DCCA ‘rectifying’ childcare payment delays

The Department of Community and Cultural Affairs is eliminating a step in the payment process of childcare providers in hopes of expediting the process, DCCA Deputy Secretary Melvin Faisao said.

In April, members of the CNMI Daycare Association had complained about payment delays.

In the past, the Attorney General’s Office had to sign off on payments exceeding $10,000, but the AGO, the Department of Finance and DCCA have decided to forgo the AGO step, Faisao said.

“It’s because of the critical need to provide childcare,” he said.

Faisao said DCCA would regularly update the Attorney General’s Office on payments that exceed $10,000.

Processing used to take about 40 days, but now the department is working on “compressing” the process to 18 days. The elimination of the step should shorten the delay from seven days to three or four days, he said.

Some centers have also complained that they have not received past monthly checks. Faisao said DCCA is “rectifying” the situation.

“As soon as we received those incidences, we followed up,” he said.

Faisao said some childcare providers might unintentionally pick up the check of a fellow provider if they share the same mailbox.

Also, if the check is not cashed within 30 days, it must be canceled and re-issued. The Treasury Department must contact the bank to make sure the check was not cashed before issuing a new check,

All of these factors contribute to a delay, he said.

Checks to childcare providers with more than five children are usually mailed out, while relative childcare providers—those with four children or less—can be picked up, Faisao said.

“We’re compassionate and sympathetic to everyone’s concern, but we won’t take all the blame,” he said.

After more than 15 years under the Public School System, supervision of CNMI daycares was transferred to DCCA in January. DCCA currently oversees 21 daycare providers.