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Amend the bill by striking out the title and substituting the following:
‘Resolve, To Require the Department of Health and Human Services To Study the Effectiveness of Professional Development Services Provided to Child Care Providers and Referral Services Provided to Parents in Need of Child Care’
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the title and inserting the following:
‘Sec. 1 Department of Health and Human Services to study the effectiveness of services replacing those provided by the former resource development centers. Resolved: That the Department of Health and Human Services, referred to in this resolve as "the department," shall study the effectiveness of services provided by the department and contracted by the department that have replaced services provided by the former resource development centers. The study must focus on the following:
1. Participation rates for professional development services available through the University of Southern Maine, Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service, Maine Roads to Quality for licensed and certified child care providers from 2009 to 2013. Participation must be measured by hours of training, number of different classes available, online participation, in-person classes and one-on-one interactions;
2. Department plans for increasing participation and achievement in Maine Roads to Quality pursuant to subsection 1;
3. Satisfaction of licensed and certified child care providers with access to professional development services, including suggestions by providers for improvement;
4. Availability and use of technical assistance for licensed and certified child care providers from 2009 to 2013;
5. Number of parent referrals by the department's child care resource and referral system compared to the number of parent referrals by the former resource development centers; and
6. Educational components available to parents to teach them how to discern the quality of licensed and certified child care providers and the ability of those providers to meet the particular needs of their children.
The department shall provide the report required under this section to the Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services no later than January 1, 2014.’
 
SUMMARY
This amendment, which is the majority report of the committee, replaces the concept draft with a resolve requiring the Department of Health and Human Services to study the effectiveness of the services replacing those provided by the former resource development centers. The study must examine the availability of professional development services to licensed and certified child care providers, department plans for improving access and quality of the professional development services, satisfaction with access to services by providers, availability of technical assistance to providers, the number of referrals by the department to parents for child care services under the department's child care resource and referral system and educational components available to parents to evaluate the quality and suitability of child care providers. The department must submit the report no later than January 1, 2014 to the Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services.