Providers began to report MDHS system failure again just one day after DECCD issued new deadlines for uploading data to complete the required online Standard Child Care Center Application.
At the Child Care Academy Curriculum Training Session held today in Hinds County, the CCA trainer explained that DECCD had acknowledged problems with uploading data and that DECCD described such system failure as a computer ”glitch”.
Regardless, today, DECCD continued to issue redetermination deadlines and NSparc continued to contact providers directly to encourage them to submit their data.
There has been no known courtesy call, notice or explanation of any system failure or computer glitch from DECCD or NSparc to any affected provider who may be working in vain to submit their data at this time.
If you experience problems and fear missing your deadline, call DECCD or the Office of the Governor for assistance.
Serenade MDHS and SECAC: More than Feathers! Put Your Drumsticks Together, Now!
Yes!
State actors have included holidays in your Provider Redetermination deadline countdown!
What did you expect?
They are apparently rushing to quickly put this Program in place.
This is not the first group of ambitious state actors to hope or believe we are turkeys (stupid, foolish, or inept people) even though we are not the ones demonstrating tremendous incompetence in adhering to the Privacy Act or basic Administrative Procedures Law!
I say they don’t have a clue about all we do in a day and they certainly do not operate in the same business environment they have created for us!
(MDHS is shamefully paying a percentage of 2003 Market Rates going into 2018 now and has issued no funding for new enrollment in more than four years regardless of the large number of vacancies left by families terminated from the Program in all this time.)
In comparison, state employees also don’t have twelve hour workdays on the premises, or parents to chase down to replenish diapers and they don’t have to cope with the staffing needs we must successfully manage every day even if they do wish to usurp our authority as the principle party in our employer-employee relationships.
(Q: Why else would they be developing a new personnel-data record-keeping system by requesting the social security numbers, Email addresses and phone numbers of our private sector staff members in order totrack civilians who have no ownership in our businesses and no legal standing to provide the child care services neededby MDHS?) (A: Some have said it is an exercise in the unbridled power and desire to ”own us” while others have guessed it is for yet unidentified ”routine uses” of the data.) INTERESTING NOTE: MDHS is still not collecting child care provider or caregiver race data!
Such is state actor expertise and wisdom that cannot be copied verbatim from a ”best practices” textbook!!!
Enough said!
I know we “Hip Hop Turkeys” have tremendous resilience and talent!
So, let’s rise above the state actor chaos for now!
Put on this music. Laugh and dance as you work to submit the very best Redetermination applications supporting early learning that you can!
Enjoy this time with your students as best you can!
Enjoy your holidays and do the ”The Turkey Woogie”!
Click on the link in the description box below to download “Hip Hop Turkeys”.
Following weeks long crashes, data dumps and a suspension in ”Provider Redeterminations”, MDHS has reinstated redetermination deadlines for all affected child care providers. Check your Email so that you will not be eliminated by made up rules that have never before received public comment or rules that may still be a secret, raising questions such as, ”What is a Comprehensive Center and how should we know if we would like to be one?”
I guess the rules of Administrative Procedures do not apply to powerful/advantaged state actors who are making up the rules governing service providers as they go or are allowing their associates to make up the rules as they go…all without public notice.
Brace for Economic and Disparate Impact!
Buckle those seatbelts, providers!
Rise above this severe child care industry turbulence and submit your data into unknown stratospheres!
Arrive on time!
”Laugh, Live, and Love” in the knowledge that together, we are flying united…United that is!
Enjoy this viral video clip from Jimmy Kimmel Live which was featured on Fox, CNN and most major news networks. (Warning: Strong and insinuated language may be as offensive to some as the state actor contempt for disadvantaged small businesses is to us…but it is well deserved, best describes the obvious attitude of policy makers who should know that they are violating APL and it fits my theme!) (We have just got to lighten up if we are to survive this flight!)
