Public Workshop - Child Care - Nevada Division of Welfare ...

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Ms. Best explained another situation about subsidy changes to the 20 – 30% subsidy recipients and letters that went out confused and panicked the parents. Mr. Gilliland said the letter was not supposed to go to the parents it did not apply to. He also commented when the Nevada Child Care System is complete, letters will only be sent to specific individuals and not a general mailing. He then asked what can be changed during this transition period. Mr. Stagliano said staff tried to send the letters to only those affected and was surprised to hear it was received by those not affected. Gary Cooper stated it seems the Division is in the infancy stages of rolling out the program, but they need to address all the questions posed. It appears no one is prepared to handle each situation being addressed immediately and solve them quickly. He also said many have parents with problems communicating. Mr. Cooper asked if the organization is ready to roll with this type of thing? Mr. Gilliland asked if voice communication and e-mail were answered timely. Mr. Cooper said they have had problems with people not answering their phones and asked Mr. Stagliano, Mr. Garcia and Mr. Allen to be on board to help the providers to successfully reach someone to help them. Ms. Rosaschi then added “Ensure voice communication, along with e-mail and voice mail responses, completed in a timely basis” to the short term goals. Mr. Cooper said the short term goal is abstract and something needs to be done immediately to ensure follow through by division staff. Mirabal Rodriguez commented over 60 of her parent’s certificates expired in February 2009, she didn’t receive any follow up contact for two weeks and had people who they were unsure if they were receiving subsidy benefits. Mr. Stagliano said the quality control hotline number will be up and running in the next day and asked Ms. Rodriguez to talk to him after the meeting. Ms. Rosaschi added “Need QC line to check eligibility” to the list of goals. Mr. Stagliano asked everyone to ensure their e-mail addresses on the sign in sheet. Mr. Gilliland explained a hotline number, contact number for himself and an e-mail address to communicate recommendations and thoughts. There will also be a quality control number for an eligibility check and drop off site for both parents and providers. These items will be addressed by the end of the week and e-mailed to those who have listed their e-mail address on the sign in sheet. Pam Meador said everyone affected is trying to be patient, but she would appreciate more notification about these types of meetings and noted the billing drop off site change notification was done overnight. In future, she suggested giving more notification about a transition change. “More notice for changes and/or meetings” was added to the goals list by Ms. Rosaschi. Mr. Gilliland explained this meeting came about due to a legislative committee asking to have this meeting held as quickly as possible. Ms. Allard explained the goal is to mail meeting notifications 45 days before the meeting date. If the meeting is not reacting to urgent concerns. The meeting notices will be sent a minimum of 30 days before the meeting date, unless there is an urgent need. 6
A member of the audience asked for the timeline of parents being approved for the child care subsidy. They said they were told by worker they have 10 days to approve an application, but a parent was told differently. The issue is, can someone just tell them if contract good, pending or denied. Mr. Stagliano asked providers not to go on verbal assurances about case approvals and noted some cases in the system need secondary concurrence or may have eligibility problem. In this particular case, Mr. Stagliano asked them to please see him after the meeting. Yolanda Bunch states she has a problem with the special needs child care rate not differing from the regular child rate. She asked why it is never addressed because it needs to be changed. Mr. Stagliano said he is interested in this change and would like to give it full consideration when the next rate change is reviewed. Mr. Cooper reiterated his initial question of why parents and facilities were not notified of the move in advance and appropriate training provided. He stated the people need to know there won’t be any blockage in program benefits, there are still many unanswered questions making folks jittery about the execution of the ideas that are meant to benefit the populous. He noted if this meeting is to work to better the program, all ideas need to be followed up on. Ms. Rosaschi suggested patience when working through the issues and noted there are always contingencies staff will be unable to foresee. Another audience member reiterated the current system is not working properly, would to discuss the problems this move has made and noted the providers do not have the kind of time to wait for their payment and wait even longer for a system to be implemented. A discussion ensued regarding the system changes; the position providers are placed in by accepting subsidy children; people who need care the most getting benefits taken away when most needed; the need to provide answers to give families hope and help; and, the direction providers need to move in now. Several people vented their frustrations regarding the move from the West Washington Street location, not receiving notification about the move and asked how the Division will effectively implement the Child Care Advisory Board and their ideas. Mr. Gilliland said he has identified three people to begin work on the advisory board. Ms. Allard, Ms. Chappel and Ms. Rosaschi are set to begin drafting the charter for the Advisory Board to ensure there is a proper combination of people to represent all of the various community elements and people. He would like between seven and eleven people on Child Care Advisory Board. He expects applications for the Board to be mailed soon and hopes the Board will be meeting together by September 1, 2009. Mr. Gilliland continued stating the past Child Care Advisory Board was severely under represented in the south and believes their concerns were not properly addressed by the Board. In response to a question about exactly who will be on the Advisory Board, Mr. Gilliland said it is too early to decide that at this time. 7
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Public Workshop - Child Care - Nevada Division of Welfare ...

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