A public hearing for the Committee on Children has just been announced for Tuesday, February 16, 2016 at 10:00 A.M. in Room 2A of the Legislative Office Building (LOB) in Hartford.

A key piece of proposed legislation, S.B. 10, an Act Increasing Access to Childcare for Children who are Homeless, is on the agenda. This legislation proposes to:

• Create a “protective services” category for children experiencing
  homelessness, making them “categorically eligible” for Care4Kids child care subsidies regardless of the parent’s work status; and,

• Ensure immediate access to child care for all children by creating a 90-day grace period for providing documentation of health and immunization records when enrolling in a child care center, group children care home, or family child care home.

These new measures would make an enormous difference for our family clients and the providers who serve them. We are very pleased that the Governor introduced this legislation as part of his package this session, and we are grateful to the Office of Early Childhood for raising up this important issue.

We are asking family providers to testify at the hearing, or to submit written testimony, to support S.B. 10.  CCEH will be glad to submit your testimony for you if you cannot come in person — the deadline for such submissions to CCEH is 3:00 p.m. on Monday, February 15.

We apologize in advance for the short notice. Please email Sarah Fox, Director of Advocacy and Community Impact, at sfox@cceh.org, to let her know if you can work with us to support this legislation.

Thank you — for your support on this, and for all you do every day!

Lisa Tepper Bates
Executive Director
Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness