Emergency Child Care Services Act of 2007

Floor Speech

EMERGENCY CHILD CARE SERVICES ACT OF 2007 -- (Extensions of Remarks - May 25, 2007)

* Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Emergency Child Care Services Act of 2007 which reaffirms the Federal Government's commitment to helping children and families as they recover from acts of terrorism, major disasters or other emergencies.

* After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, more than 3,000 licensed child care facilities along the Gulf Coast were damaged or destroyed. Parents needed a safe place to leave their children while working, looking for employment, cleaning debris from their homes, filing claims with their insurance companies or working with Federal, State and local agencies to address their disaster-related needs.

* However, while 3,045 licensed child care centers were eligible, just 10 centers in Louisiana and only one in Mississippi received Federal assistance. There were 1,690 eligible centers in my home state of Mississippi alone. I understand that numerous centers are still going through the appeals process with FEMA and have yet to rebuild and reopen.

* I introduced this legislation to amend the Stafford Act to ensure that emergency child care is recognized as a ``critical service'' in the aftermath of a terrorist attack, major disaster or other emergency.

* While provisions of the Stafford Act provide assistance to private nonprofit facilities that provide critical services, emergency child care is not listed as one. Passage of this measure will designate emergency child care as a critical service and let families know that in the time of a disaster, the need for childcare will not be forgotten.

* In an effort to rebuild and restore child care operations in my home State of Mississippi, the Mississippi Early Care and Education Infrastructure Initiative was formed by Mississippi State University in partnership with Chevron, Save the Children, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

* The goals of the Initiative were to quickly reopen the thousands of child care centers damaged or destroyed by the hurricanes, to retrain staff and upgrade curriculum materials and play equipment, and to prepare for future emergencies.

* Further, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services approved child care waivers for $60 million so that parents were provided with vouchers for 60 days for much-needed child care services while working or looking for work. These waivers lifted Federal requirements for State matching funds and went directly to the States to administer their Child Care and Development Funds. There was a huge bottleneck with this process and numerous centers and parents were unaware of these resources. Further, many parents that received these vouchers were unable to find operational child care facilities.

* I applaud the efforts of the Initiative fonned in Mississippi and am thankful that the Department of Health and Human Services responded quickly to the affected states. June 1st marks the beginning of 2007 hurricane season. We must be sure to let families know that the Federal Government is doing its part to ensure that critical services are available in the event of another large-scale disaster or even a major terrorist attack. Enactment of the Emergency Child Care Services Act is the way to do it.

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