What is the CEL?

Author:   KCSOS Webteam  
Posted: 8/16/2006; 3:05:56 PM
Topic: What is the CEL?
Msg #: 2 (top msg in thread)
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The cost of paying for child care is a major consideration for most families. Many families today are spending over half of their income toward high-quality child care programs. There are many reasons why child care can be so expensive. Some of the reasons include lower ratios of children to adults, cteacher or provider qualifications, location of care, and costs of space, insurance, equipment, and special programs. Quality care for infants and toddlers can be especially expensive, due to small group sizes.

The Centralized Eligibility List (CEL) of Kern County maintains a county-wide eligibility list for subsidized child care programs funded by the California Department of Education (CDE). Traditionally, subsidized child care and development programs, Alternative Payment Programs and Head Start programs maintained their own waiting list of income-eligible families. What this meant is that if a family wanted a better chance at receiving help with their child care expenses, the family had to apply for services with all agencies. Each time there was a change to the family's file, the family would have to contact all agencies to update their file.

With the CEL, parents can enroll just once by either completing a CEL application at any participating CDE agency, at CCCC or via the Internet and automatically gain access to many possible openings. The CEL's web-based database makes a family’s information available to any of Kern's CDE funded programs, eliminates duplicates and allows subsidized child development programs in the system to directly enroll and access children that are eligible for their programs.

This dramatically simplifies the process for both the family and the child care agency, while providing the assurance that the families that are most eligible will receive child care services first. The term "eligibility" is used because families are ranked by eligibility factors for subsidized care (income, size, and other family need), not just time on the list. The CEL staff will help you in refering you to local services you may be eligible for.

When parents complete a CEL application they give basic information such as family size, income, and whether they currently receive cash aid or have ever been on a CalWORKs program. A CEL enables families to have access to all programs for which they qualify, expanding their opportunity to access subsidized care. CDE agencies can potentially pull from a wider net of eligible families.

Acceptance into the CEL does not guarantee that you will be enrolled. Before enrollment, families will be required to submit proof of need. Depending on program services, eligibility vary; usually the most needy are served first regardless of how long others have been on the list.

Now I Want To...

  • Return to the Parents section
  • Submit an application for my family for CEL services
  • Have my additional questions about the CEL answered
  • See a list of the participating child care programs
  • Read about choosing quality child care


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