New Regions for Georgia Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies
As part of ongoing efforts to improve the quality of early care and learning for all children in Georgia, Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning revised the former child care resource and referral regions to more closely align with Bright from the Start’s Child Care Services regions.
The regions were consolidated to improve the child care services offered to children and families based on defined accountability measures. Raising the quality of care for children in Georgia in all early learning environments while maximizing available resources to achieve greater accessibility, is a focus of Bright from the Start. This consolidation and a centralized parent referral system allow more providers, families, and children to be served by the resource and referral system thus improving child care quality statewide.
Consistent with Bright from the Start’s emphasis to provide needed services directly to children and families, it is important to target resources and services to ensure that all Georgia’s children have access to quality care. This regional configuration was developed using data on the number of providers, the percentage of providers meeting basic licensing requirements, and the number of providers with a national quality accreditation. Consolidating regions allows Bright from the Start to work more closely with resource and referral agencies to improve data efficiency, to provide data that identify which services truly benefit children and families, and to target services based on regional needs.
Consolidating regions, increased use of technology, and innovative approaches such as centralized parent referral systems and placing resource and referral staff in home offices reduce administrative and overhead costs and free more quality dollars to support other quality improvement efforts.
Bright from the Start acknowledges that these changes were substantial; however, this consolidation will build a systemic approach to resource and referral services. This approach correlates with the continued movement toward higher quality early learning, focused services, and resource alignment that is consistent with the vision and mission of Bright from the Start.
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