support that vul8 nerable population of children. 

9 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

10 The purpose of this Act is to ensure access to high11 quality child care for homeless children and families. 

12 SEC. 4. CHILD CARE FOR HOMELESS CHILDREN. 

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

14 of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 

15 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858b(b)(1)(D)) is amended by striking 

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

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

18 and local child care, early childhood development, and so19 cial service programs that shall include— 

20 ‘‘(1) Head Start and Early Head Start pro21 grams under the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9831 

22 et seq.); 

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

24 serve vulnerable populations, including programs 

25 serving homeless children and services of local eduVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:35 Aug 07, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3476.IS S3476

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1 cational agency liaisons for homeless children and 

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

3 section 722 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assist4 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 11432); and 

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

6 grants, to provide to homeless veterans services au7 thorized under chapter 20 of title 38, United States 

8 Code, consisting of housing, employment-related 

9 services (such as services under section 2021 or 

10 2021A of such title), or supportive services (such as 

11 services authorized under section 2044 of such 

12 title).’’. 

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

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

15 U.S.C. 9858c(c)) is amended— 

16 (1) in paragraph (2)— 

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

18 Head Start and Early Head Start agencies 

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

20 seq.), State Coordinators designated under sub21 section (d)(3), and local educational agency liai22 sons for homeless children and youths des23 ignated under subsection (g)(1)(J)(ii), of sec24 tion 722 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless As25 sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11432), local eduVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:35 Aug 07, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3476.IS S3476

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1 cational agencies and providers of early inter2 vention services under the Individuals with Dis3 abilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et 

4 seq.),’’ after ‘‘children’’; 

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

6 semicolon and inserting ‘‘and the establishment 

7 of a grace period that allows homeless children 

8 to receive services under this subchapter while 

9 their families are taking any necessary action to 

10 comply with immunization and other health and 

11 safety requirements;’’; and 

12 (C) in subparagraph (H)— 

13 (i) by striking ‘‘and families’’ and in14 serting ‘‘families’’; and 

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

16 homeless children’’ before the period; 

17 (2) in paragraph (3)(B)— 

18 (A) by inserting ‘‘activities that improve 

19 access to such services (including transportation 

20 to child care services, procedures to permit im21 mediate enrollment of homeless children while 

22 required documentation is obtained, training 

23 and technical assistance on identifying and 

24 serving homeless children and their families, 

25 and specific outreach to families described in 


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

2 services,’’; and 

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

4 after ‘‘family size)’’; and 

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

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

7 using measures to ensure that cost sharing is not a 

8 barrier to the enrollment of families of homeless 

9 children.’’. 

10 (c) ACCESS AND OUTREACH TO FAMILIES OF HOME11 LESS CHILDREN.—Section 658G of the Child Care and 

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

13 is amended— 

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

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

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

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

18 strategies and partnerships to provide transportation 

19 to child care services and specific outreach to fami20 lies described in section 658E(c)(2)(H)).’’ after 

21 ‘‘availability of child care’’. 

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

23 Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 

24 U.S.C. 9858i(a)(1)(B)) is amended— 

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


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

2 and 

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

4 ‘‘(xi) whether the children receiving 

5 assistance under this subchapter are home6 less children;’’. 

7 SEC. 5. PILOT PROGRAM. 

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

9 Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 

10 U.S.C. 9858j) is amended— 

11 (1) by striking the section heading; 

12 (2) by inserting ‘‘(c) REPORT BY SEC13 RETARY.—’’ before ‘‘Not later’’; 

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

15 ‘‘this section’’; and 

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

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

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

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

20 9858 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 658K 

21 (42 U.S.C. 9858i), as amended by subsection (a), the fol22 lowing: 

23 ‘‘SEC. 658L. PILOT PROGRAM. 

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

25 pilot program to identify and implement best practices for 


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1 increasing access to and continuity of child care for home2 less children. 

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

4 the Secretary shall award to States not more than 5 

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

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

7 not later than March 31, 2013. 

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

9 a grant under this section, a State shall submit an applica10 tion to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 

11 containing such information as the Secretary shall require. 

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

13 under this section shall use the funds made available 

14 under the grant— 

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

16 ‘‘(A) implementing promising practices for 

17 increasing access to and continuity of child care 

18 for homeless children; and 

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

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

21 ‘‘(e) ASSESSMENTS AND REPORTS.— 

22 ‘‘(1) STATE RESPONSIBILITIES.— 

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

24 a grant under this section shall carry out data 


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1 collection for and an assessment of its pilot 

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

3 ‘‘(B) REPORT TO THE SECRETARY.—Not 

4 later than 42 months after the first day of the 

5 grant period for a pilot project described in 

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

7 pilot project shall submit to the Secretary a re8 port containing a summary of the results of the 

9 assessment described in subparagraph (A), in10 cluding a description of the best practices iden11 tified. 

12 ‘‘(2) SECRETARIAL RESPONSIBILITIES.—Not 

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

14 grant period for a pilot project, the Secretary shall 

15 submit to Congress a report containing a summary 

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

17 recommendation concerning whether and how to ex18 pand the pilot projects carried out with best prac19 tices. 

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

21 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

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

23 2013 through 2015, which shall remain available through 

24 fiscal year 2017.’’. 


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1 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

2 Section 658P of the Child Care and Development 

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

4 (1) in paragraph (4)(C)— 

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

6 end; 

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

8 and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

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

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

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

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

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

14 under section 725 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless 

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

Æ 


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