family center - child care resources...the athena group, llc 101 capitol way north, suite 300...

FAMILY CENTER 2015 EVALUATION

Child Care Aware of Washington

July 19, 2016

The Athena Group, LLC 101 Capitol Way North, Suite 300

Olympia, WA 98501 (360)754-1954

www.athenaplace.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................ 1

Background and Methodology ............................................................................................................ 2

Customers Served .................................................................................................................................... 5

Customer Experience ............................................................................................................................. 8

Family Center Operations ................................................................................................................. 19

Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 21

Family Center Evaluation The Athena Group Child Care Aware of Washington July 19, 2016 | Page 1

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Child Care Aware of Washington contracted with The Athena Group to evaluate the Family Center’s services in 2015. The Family Center provides statewide child care referrals to families seeking child care.

What are the Family Center’s strengths?

Families continue to contact the Family Center for child care referrals, with referral demand remaining steady over the past years. Of these searches, just over half (51 percent) were done online and the remaining 49 percent were done by phone. To provide access to diverse populations, the Family Center uses an interpreter service allowing it to serve people speaking 25 languages other than English.

Many customers find child care. In response to the follow-up survey of phone and online customers, 67 percent of customers said they found child care since contacting the Family Center. Of those, 62 percent said it was because of a Family Center referral.

Phone customers are very satisfied with the information they receive. In response to the survey, 96 percent of post-call survey respondents said the call met all of their needs. Additionally, callers from throughout the state – not just King and Pierce Counties where the call center is located – said the person they spoke with understood their area very well (89 percent of survey respondents).

Phone customers learn about Early Achievers and what to look for in quality child care. In a post-call survey, 92 percent of respondents said they had a much better understanding of what to look for in quality child care after their phone call. Additionally, 88 percent said they became aware of the connection between quality child care and school success as a result of the call. Just over half (53 percent) of respondents who found child care said it was with a child care provider who participates in Early Achievers.

What are the Family Center’s opportunities for improvement?

Many online search customers have difficulties with the online search. Just over half of online evaluation survey respondents (54 percent) said they encountered a challenge when using the online database. Respondents commented that the website is not user friendly, or that they received no results, or only a small number of results. Further, only half of respondents said the website met some or all of their needs. Staff agreed the database can be difficult to navigate. To significantly improve customer online experience will require substantial investment in new technology.

Improved internal communication could benefit the Family Center and child care provider services. In our interviews, we heard that the Family Center staff feel disconnected from the provider services programs, such as Early Achievers. Because of their interactions with families, Family Center staff have valuable information that could benefit Child Care Aware of Washington’s efforts to promote quality child care. Additionally, Family Center staff would benefit from the opportunity to visit child care providers so they can better understand and convey information to customers about Early Achievers and quality child care in general.

2015, by the numbers: Referral searches: 23,500 Families served: 16,350 Children served: 23,600


BACKGROUND AND METHODOLOGY

The Family Center helps families find child care

The purpose of the Family Center is to help families across Washington find and access high-quality child care. The Family Center does this by providing referrals to child care providers, information on the importance of quality, and how families can determine if a child care provider has a quality program. Families can access this information either by calling the Family Center, or by visiting the website and searching for online referrals. The Family Center is operated by Child Care Resources (CCA of King and Pierce Counties) and funded primarily by the Department of Early Learning. The resource database includes all licensed child care centers and family child care providers in the state who want to be included in the referral database. The referral database relies on a national software platform developed by Child Care Aware of America and used by more than 30 states.

Phone customers. For families who call for assistance, the Family Center is open from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm Monday to Friday. In addition to having Spanish-speaking resource specialists, they are also able to serve people speaking other languages through an interpreter service.

When a customer calls the Family Center, the resource specialist uses a standard script that is meant to facilitate intake and conversation with customers seeking child care. The 2015 script assumed a 10 to 15 minute conversation with each new customer; the average call was about 10 minutes. The goals of the content and structure of the script are to:

Meet customers’ needs through active listening while facilitating a guided conversation to establish child care needs.

