Applicants are informed about how well the family’s request matches the organization's services, and when the organization cannot meet the family’s need for appropriate developmental care for their child, the organization provides a written explanation and appropriate referrals.

ECCD 1.02

Prompt, responsive screening practices:

ensure equitable treatment;
give priority to families with urgent needs;
support timely initiation of services;
provide for placement on a waiting list, if desired; and
inform parents what services will be available and when.

NA Another organization is responsible for screening.

ECCD 1.03

The needs of the child and family are matched with a care provider to ensure suitable, family-based care.

LAST UPDATED 01/01/08

NA The organization does not operate family child care homes.

ECCD 1.04

Parents of children with special needs receive assistance accessing supports necessary to enroll their child in care.

Interpretation: Parents may need assistance obtaining suitable transportation, managing logistics, and coordinating services with other providers.

Research Note: Literature suggests that barriers to the enrollment of children with disabilities include: a lack of appropriate transportation, cost, challenges in coordinating services, and a lack of caregivers that possess the competencies to care for children with disabilities.

NA The organization does not serve children with special needs.

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	PURPOSE: Early Child Care and Development Services meet family needs for high quality child care and ensure child development, health, and safety.

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Recommended Caregiver-Child Ratios and Group Sizes (ECCD) Chart.doc
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Early Child Care Development Services (ECCD) Data Sheet.doc
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ECCD Reference List.pdf


	SERVICE One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.


	FAMILY Two or more people who consider themselves family and who assume obligations, functions, and responsibilities generally essential to healthy family life. Child care and child socialization, income support, long-term care, and other caregiving are among the functions of family life. The definition of "family" will rest with an individual's indication of who plays a family member role, including current or former foster family, adoptive family, extended family members, fictive kin, or significant others. Organizations that believe family is the central constellation in a child's life, and that family attachments are of primary importance for human development, will strive to work with professional staff to develop a common understanding of "family."


	QUALITY In this context, the extent to which contemporary and generally recognized standards for professional practice are met and exceeded, and desirable service outcomes achieved.


	SCREEN A preliminary test administered to a client to determine whether he/she meets eligibility criteria for the services offered by an organization.


	REFERRALS Resource suggestions provided to consumers to address problems or needs that are beyond the scope of the organization's mission.


	PRACTICE Established actions or ways of proceeding in the regular performance of organizational duties. Policies and procedures often guide practice.


	PARENTS Parents can include: birth, foster, kinship, and adoptive parents. Please see service standards for more specific information about use of this term.


	SPECIAL NEEDS A designation used in reference to conditions or characteristics of a person that reflect a need for special care, services, or treatment. When the term is used in the context of adoption services, special needs refers to conditions that make a child harder to place for adoption. This includes children who are members of sibling groups, older children, children with disabilities, children of certain racial /ethnic backgrounds, etc. When the term is used in the context of foster care it refers to the need for a higher degree of specialized case services and attention due to mental and physical disabilities. When the term is used in the context of out-of-school time services, a child or youth may have special physical, behavioral, medical, emotional, or cognitive needs that should be addressed or accommodated. The term is also used in other contexts. See also DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES.


	CAREGIVER The provider of physical, emotional, and social needs to another person, often dependent and unable to provide for his or her own needs. Caregiver is the generic term used for the direct service providers in Community Care and Support Services (CCS).