PM 06-16-02: Eligibility Requirements

WAG 06-16-02

The child care program serves:

• all working families that meet the income guidelines,
• clients receiving TANF who are participating in an approved work and training activity (including education) contained in their Responsibility and Services Plan (RSP),

  NOTE: Income guidelines and participation in an approved training activity is not a requirement for RPYs. 

• teen parents attending high school or a GED program, and
• persons not receiving TANF who need child care to attend school (up to and including the person's first Associate Degree and/or first Bachelor's Degree).  The family must meet the income guidelines and, when applicable, a work requirement. 

To be eligible, these persons must:

• apply for benefits, and
• have income within amounts in WAG 25-03-14 (income limits don't apply to an employed RPY who receives TANF  for the child and who is not the child's parent or step-parent), and
• receive child care from a qualified provider.

Child care will be paid for:

• children under age 13; and
• children age 13 through 18 who need child care because of:
  • a physical or psychological condition; or
  • court ordered supervision.

Only allow payment for child care provided by a qualified provider through a legal child care arrangement (see PM 06-16-03).  A client who does not cooperate in certifying their child care arrangement as legal, or whose child care is not certified as legal, is not eligible for a child care payment. 

Child care may be paid for children in the TANF  unit as well as children excluded from the TANF unit because they receive SSI.

Child care services received by a family must be reasonably related to the hours of education, training, or employment.  This may include research, lab, library time, transportation time, etc., in addition to class or work hours.  Do not allow payment for hours the client is available to care for their children.

Clients are responsible for a portion of their child care costs (i.e., a copayment).  Exception: An employed RPY who is not a parent/step-parent of a child who receives TANF  does not have to make a copayment.

Parents or other relatives are responsible to provide income verification and all other information required by the Department in order to determine eligibility for child care services.

Parents or other relatives are responsible to report all changes in income, employment, family size, or any other factor that would affect eligibility for child care services to the Department or the Child Care Resource and Referral Agency (CCR&R) or the Site Administered Provider within 10 days of the change.  A job loss or break in activity must be reported within 30 days in order to maintain a child care arrangement under the provisions for grace periods.

Parents or other relatives must avail themselves of all other available child care services.