Audits of American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 Funding for the Child Care and Development Fund

The Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) is a Federal and State partnership program that provides financial assistance to improve the access to quality child care for low-income families so parents can work or attend a job training or educational program. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) appropriated $39 billion in child care stabilization grants and supplemental discretionary CCDF funds to be used to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. These funds provided States, Territories, and Tribes with additional program flexibilities but were also subject to different restrictions than States' annual CCDF funding. According to HHS's Administration for Children and Families (ACF), this funding served more than 200,000 child care providers and benefited as many as 9.5 million children. We will determine how States used these funds, identify any risk areas, and review ACF's oversight of ARP child care stabilization funds. In a separate series of audits, we will determine whether selected States used ARP child care stabilization and supplemental CCDF discretionary funds in accordance with Federal and any applicable State requirements.

Announced or Revised	Agency	Title	Component	Report Number(s)	Expected Issue Date (FY)
May 2023	Administration for Children and Families	Audits of American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 Funding for the Child Care and Development Fund	Office of Audit Services	WA-23-0016 (W-00-23-20037); OEI-09-23-00230	2024