Day care in your public housing complex

It is the day care centre Act 283-2003 orders established inside public housing complexes newly built from 1 July 2004, for the preschool-age children living in that same complex. The area comes out of the housing project itself and is designated by the Department of Housing and the Public Housing Administration, which also answer for its maintenance. The one who administers and operates the centre, by contrast, is the Department of the Family, which designates the Director and provides the services to the complex’s population.

Article 4 sets two conditions that stack. The first is need: every child of preschool age whose parents, or parent, or the relative or relatives with legal custody, are unable to care for them for reasons of work and/or study shall have the right to use the centre. The second is residence: both the child and the adult with legal custody must be bona fide residents of the housing complex where the centre they will attend is located. And the Act adds a burden of proof: the adult shall present convincing evidence accrediting such conditions. Mind the scope of the Act as a whole: the obligation is for newly built complexes from 1 July 2004, so an older complex is not covered by this Act.

• From 1 July 2004, in every newly built public housing complex forming part of the Public Housing Administration where public funds, state and/or federal, are used, a day care centre for preschool-age children shall be established, provided strict compliance with the applicable HUD federal regulation (Article 2).Verified against the official source
• Every preschool-age child whose parents, or the relative with legal custody, are unable to care for them for reasons of work and/or study has the right to use the centre (Article 4).Verified against the official source
• Both the child and the parent or relative with legal custody must be bona fide residents of the housing complex where the centre is located, and must present convincing evidence accrediting those conditions (Article 4).Verified against the official source
• Parents or relatives with legal custody who prove they are of low economic resources shall not incur any cost for the services rendered (Article 4).Verified against the official source
• Staff giving direct service to children must have knowledge, training and experience in caring for preschool-age children, and be duly trained and certified in a first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation course (Article 5).Verified against the official source
• The Director and staff take controlled-substance tests on applying for work and periodically, must provide penal record certificates, and undergo a psychological test before being employed and at least once every two years thereafter (Article 5).Verified against the official source

• The convincing evidence that the child and the adult with legal custody are bona fide residents of the housing complex where the centre is located (Article 4).
• The evidence of the inability to care for the child for reasons of work and/or study, which is the other condition Article 4 orders to be accredited.
• The evidence of low economic resources, if the service is wanted at no cost, because Article 4 conditions that exemption on it being accredited.

1. 1

   Step 1: First, the date and the type of complex

   This is what most people take for granted and it is worth checking before anything else. Article 2 says that from 1 July 2004, in every newly built public housing complex forming part of the Public Housing Administration, where public funds, state and/or federal, are used, a day care centre for preschool-age children shall be established, provided strict compliance with the applicable federal regulation promulgated by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD. Three conditions, then: new construction, from that date, with public funds. A complex that already existed in 2004 does not fall under this Act. For existing complexes there is another statute, Act 197-2003, but that one only authorises the Department of Housing to establish a pilot project where greater need is identified: it gives the resident no right and describes no route to request it.

2. 2

   Step 2: The two conditions for using it

   Article 4 stacks them. Need: every child of preschool age whose parents and/or parent, or relatives with legal custody, are unable to care for the child for reasons of work and/or study shall have the right to use the centres. Note the Act expressly names the relative with legal custody, not only parents, and that it accepts study on the same footing as work. Residence: in addition, both the child and the parent or relative with legal custody must be bona fide residents of the housing complex where the centre they will attend is located. And the Act closes with proof: the adult shall present convincing evidence accrediting such conditions and making them entitled to use the centre’s services for their children or for the preschool-age relative under their legal custody.

3. 3

   Step 3: What is paid and who pays nothing

   The second half of Article 4 is what people look for. Parents or relatives with legal custody who use the services shall contribute economically for the better functioning of the centre; provided that the Director shall determine the reasonable payment for the use of such facilities and services, taking into account the economic resources of those who will use it. And then the sentence that changes the arithmetic for many families: parents or relatives with legal custody who prove they are of low economic resources shall not incur any cost for the services rendered. Two things the Act does not say and that we therefore do not say: it publishes no payment scale and no amount, and it does not define what counts as low economic resources nor against what income it is measured. That is why cost here appears as variable and not as free nor as a figure.

