CCDBG Overview

The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG)

Congressional Action

On November 19, 2014, the President signed the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014 into law (PL113-186). The bipartisan measure marks the first time in 18 years that Congress has passed legislation to strengthen the quality of child care.

The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) allocates funds to states to assist families in affording child care and to strengthen the quality of child care. State child care policies vary greatly.

CCDBG RESOURCES:

KEY STATE BY STATE TABLES

KEY LICENSING BACKGROUND

KEY SENATE HEARINGS

KEY HOUSE HEARINGS

Janet Singerman, President & CEO, Child Care Resources Inc., Charlotte, NC 7/26/12

Paula Koos, Executive Director, Oklahoma Child Care Resource & Referral Association, Oklahoma City, OK

3/25/14 House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood. "The Foundation for Success: Strengthening the Child Care and Development Block Grant Program"

2/5/14 House Education and the Workforce Committee. ?The Foundation for Success: Discussing Early Childhood Education and Care in America?

CCDBG Policy Data Book (2021)

State by State Tables

Child Care Funding & Guidance

TANF Alignment with EO 14191 on Expanding Educational Freedom, use of TANF for child care and pre-k, April 29, 2025 (ACF-OFA-DCL-25-04)
Funding Childhood Education, School Readiness, Kindergarten and Other Public Education Programs, April 2005 (TANF-ACF-PI-2005-01)
Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunities for Families, Child Care, April 29, 2025 (ACF-OCC-CCDF-IM-25-04)
HHS, ARP Child Care Stabilization Funding State Fact Sheets (October 2022) and Overview
HHS, Early Childhood Training and Technical Assistance System, Stabilization Grant Applications for States and Territories
H.R. 1319, American Rescue Plan (March 10, 2021). CCDBG statutory langugage
HHS, American Rescue Plan State by State Funding ($14.9 billion for Child Care Assistance and $23.9 billion for Stabilization increases by state, 4/15/21)
HHS, American Rescue Plan Tribal Funding Table, 4/15/21
HHS, Office of Child Care American Rescue Plan Stabilization Grant Guidance, CCDF-ACF-IM-2021-02 (May 10, 2021)
HHS, Office of Child Care American Rescue Plan Supplemental CCDBG Discretionary Fund Guidance (CCDF-ACF-IM-2021-03) (June 11, 2021)
White House Fact Sheet (June 11, 2021)
FY2021 Coronavirus Response & Relief Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA), December 2020 CCDBG Statutory Text for $10 billion increase in funding
FY2021 COVID Relief $10 billion state by state table (ACF, Office of Child Care, February 2021)
HHS CRRSA Information Memorandum, CCDF-ACF-IM-2021-01 (Related to Spending CRRSA funding)
FY2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act Tax Treatment of Paycheck Protection Program & EIDL Forgiveness
The CARES Act (3/27/20) includes an increase of $3.5 billion in the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) in addition to the $550 million increase enacted in December as part of the FY20 Labor, HHS, and Education Appropriations legislation.
CCDBG statutory text included in the CARES Act
CCDBG $3.5 billion allocation to states (April 2020)
HHS CARES Act Guidance, CCDF-ACF-IM-2020-01 (4/29/20)
HHS, Office of Child Care COVID-19 Resources
HHS, Office of Child Care COVID FAQs, School-age Q&A
Early Learning Policy Group COVID-19 Resource Page
GY 2021 State CCDF Allocations (Based on Appropriations)
GY 2022 State CCDF Allocations (Based on Appropriations)
FY 2023 State CCDF Allocations (Based on Appropriations)
FY2024 CCDF Funding Allocations (Based on Appropriations)
FY2024 Net Increase in CCDF Funding by State
FY2025 CR Child Care Funding Increase (P.L. 188-158 through March 14, 2025)
ARP Child Care Stabilization Funding State and Territory Fact Sheets (February 2023)
Child Care and Development Fund Payment Rates by States (April 2023)

CCDBG Implementation Resources:

HHS CCDF Final Rule (March 1, 2024)
CCDF Final Rule Summary (March 2, 2024)
CCDF Final Rule Waiver Guidance (ACF-OCC-CCDF-PI-24-03, April 23, 2024
2024 Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Final Rule (HHS Resource Page)
HHS CCDF Proposed Rule (July 13, 2023)
NPRM CCDF Rule Background Resources
White House Fact Sheet, American Rescue Plan (April 15, 2021)
FY2022-2024 CCDF State Plans
FY2025-FY2027 CCDF State Plan Links
Program Instruction for State Report for COVID-19 December $10 billion increase in child care (due 2/21)
State Outlines for $10 billion Expenditure (March 2021)
2016 HHS FINAL CCDBG Regulations (Sept. 2016)
Caring for Our Children Basics: Health and Safety Foundations for Early Care and Education (June 2015)
Caring for Our Children (Health & Safety Website - APHS, AAP, et al)
FY2019 State Compliance/Corrective Action Plans
7% Family Affordability Benchmark (Bipartisan Policy Center)
Funding Sources to Address Lead in Water (HHS, ECD March 2023)
CCDF Regs: Paying Above Market Rate for Quality (2016 Reg)
CCDF Final Rule Implementation State Summary Progress (Dec. 2024)

Sheila Hoyle, Executive Director, Southwestern Child Development Commission, Webster, NC

6/15/16 Senate HELP Committee. "Implementing the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014: Perspectives of Stakeholders"

2/6/14 Senate HELP Committee. "Supporting Children & Families through Investments in High-Quality Early Education"
7/26/12 Senate HELP Subcommittee on Children & Families. "CCDBG Reauthorization: Helping to Meet the Child Care Needs of American Families"
9/8/11 Senate HELP Subcommittee on Children & Families. "Examining Quality & Safety in Child Care: Giving Working Families Security, Confidence, & Peace of Mind"
6/9/11 Senate HELP Subcommittee on Children & Families. "Getting the Most Bang for the Buck: Quality Education and Care"

QRIS Compendium

BUILD Initiative

Background (Centers & Family Child Care Homes and Group FCC (March 2020)
Family Child Care Home Regulation (How many children can be in the home before a license is required)
Trends in Child Care Center Licensing Regulations and Policies for 2017 (ACF, March 2020)
Trends in Family Child Care Home Licensing Requirements and Policies for 2017 (ACF, March 2020)
Trends in Group Child Care Home Licensing Requirements and Policies for 2017 (ACF, March 2020)
Addressing the Decreasing Number of Family Child Care Providers in the United States (ACF, March 2020)
Resources about Supports and Systems for Improving Quality in Family Child Care
Child Care Center Staff:Child Ratios by State vs NAEYC Recommended Ratios
Caring for Children Database (National Resource Center for Health and Safety)
National Survey of Early Care & Education (NSECE) Related Studies
HHS, ACF Cost of Quality Calculator
2024 Poverty Guidelines, HHS
Briefs about Health & Safety (ACF, July 2020
Compendium of Measures and Indicators of Home-Based Child Care Quality (OPRE Report 2022-28), March 2022
Coordinated Efficiencies in Monitoring and Oversight of Early Care and Education Programs (HHS & USDA, 2016)
State Child Ratios by Use in Center-based Classrooms (January 2025)
FCC State Licensing Thresholds (November 2024)
Lead Teacher and Director Center-based Minimum Education, FCC Minimum Education by State (June 2022)
Income Eligibility for Subsidy/SMI (November 2024)
CCDF state work requirements for receipt of subsidy (November 2024)
Subsidy rates as % of Market Rates or Alt. Methodology and payment methods, prospective and based on enrollment (November 2024)
Enrollment vs Attendance Payments by State (June 2022)
QRIS status by State and QRIS incentives (June 2022)
NWLC Annual Subsidy Report (2022)
Family Child Care Resources for Improving Business Practices (Tom Copeland, HHS Child Care Technical Assistance Network)
Innovative Licensing: Infinite Possibilities to Grow the Child Care Supply (First Children's Finance, November 2021)
QRIS by state and QRIS required participation for subsidy (FY2022-2024 state plans)
Using Maps to Inform Decisions about Child Care and Early Education (OPRE, January 2023)
States with online applications for child care subsidy (February 2023)
ECE Apprenticeships (FY2025-2027 CCDF State Plans, January 2025)

HHS Policy Statements

Rethinking Monitoring Across Settings
Services for Homeless Children
Dual Language Learners
Career Pathways
State Advisory Councils

Child Care & Economic Impact

Child Care and State Economies: 2019 Update, Committee for Economic Development (2019)

FY2022 CCDBG Program Overall Statistics (Preliminary)
FY2022 Number of Children Served
FY2022 Percent of Children by Type of Care
FY2022 Children in Licensed/Regulated Care vs Unlicensed
FY2022 Unlicensed Care: Relative vs Non-Relative Settings
FY2022 Setting Detail by All Types of Care
FY2022 Percentage of Children by Age Group
FY2022 Percentage of Children by Race
FY2022 Percentage of Children by Latino Ethnicity
FY2022 Children by Race and Ethnicity
FY2022 Percentage of Children by Age Group and Type of Care (National)
FY2022 Average Monthly Hours by Age and Type of Care (National)
FY2022 Average Payments by Age and Care Type (National)
FY2022 CCDF by Receipt of TANF benefits
FY2022 Reasons for Care
FY2022 Average Monthly Co-Payment
FY2022 Types of Payments
FY2022 Consumer Education
FY2022 Child Care Providers Receiving CCDF Funds
FY2022 Monthly Average Head of Household Status
FY2022 Family Homelessness Status
FY2022 Primary Language Spoken in the Home
FY2022 Children with a Disability

Prior Year State CCDBG Tables

Bipartisan Policy Center

Nationwide Child Care Poll:

Parent Child Care Preferences, Are they Changing? (January 2021)
Recorded webinar, slides, and analysis (January 2021)
Child Care Costs Impact Families? Employment, Savings, and Future Planning (November 2019)

Nationwide Parent Poll During COVID-19 (BPC, April 10, 2020)

CCR&R ACF Comments "Improving Access to Affordable, High-Quality Child Care: Request for Information" (December 2019)

Bipartisan Policy Center, What Keeps Employed Parents out of the Child Care System? (August 2022), Blog, Toplines, Slides, Webinar Recording

T.E.A.C.H. & WAGE$ Initiatives

National & State

State of Child Care.Org

State Resources

Committee for Economic Development Toolkits

2014 CCDBG Reauthorization mark up as enacted
2014 CCDBG Reauthorization markup incorporated/revised law in full
Section 418 (42 U.S.C. 618) Child Care Mandatory Funds
CRS, FY2021 Reconciliation Proposals (February 2021)
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (P.L. 104-193) Welfare Reform

Funding:

FY2025 CR Net Increase ($250 Million for CCDBG)
FY2024 CCDF Funding Allocations (Based on Appropriations)
GY2023 CCDF Allocations (Based on Appropriations)
GY2022 CCDF Allocations (Based on Appropriations)
GY 2021 CCDF Allocations (Based on Appropriations)
FY2020 CCDF Allocations (Based on Appropriations includes CARES Act)
FY2020 Federal CCDF Funding by State
FY2019 CCDF Allocations
FY2018 CCDF Allocations
FY2017 CCDF Allocations
FY2016 CCDF State Allocations

CCDF Expenditure Data

TANF Child Care Expenditure Data

FY2023 TANF Expenditures
TANF Expenditure Trends (Scroll to TANF Visualizations)
FY2022 TANF Expenditures
FY2021 TANF Expenditures
FY2020 TANF Expenditures
FY2019 TANF expenditures
FY2018 TANF expenditures
FY2017 TANF Expenditures
FY2016 TANF Expenditures
FY2015 TANF Expenditures
FY2014 TANF Expenditures
FY2013 TANF Expenditures
FY2012 TANF Expenditures
FY2011 TANF Expenditures
FY2010 TANF Expenditures
FY2020 - FY2010 Summary All Child Care Data

Policy Background:

Military Child Care

Making Quality Child Care Possible, Lessons Learned from NACCRRA's Military Partnerships (2008)
Military Child Care and Systems (Deborah Phillips, 2014)
Military Child Care and Systems Supporting Families (Future of Children, 2013)
Lessons on Child Care, From the Military (NYT, August 31, 2021)
Military Child Development Program: Background and Issues (CRS, March 2020)
Military Child Care: DOD Efforts to Provide Affordable, Quality Care for Families (GAO, February 2023)

Select Newsletters

American Rescue Plan Explainer (March 11, 2021)
State Median Income Adjusted by Family Size FY2021

Child Care Blogs

Child Care in the American Rescue Plan of 2021 (Bipartisan Policy Center, March 2021)
Don?t Expect too Much too Soon: States will Need Help to Spend Historic Level of Child Care Investments (Bipartisan Policy Center, March 16, 2021)
Evidence-Based Mental Health Interventions, Reduces Exclusionary Discipline and Promotes Well-Being (Bipartisan Policy Center, March 23, 2021)
State Use of Supplemental CCDBG funds from the December COVID Legislation (Bipartisan Policy Center, March 17, 2021)
Building Bipartisan Support for Child Care Toolkit (April 2021)
5 Reasons to Support Investments in Child Care Infastructure (April 27, 2021)
Who's Paying Now? The Explicit and Implicit Costs of the Current Early Care and Education System (CSCCE UCLA Berkeley, 2020)

2016 CCDBG Final Regulations
HHS Office of Child Care Key Resources for CCDBG Implementation Page
Text of the CCDBG Reauthorization Act (PL113-186)
Statements of Support from Key Stakeholders (Advocacy Groups)
House Floor Debate (September 2014)
Senate Floor Debate (November 2014)
Side by Side Detailed Comparison Between 1996 Law and PL113-186 (2014 Law)

GAO Reports

Child Care: Subsidy Eligibility and Receipt, and Wait Lists (February 2021)
Employer-Provided Child Care Credit: Estimated Claims and Factors Limiting Wider Use (February 2022)
Child Care: Subsidy Eligibility and Use in Fiscal Year 2019 and State Program Changes During the Pandemic, GAO-23-106073 (March 2023)
Military Child Care: DOD Efforts to Provide Affordable, Quality Care for Families, GAO-23-105518 (February 2023)
Child Care: Observations on States' Use of COVID-19 Pandemic-Related Funding (May 2023)
Family Child Care Networks: Actions Needed to Better Assess Quality Improvement Efforts (May 2023)
Child Care, Selected States are Taking Steps to Sustain Program Changes Implemented with COVID-19 Funding (March 2024)
Military Child Care: Services Should Assess Their Employee Retention Efforts (May 2024)
Child Care: Subsidy Eligibility and Use and State Waiver Requests Related to New Program Requirements,
GAO-25-107754 (January 2025)
Head Start: Action Needed to Reduce Potential Risks to Children and Federal Funds in Programs under Interim Management, GAO-25-106954, (January 2025)
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: Enhanced Reporting Could Improve HHS Oversight of State Spending, GAO-25-107235 (December 2024)
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: Preliminary Observations on State Budget Decisions, Single Audit Findings, and Fraud Risks, GAO-24-107798 (September 2024)
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: HHS Could Facilitate Information Sharing to Improve States' Use of Data on Job Training and Other Services, GAO-25-107226 (February 2025)
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: Additional Actions Needed to Strengthen Fraud Risk Management (GAO-25-107290, January 2025)
Child Welfare: States’ Use of TANF and Other Major Federal Funding Sources (GAO-25-107467, April 8, 2025)

Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)

