Page 18 - Strengthening California’s Emergency Child Care Bridge Program

Strengthening California’s Emergency Child Care Bridge
Data is needed for Programmatic Success
All but one county stated they experienced challenges with data and reporting The one county that did not experience data challenges received very few Bridge referrals Child Welfare administrators from 10 of the 12 counties experienced more challenges with data than R&R administrators (4 R&R administrators stated they had challenges) There were more early implementing counties (55%) that had mentioned experiencing challenges with data and reporting while only 27% of mid-implementing counties experienced challenges Furthermore, counties serving a larger number of families (8 counties) experienced data collection and reporting challenges more often than counties serving smaller numbers of families
When asked for the top data elements used to determine the success of the Bridge program, 42% of child welfare agencies interviewed mentioned how soon a child is placed in care after receiving a Bridge referral More than half of the child welfare agencies also mentioned the number of children that are successfully referred to long-term child care as one of their top priorities
Conclusions
Despite the dificulties associated with implementing a statewide program of this magnitude, the strong partnerships between Child Welfare and Resource &Referral Networks across the state has helped to make the Bridge program a success Thousands of children and families in the foster care system have benefited from access to quality child care provided by the Bridge Program In order to continue the success of this program and ensure that California’s most vulnerable children have access to quality child care, a few recommendations that were voiced by study participants should be considered:
• Keep implementation process changes made in response to the pandemic to maintain accessibility and increase convenience for foster families
• Extend the length of the Bridge voucher and have it follow the child after reunification or adoption
• Increase funding to allow for expanded eligibility and out-of-county placements
This study will include additional analysis, still on-going, related to the Trauma-Informed Care training and coaching components of the program A final report that includes an analysis of all funded components of the Bridge program will be available in the summer of 2022
18 | 2022