Provide customers with relevant referrals and additional resources that enable them to understand, access, and choose quality child care.

Provide a service to customers with a friendly tone that mirrors a natural conversation flow.

Educate customers about the connections in early learning between quality child care and school readiness.

Parents can choose to receive their referral information through email, mail, or fax. The Family Center also mails or emails customers parent education materials, including a cover letter, DEL Licensing contact details, information on understanding and making decisions about child care, a brochure about Early Achievers, and child care rates and resources for their region.

Online searches. Customers can also choose to search online for child care. The first step will be to create an account using an email and password. After entering information about their location and children, they are then able to search for child care using various filters, including location, child care type, hours, whether financial assistance is accepted, and special needs. For each child care provider listed in the search results, a customer can click a link to get additional information, including contact information, ages served, hours, Early Achievers participation, financial assistance, rates, and other descriptive information.


Later, the customer receives a welcome email from the Family Center that includes the Family Center phone number, information on how to check complaint history, and a link to the website with more information on selecting quality child care.

One recent focus has been providing more information on Early Achievers

In 2015, one of the challenges expressed by Family Center managers and staff was how to incorporate additional information on Early Achievers into the Family Center script, especially since families could already be overwhelmed by the amount of information provided during the calls. At the time, the script described Early Achievers but didn’t provide information about provider areas of specialization or provider ratings. However, with the passage of the Early Start Act in 2015, previously confidential rating results were public. As a result, the Family Center needed to find a way to provide additional information on Early Achievers so families could understand the ratings and areas of specialization.

The revised script started to be used in February 2016. In addition to providing information on ratings and areas of specialization, the script also includes information for families who appear to be eligible for Working Connections Child Care, “…effective Aug. 1, 2016 all child care providers who serve children on Working Connections Child Care subsidy must enroll in a free statewide program called Early Achievers. We are advising all of our clients who are seeking a provider that accepts state subsidy to ask providers if they are enrolled in Early Achievers.”

Evaluation Methodology

The goal of this evaluation is to assess the Family Center’s 2015 child care referral services, including service volume, customer satisfaction levels, and outcomes, such as whether customers find child care, or learn more about quality child care and its connection to school success as a result of the services they receive.1 As part of this evaluation, we analyzed program data, including service volume and the types of services provided. Additionally, we analyzed the results of the Family Center’s three customer satisfaction surveys:

Post-call survey: At the close of their call to the Family Center, customers are invited to participate in the survey. This automated survey asks questions about satisfaction with the services and information provided. In 2015, the survey had 1,041 responses, which is 11 percent of the 9,900 phone customers who called in during that time frame.

1 Starting with this evaluation, Child Care Aware of Washington will be evaluating the Family Center by calendar year instead of the fiscal year.


Online evaluation survey: Within a month of using the online site, customers receive an online evaluation survey of opinions about the usefulness of the site and information, and about their understanding of quality child care. During 2015, the survey had 122 responses, which is 1.5 percent of the 8,000 online customers.

Follow-up survey: All customers receive a follow-up survey a month or two after calling or visiting the website. This survey, which is the same for both callers and website visitors, asks questions related to whether they were able to find child care, if they found it as a result of a Family Center referral, and if they are satisfied with their care. The Family Center uses both English and Spanish versions of this survey. In 2015, this survey had 532 responses, representing 3.3 percent of the 16,350 Family Center clients served last year. This survey was revised in March 2015 so data for some survey questions is only available for March through December of 2015.

We also interviewed Family Center management and a small group of resource specialists to gather their feedback on operational changes and assess how program administration is going.


CUSTOMERS SERVED

As part of this evaluation, we analyzed program data on the number of searches, and the number of families and children served. We also reviewed historical data to look for trends in the number and types of referral searches.

The Family Center served over 16,000 families in 2015 In 2015, CCA of WA provided just over 23,500 referral searches to 16,350 families for 23,600 children. Of these searches 51 percent were done online and 49 percent were done by the phone. Exhibit 1, below, shows the total number of families served by region. 2

Exhibit 1 Number of families served by region, 2015

Source: Family Center program data.

The Family Center has a Spanish line that served over 1,300 customers. Additionally, the Family Center used an interpreter service to serve 325 people speaking about 25 other languages.

Referral demand remains steady The annual number of referral searches has remained steady since Child Care Aware of Washington consolidated referral services for families statewide into the new Family Center and launched a new, improved online search function in July 2012. Since that time, the number of referral searches has stayed at just over 23,000 searches a year, as shown in Exhibit 2.

2 Child Care Aware of King and Pierce County merged mid-year and had previously been separate regional CCA programs. For 2015 consistency and historical comparison, regional reporting in the document list King and Pierce separately.

1,100

1,183

1,873

2,067

2,092

2,333

5,677

Central

Southwest

Olympic Peninsula

Eastern

Northwest

Tacoma/Pierce County

King County


Exhibit 2 Referral searches by year


The following chart provides additional data on the number of referral searches, by showing this information by region. Since the initial increase in referral search after consolidation, the annual number of referral searches in each region has remained fairly steady.

Exhibit 3 Referral searches by year and region


The following chart, Exhibit 4, shows the total number of referral searches each quarter, as well as the number of online and phone searches. As shown in the chart, referral searches are subject to seasonal variation, which peaks in late summer and then declines through the fall before increasing again in January. The chart also shows that about the same number of searches are done by phone as online. In each year since the 2012 improvements to online search, slightly more searches have been done online than by phone.

19,084 19,659

23,824 23,188 23,480

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

9,000

10,000

Central Eastern King County Northwest OlympicPeninsula

Southwest Tacoma/Pierce

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015


Exhibit 4 Referral searches by type and quarter, 2011-2015


Most clients use only one approach for contacting the Family Center, either searching online, or calling in (or using another form of staff-assisted searching, such as email, fax, or in-person). However, 10 percent of clients used both online and phone searches, as shown in Exhibit 5. This includes people who search online and are unable to find what they need and so call in, but also likely includes people who call in but also want to do some searching themselves.

Exhibit 5 Percent of families by search method, 2015


0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

Total

Internet

Phone

Phone, 51%Online, 39%

Both phone & online, 10%


CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

An important component of the Family Center evaluation is understanding the experience of families and other customers who contact the Family Center to look for child care. We analyzed survey results related to three major areas: (1) customer perspectives on the usefulness of the information provided; (2) customer education about what to look for in quality child care and why quality matters; and (3) the outcomes of the customers’ child care search and whether they were able to find child care.

Information on the customer experience comes from three customer surveys. Please note the low response rates for each survey, which can make it difficult to tell whether survey results are generalizable:

Post-call survey: This automated survey at the end of customers’ call to the Family Center asks questions about the usefulness of information provided and whether the customer learned more about quality child care. In 2015, this survey had an 11 percent response rate.

Online evaluation survey: Within a month of using the online site, customers receive an online evaluation survey of opinions about the usefulness of the site and information and about their understanding of quality child care. This survey had a 1.5 percent response rate in 2015.

Follow-up survey: All customers – phone and online – receive a follow-up survey or month or two after calling or visiting the website. This survey asks questions about satisfaction with the Family Center and whether they were able to find child care. This survey had a 3.3 percent response rate in 2015.

1. Usefulness of information provided

Both the post-call and online evaluation customer surveys ask whether the child care information provided met their needs. Additionally, the follow-up survey asks phone and online customers about their satisfaction with the information provided and about the accuracy of the information provided. In summary, the majority of customers who responded to the surveys, especially phone customers, are satisfied with the information they received from the Family Center. However, many online customers experienced difficulties using the website.

