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

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.
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