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Advocates urge fast childcare vouchers and automatic early-intervention referrals for children entering shelter
Summary
Providers, parents and city and state officials told the Joint Committee on Children and Families and Persons with Disabilities that House Bill 215 would immediately connect children in shelters to childcare and early-intervention services, shortening a process they say can now take about 30 days.
Kristen McSwain, director of the City of Boston’s Office of Early Childhood, told the Joint Committee on Children and Families and Persons with Disabilities that House Bill 215 would expedite care for children whose families enter emergency shelter. "In an average year, there are approximately 600 young children in shelters within the city of Boston," McSwain said, and long waits for childcare vouchers and evaluations undermine families’ ability to find housing and work.
Witnesses described operational gaps that the bill would address: automatic…
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