Majority of phone customers said the information met all their needs The post-call phone survey, an automated survey administered at the end of phone customers’ calls, asked whether callers felt like the resource specialist they spoke with understood their needs. In response, 97 percent said the person understood all of their needs and the remaining 3 percent said the person understood most of their needs.

Additionally, in response to a question of whether the information provided met their needs, the majority of respondents said the information met all of their needs (96 percent), as shown in Exhibit 6. A small amount (about 4 percent) reported that it met most of their needs, and only three people (less than 1 percent) said the information met only some of their needs. No one responded that the information did not meet any of their needs. This


result is comparable to past two evaluations which showed 94 percent of respondents agreeing the information met all of their needs.

Exhibit 6 Whether phone customers think the information they received met their needs

Source: Post-call survey results, 2015.

The post-call phone survey also asked customers whether the person they talked to seemed to understand the area where they live. Statewide, 89 percent of respondents said the person understood the area very well, with another 9 percent responding the person understood the area mostly well. This is a similar result to past years.

Exhibit 7 How much phone customers think the person they talked with understood their area


Half of online customers said the information met most or all their needs In the online evaluation survey, which is sent to website users about a month after they first visit the website, we asked whether the information they received met their needs. As shown in Exhibit 8, about half of respondents replied that it met all (24 percent) or most (26 percent) of their needs. Compared to last year, a larger percentage of people responded that it met all of their needs (24 percent compared to 17 percent) – but a larger percentage also responded that it didn’t meet any of their needs (26 percent compared to 20 percent).

All of my needs, 96%

Most of my needs, 4% Some of my needs, 0%

Very well, 89%

Mostly well, 9%

Somewhat well, 1%Not at all, 0%


One of the challenges in interpreting this data is the especially low survey response rate to the online evaluation survey. It is not possible to determine whether these survey results are representative of overall online customers and comparing these results to the phone survey results may not be an accurate comparison.

Exhibit 8 How much online customers think the information they received met their needs

Source: Online evaluation survey, 2014-15.

The survey also asked internet customers whether they encountered any challenges while using the online database. In 2015, just over half (54 percent) responded that they did experience challenges using the online database, which is an increase from the previous year when 46 percent responded that they experienced a challenge.

Exhibit 10 shows the categories of challenges experienced by online customers. The biggest challenge reported is that the site is not user friendly (mentioned by 22 people), which is includes people who thought it was confusing, difficult to navigate, or not intuitive. The next biggest category of challenge is respondents receiving no results, or only a small number of results (18 people). Next, ten people reported challenges with the search criteria – either they wanted to search more broadly with fewer filters (such as the time of day when they need care), or they wanted more ways to narrow down search options.

Exhibit 9 Challenges reported by online customers

Source: Online evaluation survey, 2015.

17% 24%

37% 26%

26%23%

20% 26%

2014 2015

No, it did not meet any of my needs

It met some of my needs

It met most of my needs

Yes, it met all my needs

3

5

7

10

18

22

Not comprehensive

Want additional information on providers

Incorrect/outdated information

Search criteria

Limited or no results

Not user friendly


Satisfaction with the information provided The follow-up survey, which is emailed to both phone and online customers a month or two after they contact the Family Center, asks about satisfaction with the information received from CCA of WA. As shown in Exhibit 10, two-thirds of respondents were very satisfied (67 percent) and another 15 percent were somewhat satisfied. A total of 12 percent were somewhat or very unsatisfied. These survey results are slightly better than previous years’ evaluations, including last year’s evaluation (64 percent responded they were very satisfied), and the previous year’s evaluation (60 percent).

Exhibit 10 Customer satisfaction with information received from CCA of WA

Source: Follow-up survey of online and phone customers, 2015.

Those who were somewhat or very unsatisfied listed a variety of reasons, including: never receiving any information; receiving outdated or incorrect information; not receiving information on whether a facility has openings; difficulties using the search function online; and not being able to find child care.

Exhibit 11 provides additional detail by showing customer satisfaction responses by method of accessing referral services. As shown, customers who contact the Family Center by phone are much more satisfied than those who access it by the internet.

