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105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2452
To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants
to counties to carry out programs to provide to parents in families
participating in State programs funded under part A of title IV of
the Social Security Act, training relating to early childhood development
and education to prepare such parents for employment as caregivers
by providers of high quality child care services.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 10, 1997
Ms. WOOLSEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Commit-
tee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Education
and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services
to make grants to counties to carry out programs to
provide to parents in families participating in State pro-
grams funded under part A of title IV of the Social
Security Act, training relating to early childhood develop-
ment and education to prepare such parents for employ-
ment as caregivers by providers of high quality child
care services.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Parents as First
Teachers Act of 1997’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:
(1) New scientific research shows that experi-
ences in the first 3 years of life have a dramatic im-
pact on brain development.
(2) Experiences in the earliest years of a child’s
life are critical to their cognitive, emotional, and
physical development.
(3) Nurturing and stimulating children in the
first years of life prepare them for the challenges of
school and later life.
(4) According to a Carnegie Corporation publi-
cation entitled ‘‘Years of Promise: A Comprehensive
Strategy for America’s Children,’’ kindergarten
teachers estimate that 1 out of every 3 children en-
ters the classroom unprepared to meet the chal-
lenges of kindergarten.
(5) Children who receive high quality child care
services are less likely to need special education, be
retained a grade, or engage in juvenile delinquency
or other antisocial behavior as they grow up.
(6) According to ‘‘The State of America’s Chil-
dren, Yearbook 1997,’’ published by the Children’s
Defense Fund, approximately 7,700,000 children
less than 5 years of age are being cared for by some-
one other than their parents while their mothers
work.
(7) Documented in the 1997 edition of ‘‘Key
Facts About Child Care and Early Education: A
Briefing Book,’’ also published by the Children’s De-
fense Fund, is the fact that 60 percent of mothers
with children less than 6 years of age, and 52 per-
cent of mothers with children less than 1 year of
age, are working outside the home.
(8) Demand for child care services in low-in-
come communities will rise dramatically through
2002 as a result of the enactment of the Personal
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation
Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–193).
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to provide financial assistance to train, to
support, and to place as early childhood teaching
professionals, parents in families that receive assist-
ance under State programs funded under part A of
title IV of the Social Security Act,
(2) to increase nationwide the number of quali-
fied individuals who provide early childhood edu-
cation,
(1) An assurance that the county has estab-
lished an administrative committee that will admin-
ister such program and that includes at least—
(A) 1 representative of a county agency
that has responsibility for the development of
the local work force,
(B) 1 representative of a county agency
that has responsibility for providing human
services to residents of the county,
(C) 1 representative of a county agency
that has responsibility for providing training
and employment services to such residents,
(D) 1 representative of a county agency
that has supervisory responsibility for public
education provided by the county,
(E) 1 representative of an institution of
higher education that will provide educational
services through the program for which such
grant is requested, and
(F) 1 representative of a center-based child
care provider that will participate in such pro-
gram.
(2) Information on the identities and qualifica-
tions of the members of such committee and on how
such committee will administer such program.
(3) A plan that—
(A) contains information describing how
parents in families that receive assistance under
State programs funded under part A of title IV
of the Social Security Act will be selected to
participate in such program,
(B) identifies the institutions of higher
education that will provide educational services
and training through such program and speci-
fies with respect to each of such institutions,
the course requirements that must be satisfied
to complete the education program or training
program to be provided,
(C) describes the supportive services that
will be provided, directly or indirectly, by the
county for the benefit of such families to permit
such parents to participate in such program,
and
(D) contains a plan for the job placement
of, and follow-up services for a post-employment
period not to exceed 13 weeks for, such parents
who complete the participation requirements es-
tablished in such program.
(4) An assurance that such program will pro-
vide to participating parents in families that receive
assistance under State programs funded under part
A of title IV of the Social Security Act—
(A) not less than 228 hours of classroom
instruction, and
(B) not less than 200 hours of clinical
training, of which not less than 63 hours shall
consist of experience as a caregiver on the busi-
ness premises of a center-based child care pro-
vider.
(5) Assurance that such grant will be used
only—
(A) to provide education and training serv-
ices, supportive services, job placement services,
and post-employment follow-up services that
satisfy the requirements of such plan,
(B) at the option of the county, to pay
compensation for the services of an individual
employed by the county to manage the imple-
mentation of such plan and the operation of
such program, and
(C) to pay costs incurred by participants in
such program to comply with health and safety
requirements 
(including 
fingerprinting 
and
medical testing) applicable to caregivers em-
ployed by center-based child care providers.
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act—
(1) the term ‘‘caregiver’’ means an individual
who provides service directly to a child on a person-
to-person basis,
(2) the term ‘‘child’’ means an individual who
is less than the age of compulsory school attendance,
(3) the term ‘‘county’’ means—
(A) a county of a State or a parish in the
case of the State of Louisiana, or
(B) the District of Columbia, the Common-
wealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of
the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Amer-
ican Samoa, or the Virgin Islands of the United
States,
(4) the term ‘‘follow-up services’’ means serv-
ices designed to assist individuals to successfully
perform their job requirements as a caregiver of
high quality child care services during their first em-
ployment obtained after their completion of the
training received in a program carried out under this
section by a county.
(5) the term ‘‘institution of higher education’’
has the meaning given such term in section 1201(a)
of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1141(a)),
(6) the term ‘‘State’’ means any of the several
States, and
(7) the term ‘‘supportive services’’ includes
child care services for children less than 13 years of
age and transportation.
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated such sums
as may be necessary for fiscal years 1999, 2000, 2001,
2002, and 2003 to carry out this Act.
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