An Analysis of Federal Funding of Children's Services - A Sourcebook

Abstract

This handbook collates existing data on federal funding of children's services under the Child Care Act (1972), the Interim Pre-School and Child Care Program (1973-76) and since then under the Children's Services Program administered by the Office of Child Care of the Department of Social Security. Its aim is to help those interested in children's services and those working in the childrens services field to address the following questions: 1. How much does the Federal Government spend on children's services? 2. What kinds of services does it fund and to what extent? 3. What funding changes have occurred over time? The extent to which it is possible to answer these questions is limited by the availability of relevant information. In most cases, the data presented here are drawn from published sources such as budget papers, Department of Social Security Annual Reports, Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates, ministerial press releases and speeches and statements from the Office of Child Care. In other instances, the writer has compiled tables from several sources or has derived figures from the available material.