Exhibit 11 Customer satisfaction with information received from CCA of WA,

By method of accessing services


Accuracy of information provided by Family Center Beginning in March of 2015, the follow-up survey also asks customers about their opinions of the accuracy of the information they received from the Family Center. Altogether, 89

Very satisfied, 67%

Somewhat satisfied, 15%

Neutral, 6%

Somewhat unsatisfied, 6%

Very unsatisfied, 6%

59%

81%

91%

11%

5%

5%

30%

14%

4%

Internet

Phone & Internet

Phone

Satisfied Neutral Unsatisfied


percent of respondents stated the information they received was either very accurate (67 percent) or somewhat accurate (22 percent).

Exhibit 12 Customer opinions of the accuracy of information received from CCA of WA


The following Exhibit shows the same information by region. As shown in the chart, customers in some regions have higher opinions of the accuracy of the information than do customers in other regions. Pierce County has the highest percentage responding the information is very accurate (77 percent), while King County has the lowest percentage (60 percent).

Exhibit 13 Customer opinion about the accuracy of information received from CCA of WA, by region


2. Education about quality child care

In addition to providing referrals, the Family Center works to increase family knowledge about what quality child care looks like and to educate family members about the connection between quality child care and school success. This next section includes information about these efforts and customer feedback about whether they learned more

Very accurate, 67%

Somewhat accurate, 22%

Somewhat inaccurate, 7%

Very inaccurate, 4%

60%

64%

66%

69%

71%

71%

77%

28%

24%

27%

11%

18%

26%

15%

7%

5%

3%

13%

5%

3%

8%

4%

7%

3%

6%

5%

King County

Olympic Peninsula

Northwest

Eastern

Central

Southwest

Pierce County

Very Accurate Somewhat Accurate Somewhat Inaccurate Very Inaccurate


about quality child care and its impact on school readiness. The section also provides information about what factors customers reported considering when making their child care decision. In summary, we found that Family Center customers, especially phone customers, learned about what to look for in searching for child care and customers do consider quality factors when making their child care decisions.

In the 2015 script for Family Center referral calls, the resource specialist first provides referral information before talking to customers about some of the things they might want to consider when choosing a child care provider, including the learning environment, staff professionalism and training, and family relationships. The script also describes Early Achievers and encourages customers to ask providers what they are doing to ensure quality care and education, and if they participate in Early Achievers. Resource specialists told us that this is often the first time that families hear about Early Achievers. In early 2016, changes to the Family Center call script brought more information on Early Achievers including about provider ratings and areas of specializations.

Families who search for referrals online also have access to information on quality and Early Achievers on the referral website; however, this information is not woven together with the referral information as well as can happen on the phone. The information on quality and Early Achievers is on a separate page from the online referral search system.

Phone customers report learning what to look for in quality child care The post-call survey asks customers if they have a better understanding of what to look for in quality child care as a result of the call. As shown in Exhibit 14, a majority (92 percent) responded that they understood what to look for in quality child care much better as a result of their call, which is similar to previous years’ evaluations. Five percent responded that they understand a little better. Only one percent stated that they did not understand better. Two percent responded that they already knew; this low percentage points to the importance of the Family Center providing this education to customers since so many didn’t know what to look for before calling the Family Center.

Exhibit 14 How much better phone customers understand what to look for in quality child care


The post-call survey also asked phone customers whether they are now aware of the connection between quality child care and school success as a result of the call. As shown in

A lot better, 92%

A little better, 5%

I do not understand better, 1% I already understood, 2%


the following Exhibit, 88 percent of respondents said they are now aware. Seven percent responded that the call did not make them aware, and another 6 percent responded that they already knew. These results are comparable to previous years’ evaluations.