4. 4

   Step 4: Who provides the space and who runs the centre

   Article 5 divides the work and it is worth knowing so you do not knock on the wrong door. The Department of Housing and the Public Housing Administration shall be responsible for designating the area within the housing projects developed through the AVP to establish the centre, and shall also be responsible for the maintenance of the designated area. The Department of the Family, by contrast, shall be responsible for the administration and operation of the centre, and for providing the services needed by the population to be served. The Secretary of the Family, with the consent of the Secretary of Housing and the AVP Administrator, designates a Director in charge of administration and operation; and that Director, with the same consents, sets the operating schedule. In short: the space and its upkeep belong to Housing and the AVP, the service belongs to the Family.

5. 5

   Step 5: What else the centre must offer

   Article 5 does not stop at care. It provides that, as part of the services to be offered, courses or workshops shall be provided for fathers, mothers or guardians on the teaching of non-religious universal values and virtues for character development. And it adds that, as part of the educational services to preschool boys and girls, the teaching of values and virtues shall be included within the curriculum. These are offerings the Act puts in the column of what the centre must give, not of what the family must ask for, and that is why it is worth knowing they exist.

6. 6

   Step 6: Who may work with the children

   This part of Article 5 is unusually detailed for a statute and worth reporting in full because it is what a parent is entitled to assume. Staff giving direct service to children must have knowledge, training and experience in caring for children, specifically preschool age, and must be duly trained and certified in a first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation course. The Director and staff shall submit, on applying for work and periodically, to tests detecting the use of controlled substances, and shall be obliged to provide their penal record certificates. It shall be an impediment to working at these centres to have been convicted of any crime of domestic violence, child abuse, against honesty, against life, against public safety, against public function or against the public treasury; nor may those convicted of any felony involving moral depravity work there. Furthermore, the Director and staff, prior to being employed, must undergo a psychological test showing they are capable of adequately performing their functions, and afterwards these tests shall be carried out at least once every two years.

7. 7

   Step 7: The training on abuse and domestic violence

   Article 6 imposes two continuing training programmes on the Department of the Family. The first, on the appropriate techniques for identifying, investigating, evaluating and handling situations of abuse, institutional abuse, abuse by negligence and institutional negligent abuse. The second, coordinated together with the Office of the Women’s Advocate, the Police of Puerto Rico and the Department of Health, on the appropriate techniques for identifying, investigating, evaluating and handling situations of domestic violence reflected both in the children served and in their parents or relatives. Both are continuing, not one-off.

8. 8

   Step 8: How it is supposed to be overseen

   Article 7 obliges the Department of the Family to design and implement a monitoring plan at local, regional and state level over the programmes and services offered, including privatised ones, aimed at evaluating results and identifying their effectiveness. The programmes are reviewed annually. The results are sent annually, no later than 30 June each year, to the Governor and the Legislative Assembly, and specifically to the Social Welfare and Education Committees of both chambers. The annual report must state the mode and manner in which each programme or training was offered, the number of people who benefited and the topics covered; must identify deficiencies, the possible factors obstructing the objectives and suggestions to strengthen them; must report on the state and maintenance of the physical facilities where the centres are located, with recommendations for improvement; and must report on the status, progress, projections and achievements of the administration, operation and services.

The centre is inside your own housing complex, in the area designated by the Department of Housing and the Public Housing Administration. The one who administers and operates it, and therefore who serves you, is the Department of the Family, through the Director designated by the Secretary of the Family with the consent of the Secretary of Housing and the AVP Administrator. That Director is also the one who sets the operating schedule and who determines the reasonable payment. The Act publishes no addresses, telephones, forms or portals, creates no register of which complexes have a centre, and we do not guess government internet addresses.

• Believing the Act covers every complex: the obligation is for newly built complexes from 1 July 2004.
• Confusing it with Act 197-2003: that one is for existing complexes and only authorises a pilot project, it creates no resident right.
• Assuming the service is free for everyone: users contribute economically and only those who prove low income are left without any cost.
• Expecting to find the amount in the Act: the Director sets it taking the family’s economic resources into account, and the Act publishes no scale.
• Thinking living nearby is enough: the child and the adult with legal custody must be bona fide residents of the complex where the centre is located.
• Believing only parents qualify: the Act expressly names the relative with legal custody of the child.
• Assuming the inability must be work-related: the Act accepts reasons of work and/or study.
• Going to the AVP for the service: the AVP and Housing designate and maintain the area, but the administration and operation of the centre belong to the Department of the Family.
• Showing up without evidence: Article 4 requires convincing evidence of residence and of the inability, and of low income if the exemption is wanted.
• Taking the schedule as fixed: it is set by the centre’s Director with the consent of the Secretary of Housing and the AVP Administrator.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de la Familia

  Familia

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov