As Illinois transitions to the new Department of Early Childhood (IDEC) to streamline the coordination and delivery of early childhood education and care services, groups across the state held listening sessions in the summer and fall of 2024 to gather feedback about how to best improve the state’s early childhood systems.
Illinois Action for Children (IAFC) engaged families and providers as a part of this effort. Their feedback was shared directly with the state transition team. Across multiple listening sessions and participant groups, community members consistently communicated the following priorities for the new agency:
Download the summary of each group’s feedback and read their full recommendations below.
Participants call for an integrated digital provider portal where licensing, Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), and grant paperwork could be submitted, tracked and stored. They also call for a family portal that would digitize CCAP application and redetermination.
In the short term, providers ask that documents like initial licensing applications, renewal forms, and sample policies be available online to download, print, and mail.
Providers request that the state update antiquated information technology (IT) systems and websites to improve the user experience. IT systems should be interwoven to reduce complications in reporting and decrease the number of times providers and families need to complete paperwork.
Providers express the need for consistent interpretation of licensing standards by Day Care Licensing Representatives. The express hope that the transition to IDEC creates an opportunity for reliability training and a more empathetic approach to licensing and renewal.
Participants note the need for consistent, reliable communication across multiple channels. They request opportunities to share feedback in-person (e.g., town halls) and information via the channels they already use (e.g., social media).
Participants express the desire for two-way communication, requesting consistent updates from IDEC and provide feedback to IDEC to support continuous quality improvement.
Participants note the need for increased supports to better serve children with disabilities, including better pay for Early Intervention (EI) therapists and add-on CCAP payments for providers caring for children with disabilities.
Providers want IDEC to create communications directed at parents about the importance of developmental screening and EI services.
Home providers want IDEC to promote family choice and support diverse learners by expanding the definition of quality to incorporate the strengths of home settings. These providers believe the home learning environment is better suited to certain diverse learners and that definitions of quality should consider how different learning environments can support children based on their individual needs.
Many providers emphasize the need to raise wages and increase benefits, as turnover remains high due to low compensation and high rates of burnout.
Providers call for increased investment in Smart Start Workforce Grants and higher CCAP reimbursement rates to support increased compensation. They also note that CCAP should be paid based on enrollment, rather than attendance.
License-exempt providers desire increased and more stable pay, as their CCAP rates are lower than those of licensed providers.
Participants emphasize the importance of any technology updates (portals, new websites, online forms) being available in the languages spoken by providers and families.
Participants also request multilingual communications from IDEC. Polish-speaking providers shared they were completely unaware of the transition to IDEC, while Spanish-speaking providers had some knowledge of the transition, but did not know how to engage or which meetings offered translation.
Participants hoped to see more multilingual staff working at IDEC supporting licensing and helping families access programs and services.
Participants recommend early childhood workforce pipeline initiatives designed to attract and retain professionals that meet community needs, with a specific focus on outreach initiatives designed to attract multilingual professionals and professionals that speak the languages of newly arrived families.