Although provider redeterminations have been temporarily suspended due to failed MDHS infrastructure, prior to the implementation of any child care provider redeterminations in the first place, Public Notice and the Child Care Payment Program policy manual should have included the Standard and Comprehensive Provider Redetermination applications, curriculum requirements, market rate fees, Economic Impact Statements including the impact to small businesses, notice of a new or expanded system of records, the statutory authority to collect data protected by the Privacy Act and the planned, routine use of the data, all of which are subject, by law, to a period of public comment.
Remember when Ricky and Fred did not want Lucy and Ethel to play golf? They invited them to a game where the two men just made up new rules as they all played through!
Enjoy this flashback to 1954, ”The Golf Game” and don’t forget to say ”May I” or it will cost you ten points!
Since at least October 23, 2017, the Provider Input Portal of the DHS computer system has been crashing.
Many providers lost untold hours entering tedious data that was lost with each crash and they became very frustrated and discouraged.
In fact, the threat of missing a deadline coupled with many days of ongoing crashes and data dumps without resolve or agency notice to providers may have contributed to one provider’s pain in her left arm, delivery to the emergency room, EKG and overnight stay on the cardiology wing of the hospital.
Her doctor’s orders are for her to reduce the tremendous stress in her life.
There is good news for her now.
Due to those providers who reported crashes, sent Emails to DECCD and/or filed complaints with the Governor’s Office, the Provider Redetermination deadlines were temporarily suspended by DECCD on November 9, 2017.
So, now she can relax and so can you…until further notice.
I hope, at the very least, you will have some down time to rest and regroup during the upcoming holidays!
For more than 40 years, the National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI) has been at the forefront of engaging leaders, policymakers, professionals, and parents around critical and timely issues that directly impact Black children and their families. We are a trusted partner in delivering culturally relevant resources that respond to the unique strengths and needs of Black children around issues including early childhood education, health, child welfare, literacy, and family engagement. With the support of our Affiliate network in communities across the country, we are committed to our mission “to improve and advance the quality of life for Black children and their families through education and advocacy.”
When selecting a national organization for membership, you may also consider NBCDI!
REMEMBER… THIS IS UNOFFICIAL ADVICE. THIS GUIDANCE IS BASED ON MY EXPERIENCE AND EXPERIENCES SHARED BY CCPP PROVIDERS.
FOR OFFICIAL RESPONSES AND LINKS, CONTACT DECCD.
The Standard Application required in order for you to be considered as a continuing CCPP provider was Emailed to providers in sets of alphabetical order.
If you have not received yours, first check the SPAM box in your Email account before contacting DECCD. That may save you some time.
You are encouraged to attend the trainings and orientation on how to complete the application and discuss curriculum samples provided by your Child Care Academy.
For additional technical assistance or to review other curriculum, visit your Child Care Academy!
A WEBINAR providing guidance on the Standard Application is required and made available to you with your application. The webinar, like the application requires Internet access.
You may view the webinar on your smart phone, ipad, lap top or desk top computer. Any device you choose to view the webinar is okay with MDHS.
If the MDHS system crashes on you as some providers have reported, send an Email to Candice Pittman or DECCD. (Develop a draft copy of your work just in case the system cannot recover it following a system crash.)
I have never seen a Comprehensive Application, so I do not know what the rules will be and it is not included in the CCPP Policy Manuel, but I think you have to first register as a Standard facility.
It has been my experience that the rules are being somewhat disclosed to providers as they are developed via Email so check your Email every day!
I do not know how or when the applications submitted will be scored or considered so I cannot answer those questions but you may call DECCD or visit the web site for more information as/when it becomes available.
SSNs are NOT required for Orientation Registration.
The DHS and/or yet unidentified sub-grantee collection of your employees’ social security numbers for Standard Application Orientation is not required on the on-line form you must complete, but you wouldn’t know that unless you have the conviction NOT to provide it in the first place.
