Highlights program strategies to support families as they adjust to changes in welfare policy. Core strategies noted include using early childhood programs as a resource, adapting early childhood programs to better meet family needs, promoting access to high-quality child care, linking early childhood programs and welfare agencies, and creating…

Provides important information to better prepare advocates participating in the welfare reform debate. Presents excerpts from reports by the General Accounting Office and the Advisory Committee of the Department of Health and Human Services. Suggests that virtually all of the reform proposals require much more stringent work participation by…

How a Head Start program expanded to become an early child development program'' which includes training for the parents in a Community Education Center.'' (SP)

Welfare reform has shifted control of implementation from federal to state government. For welfare reform to adequately support all families, NAEYC posits 10 recommendations regarding quality programs, adequate funding, equitable choices for families, and data collection to measure the impact of welfare reform on children and child care. The…

Discusses current welfare reform focus on state-level funding for child care, offering implications for early childhood professionals. Notes that with temporary assistance, low-income mothers must move into the work force, resulting in increased reliance on center-based child care. Urges professionals to work with local and state policymakers to…

Argues that the federal government is the only funding source of the magnitude needed to create an adequate early care and education system. Urges the early childhood community to unite behind a long-term strategy for creating and financing an effective national early care/education system. Presents three such proposals that differ in priorities…

Provides an overview of Family Support Act child care programs and highlights the successes and missed opportunities of the programs' first years. Areas discussed include child care for parents in training programs; child care for working parents receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); the At-Risk Child Care program; and welfare…

Examines stresses on the early childhood service system due to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. Discusses elimination of Aid to Families with Dependent Children; creation of state block grants, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and Child Care and Development Fund; and restructuring of the Child…

Discusses new state child care provisions to be implemented as part of the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training Program (JOBS Program) for Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) parents under the welfare reform bill, the Family Support Act. (BB)