Exhibit 15 How much phone customers are aware of the connection between

quality child care and school success


Online customer understanding of what to look for in quality child care The online evaluation survey also asks customers about their understanding of child care quality. In response to the question of whether the information they received helped them to know what to look for when searching for quality child care, 25 percent responded that the information helped very much with another 22 percent responding the information was helpful, as shown in Exhibit 16. However, compared to 2014, a higher percent of customers said the information was not helpful (rated 1 or 2). This combined percent increased from 30 percent in 2014 to 43 percent in 2015.

Exhibit 16 How much online customers think the information they received helped them know what to

look for when searching for quality child care

Source: Online evaluation survey, 2014-15.

The online evaluation survey also asks customers how much they think child care quality affects a child’s readiness for school. The majority (69 percent) of respondents said they

I am now aware, 88%

The call did not make me aware,

7%

I already knew, 6%

24% 25%

27% 22%

19%10%

14%22%

16% 21%

2014 2015

1 No, did not help at all

2

3

4

5 Yes, helped very much


think child care quality very much affects a child’s readiness for school. Only 4 percent thought that it did not have any impact on school readiness.

Families consider child care location, hours, and learning activities In March 2015, the follow-up survey to phone and online customers was revised to ask which factors influenced their decision about child care. As shown in Exhibit 17, on the following page, the five most frequently mentioned factors influencing child care decisions are location (selected by 249 respondents), hours of operation (189), learning activities (158), cleanliness (152) and cost (143).

In response to the follow-up survey, some respondents wrote about the value of information on child care quality and how they used this information in their child care search:

“I am thoroughly happy with the program/facility I chose. The staff are very dedicated, well-trained, and sensitive to the needs of my children. The information I received from your program was very thorough. I appreciated the summary of information about the provider as well as the tips on how to go about selecting a child-care provider. As a former stay-at-home parent, this was my first experience in seeking outside child-care. I feel that I was very well prepared, thanks to the information you provided. Thank you!” – Phone and internet customer

“The information received was very helpful. I did not see the quality described to me by child care aware in any facility I went to, however. Most places had staff with no background in child development and had only toys that did not promote development. It was disappointing, but the ideals communicated by Child Care Aware were great.” – Phone customer

Exhibit 17 Factors influencing child care decisions

Note: Respondents were instructed to selected 4 to 5 items. Ratio of providers to children was not included on the Spanish version of the survey. Source: Follow-up survey of online and phone customers, 2015.

34

53

57

63

65

90

103

129

143

152

158

189

249

Provider turnover rate

Complaint history

Family involvement opportunities

Support my child's special needs

Respect for my family's culture/language

Provider education level

Ratio of providers to children

Commitment to quality child care

Cost

Cleanliness

Learning activities

Hours of operation

Location


3. Finding child care

The third evaluation component related to the customer experience is whether families were able to find child care after contacting the Family Center and whether they found that child care as a result of a Family Center referral. This analysis also looked at some of the reasons customers gave for not being able to find child care. This information is collected from the follow-up survey, which is sent to phone and online customers a month or two after they contact the Family Center. According to this data, two-thirds of follow-up survey respondents found child care after contacting the Family Center, and of those who found care, 62 percent found it as result of a Family Center referral.

Two-thirds of customers found child care after contacting CCA of WA The follow-up survey asked customers if they have been able to find regularly scheduled, consistent child care since they contacted CCA of WA. In response, 67 percent of respondents said they had found child care, as shown in Exhibit 18. This result is comparable to the result in previous years.

Exhibit 18 Percent of customers finding child care since contacting CCA of WA


Customers had several reasons for not finding child care, including that they did not need it yet or they decided not to return to work. As shown in Exhibit 19, the most common reason was not finding child care that meet their needs and expectations, which was selected by 46 respondents.

Exhibit 19 Reasons customers did not find child care


Yes, 67%

No, 33%

66

7

20

28

46

Other

Won't return to work

Don't need regularly scheduled child care yet

Waitlist

Didn't find care meeting needs & expectations


Respondents listed a variety of “Other” reasons for not being able to find child care. Some of the common challenges mentioned, include:

Not able to find child care providers with openings. Not able to find child care meeting specific needs (location, hours). Not able to afford child care. Not able to find care for children with special needs.

