Department of Health
Child Care Program Office
Notice of public comment and hearing on the
Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Plan

As required by the federal government, the Child Care Program Office is soliciting public comment on Alaska’s Draft 2025-2027 Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Plan, which will be submitted to the federal Administration for Children & Families (ACF), Office of Child Care. The CCDF Plan is due on July 1, 2024. Ultimately, the CCDF plan must be approved by the federal government and is the basis upon which the state of Alaska receives its share of federal block grant funds for child care. The state of Alaska’s allocation for FFY 2024 is over 23 million dollars in block grant funds under this program .

The CCDF Plan is the primary mechanism that the ACF uses to determine Alaska’s compliance with the requirements of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014 and associated Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) final rule of 2024. The CCDF Plan is used to describe to ACF Alaska’s progress on the following sections:

1.           CCDF Program Administration;

2.           Children and Family Eligibility and Enrollment and Continuity of Care;

3.           Child Care Affordability;

4.           Parental Choice, Equal Access, Payment Rates and Payment Practices;

5.           Health and Safety of Child Care Settings;

6.           Support for a Skilled, Qualified, and Compensated Child Care Workforce;

7.           Quality Improvement Activities;

8.           Lead Agency Coordination and Partnerships to Support Service Delivery;

9.           Family Outreach and Consumer Education; and

10.         Program Integrity and Accountability.

Alaska’s CCDF Plan serves as the State of Alaska, Department of Health’s application for CCDF funds. This three-year plan describes the overall services and activities administered by the State of Alaska Division of Public Assistance, Child Care Program Office through the following programs:  Child Care Assistance; Alaska Inclusive Child Care (Alaska IN!); Child Care Licensing; Child Care Grant; and Child Care Resource and Referral.

As part of the CCDF Plan approval process we must put the draft plan out for public notice and solicit comments.  You may comment on the draft CCDF Plan by submitting written comments to the Department of Health, Child Care Program Office, 3601 C Street, Suite 140, Anchorage, AK 99503. Additionally, the Department of Health will accept comments by fax at (907) 269-4536 and by electronic mail at christina.hulquist@alaska.gov. The comments must be received not later than 5 p.m. AKDT on June 19, 2024. 

You may also submit oral comments at the public hearing to be held virtually on June 18, 2024. The hearing will be held from 12:00pm to 2:00pm.  If you are unable to attend virtually but would like to comment during the oral public hearing, you can call the teleconference number 1 (800) 893-7840.

You may submit written questions relevant to the proposed action to Christina Hulquist by email at christina.hulquist@alaska.gov or at 3601 C Street, Suite 140, Anchorage, AK 99503. The questions must be received at least 10 days before the end of the public comment period. The Department of Health will aggregate its response to substantially similar questions and make the questions and responses available on the Alaska Online Public Notice System at https://aws.state.ak.us/OnlinePublicNotices/default.aspx.

If you are a person with a disability who needs a special accommodation in order to participate in this process, please contact Christina Hulquist at christina.hulquist@alaska.gov or by telephone at (907) 419-7565 not later than June 13, 2024, to ensure that any necessary accommodations can be provided.

A copy of Alaska’s draft FY 2025-2027 CCDF Plan is available on the Alaska Online Public Notice System at https://aws.state.ak.us/OnlinePublicNotices/default.aspx. You may also obtain a copy by contacting Christina Hulquist at Christina.Hulquist@alaska.gov or (907) 419-7565.

How to Comment:

On June 18, 2024, from 12:00 to 2:00pm AKDT, individuals may provide comments by phoning into the number listed below:

-              By phone: 1 (800) 893-7840

-              By fax: 1 (907) 269-4536

-              By email: Submit comments via email to Christina Hulquist at Christina.Hulquist@alaska.gov. Written comments must be received no later than 5:00pm on June 19, 2024.

-              In writing: Submit comments through the mail to the Department of Health, Child Care Program Office, Attn: Christina Hulquist, 3601 C Street, Suite 140, Anchorage, AK 99503. Written comments must be received no later than 5:00pm on June 19, 2024.