State-subsidized childcare is available for California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) beneficiaries. The CalWORKs program helps a family access immediate child care as the parent works. The CalWORKs child care program is administered in three different stages. Stage One is administered by the county welfare departments or their contractors, and Stage Two and Three are administered by California Department of Social Services through contracts with the Alternative Payment Program, which are agencies contracted with the Department of Social Services to make payments to subsidized childcare providers.
Assembly Bill 2343 (AB 2324) specifies that nothing prohibits agencies administering the CalWORKs Stage One or Stage Two programs, serving children 0 to 12 years of age, to use funds for administrative and support services to provide families at risk of homelessness and/or escaping domestic abuse a referral pathway to secure stable childcare placement.
AB 2343 also states that these administrative and support services could be provided in collaboration with County Services, Homeless and Domestic Violence agencies. AB 2343 also permits administrators to collaborate with, but not replace, county human services agencies, and allows partnerships with specified agencies to offer these services.
(AB 2343 adds section 10372.3 to the Welfare and Institutions Code)