June 1, 2024
Greetings to families, providers, and stakeholders of the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP).
This memo is to provide information on changes to the IDHS Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) that will become effective July 1, 2024.
Updates to Income Eligibility Guidelines
As required by Federal and State regulations, all income eligibility levels will be re-indexed to the current Federal Poverty Level (FPL) amounts effective July 1. The initial eligibility level will remain at 225% of the Federal Poverty Level, and 275% FPL for redeterminations. Families will continue to not pay more than 7% of their reported gross income. The new guidelines can be found at
https://www.dhs.state.il.us/onenetlibrary/12/documents/Forms/IL444-3455B.pdf (English) or
https://intranet.dhs.illinois.gov/onenetlibrary/12/documents/Forms/IL444-3455BS.pdf (Spanish).
Family Child Care Home Reimbursement Rate Increase
Based on the newly ratified contract with SEIU, the daily rates that IDHS pays to licensed homes, licensed group homes, and license-exempt home providers for caring for children approved for CCAP will increase effective January 1, 2024, and again on July 1, 2024. The new rates will be listed for all CCAP children on the monthly billing certificate for care provided in July. Retroactive payments for the months of January through June 2024 will be issued to providers in the Fall of 2024. Providers do not need to take any action to receive the new rates. Current CCAP rates are posted here https://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=10864
Rates for child care centers are not being increased currently. The IDHS Division of Early Childhood (DEC) is working to expand and strengthen child care in a few other ways.
- Through Smart Start Workforce Grants, the Division is working to boost the salary and wages of child care workers by building on the success of the State's business stabilization and Smart Start Transition Grants, providing a stable, ongoing funding for CCAP providers across Illinois.
- We are also evaluating CCAP rates for all providers as we work to establish the next three-year Child Care Development Fund plan.
IDHS will be closely reviewing the rates paid to all providers alongside the financial impacts of both federal and state funding sources to ensure all CCAP providers have an opportunity to keep up with costs. These evaluations will be ongoing, and we're committed to working with all providers as we move forward.
"Decoupling" of CCAP Reimbursement and Private Tuition Child Care Rates
CCAP policy is being revised to allow providers to charge the State a higher rate than they charge private pay families, should they so choose. This will allow more families that are not eligible for CCAP to maintain their child care arrangement without an increase in rate caused by IDHS raising CCAP provider reimbursement rates. This change will also remove any barriers to providers offering scholarships, discounts, or private-pay sliding fees scales.
Registration Fees
Licensed and license-exempt centers are being sent Registration Certification forms to complete and send to the CCR&R. Once received and entered into our system, those who charge the fee will have the registration fee added to the family's first CCAP payment. CCAP will pay up to $50 for single child in care, or up to $100 for multiple children from the same household.
Initial Activity Search
Due to the expiration of Federal COVID relief funds, the CCAP Initial Activity Search policy will end effective June 30, 2024. This policy provided families 3 months CCAP eligibility for parents/caregivers to find employment or enroll in an educational program. All applications receive starting July 1 will be required to provide proof of an eligible activity to be approved for CCAP. Families experiencing homelessness will continue to be granted a grace period while they provide documentation of an eligible activity.
We appreciate your continued partnership in ensuring families and their children have equitable access to high quality early childhood education and care experiences.
Sincerely,
Michael Garner-Jones
Bureau Chief, Subsidy Management
Illinois Department of Human Services
Division of Early Childhood
