Head Start and Early Head Start grantees run the USDA food program in ChildWatch today. Keep ChildPlus for program management, and bring its children and attendance into ChildWatch from its own exports, so nothing is keyed twice.
Many grantees keep ChildPlus for enrollment, ERSEA and the PIR. ChildPlus stays the record of who is enrolled. ChildWatch reads the Excel or CSV files you export from it and turns them into the food program's records.
Export your participant list from ChildPlus. ChildWatch matches each child by ChildPlus ID, or by name and date of birth the first time, and enrolls them at their site and classroom. Run it again whenever ChildPlus changes, and children already here are matched, not added twice.
Children enrolled in Head Start or Early Head Start go on the program year's Head Start statement, which makes them free for the food program. No family fills out an income application.
Bring in the ChildPlus daily attendance export, one row per child per day or the monthly grid. Meals marked in ChildPlus come in as meal counts, labelled as coming from ChildPlus. A day that already has meals in ChildWatch is never changed.
Guardians named in the export join the child's family, and nobody is given pickup permission by an import. A child who moves between sites is transferred, and a transfer that would change a month you already claimed is refused.
Column names differ from one agency's export to the next. You confirm how each column imports and match your sites and classrooms, then review every row before anything is saved.
Each import is listed. A mistaken import can be undone the same day, as long as nothing has been recorded for those children since and no claim was filed for a day in it.
You do not need a Head Start module for any of this. The import is part of the food program.
Your Head Start centers sit beside your other centers, family child care homes and at-risk sites under one sponsor, with the same menus, counts, reviews and claim.
This sample video follows a demo Head Start grantee with catered centers: Head Start statements, catered meals, counts on the tablet, food costs and the monthly claim.
All the videosWe are building an optional Head Start and Early Head Start program-management module for grantees who would rather run everything in ChildWatch. It is not available yet. Grantees who keep ChildPlus keep everything above.
Eligibility, recruitment, selection, enrollment and attendance: selection criteria and a ranked waitlist, funded slots, and follow-up on chronic absence.
Health and dental status, screenings and their follow-up deadlines, and IEP and IFSP services.
Family partnership agreements, goals, services and referrals, followed through the year.
Vehicles, drivers, bus monitors, routes and riders, with the checks each run needs.
Each staff member's Head Start role and credentials, and what is about to expire.
The Program Information Report compiled from the records you already keep.
The module will be optional, and the food program does not depend on it. If you would like a say in how it works, ask a ChildWatch representative about the early partner program.
No. Keep ChildPlus for Head Start program management and use ChildWatch for the food program. ChildWatch reads the files you export from ChildPlus, so children and attendance are not keyed twice.
No. You export the participant list and the daily attendance from ChildPlus as Excel or CSV files, and ChildWatch reads them. Export again whenever your roster or attendance changes.
Not for children enrolled in Head Start or Early Head Start. They go on the program year's Head Start statement, which makes them free for the food program. A child who is not on the statement needs an income eligibility form to be claimed as free or reduced-price.
No. The food program works on its own today. The Head Start module is still being built, and it will be an optional addition when it is released.
Yes. Head Start centers, other child care centers, family child care homes, at-risk afterschool and summer sites can all sit under one sponsor. See ChildWatch for sponsors.
ChildPlus is a trademark of its respective owner. ChildWatch is not affiliated with or endorsed by its maker.
Tell us about your grant, your centers and how you serve meals, and a ChildWatch representative will send you a demo video for your kind of program within one business day. Questions after? We'll set up a short call.
Or call (800) 824-7741 or email sales@childwatch.com.