Child care and early childhood resource and referral.

(1) As a part of the school readiness program, the department shall establish a statewide child care resource and referral network that is unbiased and provides referrals to families for child care and information on available community resources. Preference shall be given to using early learning coalitions as the child care resource and referral agencies. If an early learning coalition cannot comply with the requirements to offer the resource information component or does not want to offer that service, the early learning coalition shall select the resource and referral agency for its county or multicounty region based upon the procurement requirements of s. 1002.84(13).

(2) At least one child care resource and referral agency must be established in each early learning coalition’s county or multicounty region. The department shall adopt rules regarding accessibility of child care resource and referral services offered through child care resource and referral agencies in each county or multicounty region which include, at a minimum, required hours of operation, methods by which parents may request services, and child care resource and referral staff training requirements.

(3) Child care resource and referral agencies shall provide the following services:

(a) Identification of existing public and private child care and early childhood education services, including child care services by public and private employers, and the development of an early learning provider performance profile of those services through the single statewide information system developed by the department under s. 1002.82(2)(q). These services may include family child care, public and private child care programs, the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program, Head Start, the school readiness program, special education programs for prekindergarten children with disabilities, services for children with developmental disabilities, full-time and part-time programs, before-school and after-school programs, and vacation care programs. The early learning provider performance profile shall include, but not be limited to:

1. Type of program.

2. Hours of service.

3. Ages of children served.

4. Number of children served.

5. Program information.

6. Fees and eligibility for services.

7. Availability of transportation.

8. Participation in the Child Care Food Program, if applicable.

9. A link to licensing inspection reports, if applicable.

10. The components of the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program performance metric calculated under s. 1002.68 which must consist of the program assessment composite score, learning gains score, achievement score, and its designations, if applicable.

11. The school readiness program assessment composite score and program assessment care level composite score results delineated by infant classrooms, toddler classrooms, and preschool classrooms results under s. 1002.82, if applicable.

12. Gold Seal Quality Care designation under s. 1002.945, if applicable.

13. Indication of whether the provider implements a curriculum approved by the department and the name of the curriculum, if applicable.

14. Participation in school readiness child assessment under s. 1002.82.

(b) Establishment of a referral process that responds to parental need for information and that is provided with full recognition of the confidentiality rights of parents. The resource and referral network shall make referrals to legally operating child care facilities. Referrals may not be made to a child care facility that is operating illegally.

(c) Maintenance of ongoing documentation of requests for service tabulated through the internal referral process through the single statewide information system. The following documentation of requests for service shall be maintained by the child care resource and referral network:

1. Number of calls and contacts to the child care resource information and referral network component by type of service requested.

2. Ages of children for whom service was requested.

3. Time category of child care requests for each child.

4. Special time category, such as nights, weekends, and swing shift.

5. Reason that the child care is needed.

6. Customer service survey data required under s. 1002.82(3).

(d) Assistance to families that connects them to parent education opportunities, the temporary cash assistance program, or social services programs that support families with children, and related child development support services.

(e) Assistance to families and employers in applying for various sources of subsidy, including, but not limited to, the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program, the school readiness program, Head Start, Project Independence, private scholarships, and the federal child and dependent care tax credit.

(f) Assistance to families to negotiate discounts or other special arrangements with child care providers.

(g) Assistance to families in identifying summer recreation camp and summer day camp programs to help families make informed choices. Contingent upon specific appropriation, a checklist of important health and safety qualities that parents can use to choose their summer camp programs shall be developed and distributed in a manner that will reach parents interested in such programs for their children.

(h) Assistance to families for accessing local community resources.

(4) A child care facility licensed under s. 402.305 and licensed and registered family child care homes must provide the statewide child care and resource and referral network with the following information annually:

(a) Type of program.

(b) Hours of service.

(c) Ages of children served.

(d) Fees and eligibility for services.