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Parents and family‑engagement providers praise CFCE funding; family child‑care providers ask agency to review age‑2 rate cut
Summary
Public commenters at the EEC board meeting described how Coordinated Family & Community Engagement (CFCE) playgroups and supports helped families, praised EEC funding, and asked the agency to examine why family child‑care voucher reimbursement falls when a child turns 2.
Several members of the public used the meeting’s public‑comment period to describe services and request policy review of family child‑care reimbursement patterns.
Kelly Ford, a CFCE coordinator, told the board that CFCE playgroups and family supports are often the first EEC contact for families and described the programs’ role in fostering child development, reducing caregiver isolation and connecting families to food, fuel and other referrals. “For most families, CFCEs are their first and only experience with EEC programming,” Ford said, and asked the board to continue funding that work to support workforce stability, program continuity and family access.
A parent, Daniella Ferrara, described her experience as a first‑time parent who used a CFCE playgroup and said the program helped her child meet developmental milestones and gave the parent practical parenting strategies while balancing work. Metro Boston training coordinator Anna Teresa Farrias asked the agency to examine a specific payment policy for family child‑care (FCC) providers: she said FCC providers who accept vouchers see a decrease in the daily rate when a child turns two, and she urged EEC to “take a deeper look into this matter.” Farrias said FCC programs face the same or similar costs caring for toddlers as they do for younger ages and that the rate drop affects program stability and assistant pay.
Board members and staff acknowledged the public comments and said the agency will consider the issue in future policy discussions. EEC staff noted capital grants and other targeted investments as tools that have supported FCCs and said staff are tracking how those supports interact with operating funds such as C3.
