The Child Care Program regulates child care providers, provides training for child care personnel, and provides subsidized child care services to children at-risk of abuse and neglect and children who come from economically disadvantaged families. At the end of Fiscal Year 1999-2000, the program reported regulating 14,620 child care providers and providing subsidized child care services to a monthly average of 124,793 children.

Our review of the program determined that

• The program provides beneficial services to clients and to Florida's citizens;
• The program's licensing function should remain with the Department of Children and Families, but subsidized child care is currently being transferred to the Florida Partnership for School Readiness;
• The program's licensing and enforcement efforts are reasonably effective in ensuring healthy and safe child care environments;
• The program is serving 100% of its subsidized child care clients in two priority groups;
• The program and the Legislature have taken several steps to increase the quality of care in regulated child care settings and to address the subsidized child care needs of working-poor clients;
• Efforts must be made to address enforcement problems that reduce the program's regulatory effectiveness; and
• Additional steps must be taken to effectively implement the 1999 school readiness legislation.