Annotation: The National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center (NCCIC), established by the Child Care Bureau, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), DHHS, is a national resource that links information and people to complement, enhance and promote the child care delivery system, working to ensure that all children and families have access to high-quality comprehensive services. NCCIC's activities include dissemination of child care information in response to requests from states, territories and tribes, other policy makers, child care organizations, providers, business communities, parents, and the general public; outreach to ACF child care grantees and the broader child care community; publications on key child care issues; and coordination of National Leadership Forums, which provide an opportunity for experts from across the country to participate in one-day conferences on critical issues affecting children and families. Working closely with ACF Regional offices, the NCCIC also provides technical assistance to states through a network of state technical assistance specialists. Many materials produced and distributed by NCCIC are available in Spanish. The center also publishes a newsletter and sponsors conferences.
The National Child Care Information Center Online Library contains summaries and availability information for publications of interest to policymakers, administrators, practitioners, parents, researchers, and other members of the child care community. The Online Library includes records of publications from the NCCIC Child Care Library and selected records from the ERIC Clearinghouse system. Links are provided to publications available on the Internet. Subject areas include: literacy and school readiness, center and family based child care, child development, curricula, child care funding, health and safety in child care settings, child care workforce, child care for children with special needs, the Head Start program, prekindergarten, issues related to family and child well-being, families and work, and impacts of welfare reform on child care. The Online Library contains records for documents dating from the 1970s to the present and is updated weekly.
Keywords: Child care, Access to health care, Child health promotion, Conferences, Family centered care, Federal agencies, Health care financing, Information services, Licensing, Outreach, Publications, State agencies, Statistics