(1) will minimize the administrative costs to be
incurred to carry out the plan contained in such ap-
plication,
(2) has coordinated the activities described in
the plan contained in such application, with pro-
viders of child care services for children between 3
and 6 years of age, and with providers of family sup-
port services for families of such children, located in
the State,
(3) has taken substantial legislative or executive
action to reduce the duplication of, and barriers to
providing, such services, and
(4) during the fiscal year for which such grant
is received, will reimburse such providers for such
services at rates that reflect—
(A) the higher costs incurred by such pro-
viders who are accredited by national associa-
tion that provides accreditation for providers of
the respective types of such services and that is
recognized by the Secretary, and
(B) the higher costs incurred by such pro-
viders to provide child care services to children
who are very young children.
SEC. 5. ELIGIBILITY FOR GRANTS.
To be eligible to receive a grant under section 4, a
State shall submit to the Secretary an application that
satisfies the following requirements:
(1) Such application is prepared by the State
after consultation with providers of child care serv-
ices for very young children, and with providers of
family support services for families of such children,
located in the State.
(2) Such application contains a plan that de-
scribes how the State will expend such grant to do
1 or more of the following:
(A) To improve quality of child care serv-
ices.
(B) To improve licensing standards appli-
cable to providers of child care services for very
young children in the State by specifying mat-
ters that apply to providing child care services,
such as child-to-staff ratios, group size, staff
preparation and qualifications, ongoing staff
training, health and safety, and linkages to par-
ents and community services.
(C) To improve enforcement of licensing
standards applicable to providers of child care
services for care for very young children in the
State.
(D) To improve compensation for care-
givers of such child care services.
(E) To support ongoing and more ad-
vanced training for such caregivers (including
training to provide child care services for chil-
dren with special needs) and to create incen-
tives for individuals to obtain, and child care
centers to employ individuals who have ob-
tained, more advanced training in providing
child care services.
(F) To improve accessibility to and quality
of child care services for very young children,
including improving the quality of, and expand-
ing the availability of, resource and referral
services and transportation services for families
with very young children.
(G) To expand the supply and quality of
infant care, including creating and supporting
family child care networks, recruiting family
child care providers, and expanding slots for in-
fants and toddlers in other child care settings.
(H) To support child care networks that
can provide on-going support for child care pro-
viders of infants and toddlers.
(I) To provide resource and referral serv-
ices to enable child care providers to hire infant
and toddler specialists.
(J) To improve affordability of child care
services for very young children.
(K) To improve and expand support serv-
ices to families with very young children.
(L) To improve coordination of existing
Federal and State programs that provide sup-
port services for families with very young chil-
dren.
(3) Such application shall contain assurances
that—
(i) not more than 70 percent of the cost of
carrying out the plan contained in such applica-
tion will be paid with such grant together with
any other available Federal funds,
(ii) such grant will be used to supplement,
not supplant, non-Federal funds otherwise
available to provide child care services for very
young children and support services for the
families of such children,
(iii) the State will expend in cash or in
kind, from State resources (including private
contributions and excluding resources available
to local governmental entities) an amount not
less than 30 percent of the amount of such
grant, and
(iv) such grant will be administered by the
lead agency that is designated by the State
under section 658D of the Child Care and De-
velopment Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C.
9858b).
(4) Such application shall contain such other
information and assurances as the Secretary may re-
quire by rule.
SEC. 6. MODEL TRAINING PROGRAM FOR EMPLOYEES OF
CHILD CARE PROVIDERS.
The Secretary shall—
(1) by adapting the requirements in effect
under section 1792(a) of title 10, United States
Code, develop a voluntary model training program
applicable to individuals who are employed as care-
givers for infants and toddlers by providers of child
care services,
(2) make available to providers of child care
services and Head Start agencies the model training
code developed under paragraph (1), and
(3) provide to such agencies and such providers
technical assistance to implement such program.
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act:
(1) CAREGIVER.—The term ‘‘caregiver’’ means
an individual who provides a service directly to a
child on a person-to-person basis.
(2) FAMILY
SUPPORT
SERVICES.—The term
‘‘family support services’’ means community-based
activities designed to promote parental competencies
and behaviors that will increase the ability of fami-
lies to successfully nurture their children.
(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means
the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
(4) VERY YOUNG CHILDREN.—The term ‘‘very
young children’’ means children who are less than 3
years of age.
SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out
this Act $500,000,000 for fiscal year 2001, $750,000,000
for fiscal year 2002, $1,000,000,000 for each of the fiscal
years 2003, 2004, and 2005.
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