Disclosure of agency use and your employees’ privacy rights requires another click on that tiny little circle to the upper right of that box.
Date of birth, also protected by privacy law, however, IS required in order to get through to the final registration screen…but what choice do you or your employees have if you have commercial loans to be paid or families to feed and need the opportunity to continue to serve low-income children?
I have raised this gross violation of your rights on your behalf no less than four times…but they apparently don’t care. They want this data and they have designed the registration process to collect it in the most deceptive way, in my opinion.
So, in the future, rather than to contact child care leadership to air your complaints, contact your legislators and the Office of the Governor, contact your members of Congress or hire an attorney.
That is all I can advise, for nothing else has worked and I do not have the power or influence to correct. I have nothing to even compare this to! It is the most openly egregious agency behavior I have seen in a long, long time.
Perhaps we are just witnessing a power trip.
We all allege abuse of power, so just calm down, take a deep breath and do your best – YOU also speak out!
In the meantime, be advised that you cannot provide your employees’ social security numbers – even the last four digits – or their dates of birth without written permission from them and written notice to them that it has been shared. (They are NOT your property – they just work for you.)
You, too, are liable for any such breach and/or intimidation you may feel compelled to apply in order to force submission so that you may participate in this federally funded program. You can also be sued, so keep good documents/paperwork. (You cannot lawfully terminate any employee who does not wish to be tracked by DHS or NSparc by social security number and therefore, does not allow you to share such data.)
Last May, MDHS adopted the words, Standard and Comprehensive, without meaningful definition and without the rules or policies which govern them.
At the following SECAC meeting, former MDHS Deputy Director Cathy Sykes announced that the agency had not adhered fully to Administrative Procedures Law and that a new APL process would begin.
The only APL to take place, however, has been to remove the representation of any attorney in the beginning steps of many requested administrative hearings that have not yet been scheduled by DECCD for months now – more violation of law.
It seems the agency may have now just gone full on rogue.
Regardless, no matter how insulting and defeating their actions may be, I advise that you may be able to glean some of what will be expected of you by attending the upcoming Standard Application Orientation. Click here to see the place and time of such trainings in your area.
Because it is only offered during normal weekday hours for most of us, you may also need to secure a qualified substitute to cover and maintain health and safety rules.
You are also responsible for paying the drive time, mileage and transportation expenses of the staff you send to this training… a hard thing to do in FFY 2018 on 2003 market rates, the most draconian client redetermination policies in our history and no new funded enrollment provided to fill vacancies in going on five years now.
Whatever the registration process or unfunded costs, I do encourage you to attend if you can, for I simply cannot answer all of your questions – I don’t have the information or understanding either.
Cassandra Welchlin of the Mississippi Low Income Child Care Initiative and Eulonda Gary of the Childcare Directors Network Alliance will be the featured guests on WMPR 90.1 tomorrow, Thursday Night, August 10th, beginning at 6:00 PM to discuss the upcoming Child Care Town Hall to be held in conjunction with members of the Mississippi Legislature’s Black Caucus scheduled to take place next week in Jackson.
Low-income parents and providers in Jackson and the surrounding areas are also encouraged to attend the Child Care Town Hall next week because knowledge is power! See the details to below:
June 29, 2017, self-employed child care providers viewed an example of the explanations that are being provided by policymakers responsible for implementing the revised State Plan adopted by SECAC at a special Town Hall Meeting hosted by MLICCI with the Mississippi Department of Human Services.
A new video explains what is meant by “compliance”.
Written policies are scheduled to be made available for public comment through the Secretary of State’s Administrative Bulletin and proper APL processes.
MLICCI is hoping to host other such Town Hall Meetings throughout the state.
Promoting business-friendly public policies that support parental employment with quality early learning opportunities for the Delta's childcare-age population.
They’re Up for Now!
MLICCI is hoping to host other such Town Hall Meetings throughout the state.
Delta Licensed Providers 
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