Inequitable Access to Child Care Subsidies (2019)
Build Back Better State Child Care Funding Estimates (November 4, 2021)

ECE Workforce

Professional Characteristics of the Early Care and Education Workforce: Descriptions by Race, Ethnicity, Languages Spoken, and Nativity Status (OPRE, December 2020)
Demographic Characteristics of the Early Care and Education Workforce: Comparisons with Child and Community Characteristics (OPRE, December 2020)
Center- and Program-Level Factors Associated with Turnover in the Early Childhood Education Workforce (Institute of Education Sciences, 2021)
2018 Early Childhood Workforce Index (CSCCE UCLA Berkeley, 2018)
2020 Early Childhood Workforce Index (CSCCE UCLA Berkeley, 2020)
Who is Providing Home-based Early Care and Education? (NSECE, Fact Sheet 2015)
Characteristics of Home-Based Early Care and Education Providers: Initial Findings from the National Survey of Early Care and Education, NSECE Technical Report, March 2016
THE SHIFTING SUPPLY OF REGULATED FAMILY CHILD CARE IN THE U.S., A Literature Review and Conceptual Model (Erikson, 2021)
The Commonwealth?s Brain Builders: Virginia Early Childhood Workforce Survey 2017 (Virginia Early Childhood Foundation)
2019 North Carolina Child Care Workforce Study (Child Care Services Association, 2020)
Child care should be much more expensive (Washington Post Op-Ed, March 2023)
Maine Dept. of Health and Human Services, Early Childhood Educator Workforce Salary Supplement Program
Minnesota Dept. of Human Services, Great Start Compensation Support Payment Program
Child Care Workforce Licensing Database (Bipartisan Policy Center, February 2024)
Top-Down, Bottom-Up: Building a State Child Care Center Workforce (Bipartisan Policy Center, March 2024)
KY Recruitment and Retention Child Care Workforce Eligibility for Subsidy Law (October 2022)
Utah law 75% SMI and Child Care Workforce Eligibility for Subsidy (Effective May 1, 2024)
In Effort to Entice Child Care Staff, More States Follow Kentucky’s Lead (Alliance for Early Success, April 2024)
What We Know, Don't Know, and Should Know About the Child Care Workforce (Bipartisan Policy Center, April 30, 2024) State Profiles.
Supporting Child Care Workers as Parents: How the Kentucky Subsidy Income Exclusion for Child Care Employees Helps Increase Access to Child Care (Buffett Early Childhood Institute, Bipartisan Policy Center, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, November 2024)
Using Worker Flows to Assess the Stability of the ECE Workforce, 2010 - 2022 (Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank, 2024)
Beyond ARPA: Tracking ECE Compensation Policies Nationwide (CSCCE, 2025)
Retirement for early educators: Challenges and possibilities (Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, July 2023)

Child Care & Early Education

Research Connections

CCDBG Implementation Resources:

Joint Facilities Guide USDA/HHS (Sept. 2021)
State and Territory Child Care Stabilization Grant Applications (2021)
Child Care Services Association ECE Workforce Related Stabilization Grants (2022)
Preliminary Reports from FY2022-2024 State and Territory CCDF Plan Preprint
Using CCDF to Improve Compensation for the Child Care Workforce (CCDF-ACF-IM-2022-02) September 12, 2022
FY2022-2024 CCDF State Plans: Supporting Families Experiencing Homelessness: Child Care Policies
Enrollment Subsidy Density for Programs Accepting CCDBG Subsidies (May 2023)

Preschool Development Grants B-5 (PDG B-5)

PDG B-5 Grant Awards (January 2023)
PDG B-5 Renewal Grant Opportunity (Sept. 13, 2022)
PDG B-5 Planning Grant Opportunity (Sept. 13, 2022)
PDG B-5 Information Memorandum (PDG B-5-ACF-IM-2022-01) Instructions for Requesting Changes in the Existing Scopes of Work to Increase Support for the Early Childhood Workforce (September 5, 2022)