BABYGATE – Mississippi’s “George Washington Bridge” Tied to Xerox e-Childcare™
Posted: January 15, 2014 | Author: Debbie Ellis | Filed under: Administration for Children and Families, Allies for Quality Care, CCPP-approved Provider, Child Care Advisory Council, Child Care Development Fund, Child Care Licensing, Child Care Mississippi, DECCD-MDHS, Delta Licensed Providers, e-Childcare™, Early Childhood Education Mississippi, Early Learning Guidelines (ELG), Hechinger Foundation, Kellogg Foundation, Mississippi Board of Health, Mississippi Building Blocks, Mississippi Health Department, Mississippi Legislature, MS Department of Education, MS Department of Human Services, School Readiness, SECAC Mississippi, Suel v MDHS, Uncategorized, Xerox | Tags: 2007 Market Survey Rates, Administration for Children and Families, Allies for Quality Care, CCPP-approved Provider, Child Care Licensing, child care quality rating systems Mississippi, DECCD, DECCD-MDHS, e-Childcare™, Early Childhood Education Mississippi, Early Learning Guidelines (ELG), equal access, Hechinger Report, Kellogg Foundation, Market Survey Rates, MDHS, Mississippi CCDF State Plan, Mississippi Child Care Quality Steps, Mississippi early childhood education, Mississippi School Readiness, Quality Rating System; DECCD-MDHS; CCDF Quality Improvement, SECAC Mississippi, The Mississippi Center for Education Innovation, Xerox |1 CommentBABYGATE – Mississippi’s “George Washington Bridge” Tied to Xerox e-Childcare™
Congressman Thompson Calls for Criminal Investigation
As the nation watches embattled Governor Chris Christie deny all prior knowledge of his Deputy Chief of Staff’s actions to create a traffic jam in retaliation against a Democratic Mayor in New Jersey, Jimmie Gates of the Mississippi Clarion Ledger now breaks a story of similar alleged retribution enacted by a Deputy Director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services against child care providers protesting the adoption of the Xerox e-Childcare™ method of payment.
A complaint submitted by Congressman Bennie Thompson to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder states: “Because of displeasure with the outcome of legal action (against the adoption of e-Childcare™) and the protest by the child care providers, a MDHS official sent and distributed an email to MDHS county directors, regional directors and case managers to enact a plan to revoke and permanently bar all African-American licensed child care providers as worksite sponsors for the federally funded Alternative Work Experience Program and Community Services programs.”
The Alternative Work Experience Program allows unskilled individuals receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (welfare) to complete 25 hours per week in job training through federally defined work activity to help improve employment skills and move recipients from welfare to work.
Cassandra Welchlin, Director of Child Care Matters in Mississippi, stated some TANF recipients scheduled to care for infants and toddlers on the afternoon of February 27, 2013, were simply a “no show” and child care providers were left to scramble for last-minute substitutes to provide for the safety and care of all the babies suddenly placed at risk as a result of the alleged MDHS reckless endangerment and provider punishment.
Further, Welchlin stated, since the alleged act, she had personally witnessed welfare recipients scheduled to report to one county MDHS office and sit in the lobby for 25 hours per week in lieu of federally defined work activity because once barring child care worksite sponsors, there were not enough employers remaining who were willing to accept the hard to place welfare recipients for on the job training.
The state Department of Human Services has scheduled a public hearing later this month in the agency’s latest attempt to implement finger scanner technology to sign children in and out of federally subsidized child care.
Xerox e-Childcare™ is designed for utilizing EBT Cards or Finger Scans to track the Time and Attendance (time clock) of low-income children enrolled in child care programs accepting federally subsidized child care certificates of payment (vouchers) to generate an electronic invoice for reimbursement to providers. Reduced child care assistance to parents which will pay fees only for the actual hours and minutes of services rendered rather than the national industry market standard of full-time fees for full-time slots allows the Mega-Tech Giant to profit from the poor by helping states to develop policy to realize “savings” by paying less/differently for the early learning environments low-income children attend. (Take from the poor and profit the rich.)
DECCD rationalizes and dismisses child care provider charges of alleged corporate greed by allowing poor parents who will receive cuts in the amount of child care assistance provided them by the state to pay “out-of-pocket” the difference between what DECCD will pay and what child care cost to secure a full-time slot – likely 30% or more of a single mother of one’s net income in the Jackson area.
This is not a system to be adopted by a state promoting economic development, work force training and high quality early learning environments providing school readiness.
Delta Licensed Providers 
[…] Care Providers continue to be barred as work site sponsors in the federal Alternative Work Experience Program and the TANF Work Program following state-wide engagement in federally protected activities […]