Just over 60 percent of those who found child care found it through the Family Center The follow-up survey also asked those who have found child care if they found it because of the Family Center referral. Of those who found child care, 62 percent found it because of a Family Center referral, as showing in Exhibit 20. This is in line with previous years (57 percent in 2014-15 and 69 percent in 2013-14). The most common other ways families found child care include through recommendations from friends or family members, and by doing their own search (such as by searching online or by driving around).

Exhibit 20 Of those who found child care, the percent finding it because of a Family Center referral


Over half found child care with providers participating in Early Achievers In March of 2015, the follow-up survey began asking customers whether their current regularly scheduled child care provider is participating in Early Achievers. Since that time, just over half of respondents said their child care provider participates in Early Achievers, as shown in Exhibit 21.

Exhibit 21 Percent of customers whose child care provider participates in Early Achievers


Yes, 62%

No, 38%

Yes, 53%

No, 47%


The follow-up survey also asks about the type of care chosen. Just under half (47 percent) chose a child care center and one-third (33 percent) chose family child care. The remaining 20 percent chose another type of care, such as a family, friend, or neighbor.

Many participants’ child care arrangement was their first choice In response to the follow-up survey, 62 percent of respondents stated that their current regularly scheduled child care arrangement was their first choice, a slight increase from 60 percent in 2014.

Those whose child care arrangement was not their first choice cited several reasons, as shown in Exhibit 22. Respondents were able to select as many as applied. The most common reason respondents gave for needing to make a compromise was because of hours/scheduling needs (89 respondents). In addition to the reasons listed above, many respondents wrote in that their first choice child care did not have any openings.

Exhibit 22 Reasons customers had to compromise on child care arrangement


33

52

59

73

89

Because of my subsidy

Limited choices available

Cost/finances

Location/transportation

Hours/scheduling needs


FAMILY CENTER OPERATIONS

The final component of this evaluation looked at the Family Center operations, including its methods for ensuring quality control and whether the Family Center has the information and tools necessary to effectively do their work.

Secret shoppers provide quality control In addition to Family Center managers reviewing a sample of call recordings, another quality control practice is that staff from the other Child Care Aware regions make secret shopper calls to the Family Center. They pose as customers and then assess whether the call meets an established list of 47 standards based on Child Care Aware of America quality assurance criteria.

During 2015, five regions made a total of 16 calls. Every one of these calls met or exceeded best practice. This is an improvement over 2014, when only 11 of the 18 secret shopper calls (61 percent) met or exceeded best practice.

The secret shopper reports point to the specialists’ strong communication skills. Some of the areas where all 16 calls meet the standards include:

Answered in a courteous and polite manner. Set a positive, conversational tone for the call. Collected information in a seemingly unbiased, sensitive manner. Spoke clearly, distinctly, in an understandable manner. Was reassuring and helped the caller feel at ease with the process. Managed the call in a time efficient way. Was respectful of the caller’s knowledge, ideas, and feelings, as evidenced by tone of

voice, rate of speech, and choice of words and reflective statements.

Additionally, in each call, the specialist provided the caller with three or more referrals, if available, or engaged in creative problem solving anytime fewer than three referrals were provided (or the customer requested referrals be sent).

In general, the areas where some calls did not meet the standards are because the resources specialist did not provide certain types of information, including the average cost of care for the caller’s children, information about other financial assistance programs, and availability of trainings and workshops for parents (each mentioned in fewer than half of all calls).

Secret shoppers also listened for whether the resource specialist explained Early Achievers. In 14 of the 16, they heard this information. However, even in two of the calls where the resource specialist did mention Early Achievers, the secret shopper wished the resources specialist had provided more information on Early Achievers.

Family Center has experienced changes this year During our discussions, resources specialists and management indicated they have received much more information on Early Achievers and improved communication this year from CCA of WA. As a result, they feel that they are able to effectively explain the program to callers. They have appreciated the updates, resources, and assistance they have received. A


challenge for the Family Center this year has been a series of changes and turnover in staff and management.

Improved communication between the Family Center and statewide provider services would benefit families and child care providers In our meetings with resources specialists and management, we heard that Family Center staff sometimes feel disconnected from the services that are focused on child care providers, especially with the increasing focus on Early Achievers. The Family Center staff and the statewide provider services staff would all benefit from closer communication and coordination. To more effectively service families, Family Center staff stated they would like to have onsite visits with Early Achievers providers so they can have better picture of what Early Achievers is and be able to convey this information to families.

Additionally, the Family Center staff have information about family needs and trends that can benefit Early Achievers and other provider services staff. For example, based on their work with families, Family Center staff knew that many families who need child care during non-standard hours (nights and weekends) are often on subsidy. As a result, these families will need to find child care with Early Achievers providers by August 1, 2016. They were concerned that not enough providers who offer non-standard hour care were enrolling in Early Achievers. Family Center were able to pass this information along to CCA of King and Pierce Counties Early Achievers outreach staff so they could focus their efforts on encouraging these providers to enroll in Early Achievers. They reported that this has had a positive impact on families in King and Pierce Counties. This is one example of how the Family Center and provider services have benefited from communication, and improving communication with other CCA staff statewide is likely to yield more.


CONCLUSION

Families continue to contact the Family Center for child care referrals, with referral demand remaining steady over the past years. Of these searches, just over half (51 percent) were done online and the remaining 49 percent were done by the phone. Many customers find child care, with 67 percent of customers responding that they found child care since contacting the Family Center. Customers, especially phone customers, are satisfied with the information they receive. However, online search customers continue to experience difficulties with the online search, with over half of survey respondents saying they encountered a challenge using the database.

CCA of WA and DEL have been working together on a joint project to explore options for a new online search platform. Child Care Aware of America is also in the early planning stages for a new version of the online search function in the current database. Developing a new search tool would take time and require a significant investment of resources, but the opportunities to improve the experience for families searching online are very limited by the current technology.

In addition to simply providing referral services, the Family Center also provides information to families about how to find and identify quality child care. Results from the post-call surveys are clear that families are learning about quality child care through the calls. However, this information is not as well incorporated into the online referral as it is incorporated into the call script.

In 2015 and early 2016, the Family Center has experienced several management changes. The Family Center would benefit from having management who can lead the Family Center and facilitate communication with others in Child Care Resources, Child Care Aware of Washington, and other regions.

Recommendations

Based on our conclusions, we identified some steps for improving the Family Center and its serves to families. We recommend that CCA of WA and the Family Center:

1. Improve technical aspects of the referral database and website to streamline search capability and improve ease of use, where possible, and continue to explore options for investments in new technology.

2. Explore ways to better integrate information on child care quality with referral information on the website.

3. Examine methods to improve communication and integration of Family Center operations with provider services across the state.

We also re-iterate the survey recommendations made last year:

4. Currently the English and Spanish versions of the follow-up survey have some differences. We recommend making the surveys consistent.

5. Both the post-call and online evaluation survey ask whether the information helped the customer better know what to look for in quality child care, but in different


ways. We recommend making the changes consistent by using the question format in the post-call survey since this has four options, including, “I already understood,” which is not an option on the online survey.

6. Additionally, both the post-call survey and online evaluation survey ask for the customer’s opinion on the relationship between child care quality and school readiness; however, they are asked in different ways. We recommend making the questions consistent by using the question format used in the post-call survey. This format is well designed to ask whether the Family Center is effectively communicating the relationship between child care quality and school readiness, whereas the online evaluation survey asks about the “belief” of the customer rather than the content of the website information.

7. In the follow-up survey’s question about the factors that influenced the child care decision, add “Participation in Early Achievers/accreditation.” This will provide an opportunity to find out more about whether Early Achievers impacts decisions about child care.

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