Thank you for your continued services as an Illinois child care provider.
This page will provide you with tools to assist you with continuing to provide service as a CCAP Child Care Provider.
IDHS Child Care Assistance Program Training Requirements
The Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) partners with child care providers to serve low income families through the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP). To help ensure the health and safety of children, the Federal government is now requiring that providers complete specific health, safety and child development training, have current CPR/First Aid certification, and complete annual training hours.
Who is required to complete training? Who benefits from this training? Where can providers get the training? For answers to these questions and others please visit our Health, Safety and Child Development Training Requirements page.
Commonly used tools and links
Your greatest tool is your local Child Care Resources and Referral (CCR&R) agency. The CCR&R will assist you with any issue/question related to client applications, redeterminations, client change of information, change of providers, certificates, and other provider/client matters.
CCR&R Office Locator
CCAP Application
Solicitud para Cuidado de Niños o Guarderia- (Español)
CCAP Eligibility Calculator
CCAP Policy Manual
Child Care Payment Inquiry - call toll free (800) 804-3833
Illinois Debit MasterCard
Licensed Child Care Arrangements
License Exempt Child Care Arrangements
Telephone Billing Instructions
Illinois Statewide Child Care Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan
CCAP Family Eligibility Determination
Eligibility can only be determined by the CCR&Rs or contracted Site Administered child care centers.
The provider must decide if they will provide care before the case is approved and how or if to charge the parent while eligibility is being determined. The parent must apply for and be found eligible for child care assistance in order for IDHS to pay for services. The provider must review the application before it is submitted and agree to the points listed and sign the Provider Certification section of the Child Care Application.
Child Care Assistance Program Eligibility Calculator - a tool designed for both clients and providers to get an estimate of the family's eligibility and co-payment.
CCAP Billing Information/Payments
- IDHS Child Care Telephone Billing System for Providers
- The Illinois Debit MasterCard® card is a fast, convenient and secure method of receiving your payments. DHS offers this program for licensed and licensed-exempt home Child Care Providers.
- Direct Deposit of CCAP payments into your existing bank account can be set up by contacting the Illinois Office of the Comptroller by calling 217-557-0930.
- Child Care Payment Inquiry - (800) 804-3833 a toll-free number that child care providers can use to check if their child care certificate has been entered for payment and an approximate mail date.
- Child Care Payment Rates - Rates apply to all child care except the adult/teen/child care disregard.
- Parent Co-Payment Information - What the parent pays once they have been approved for child care benefits.
CCAP Program Monitoring
A child care provider who participates in the Illinois Department of Human Services Child Care Assistance Program is subject to and must cooperate with a monitoring review of their records to ensure that the services billed to the Department are adequately documented.
Providers must have available all child attendance records for the past 5 (five) years during the CCAP monitoring visit. Providers may be charged an overpayment if their attendance records do not support the provider's billing certificates submitted to the CCR&R for payment.
For more information on monitoring Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) providers, see the CCAP Policy Manual section 07.10.01.
Other Resources available to Child Care Providers
- Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agencies throughout Illinois that are assigned to work with both licensed and license exempt providers. CCR&Rs provide the following services for parents and /or providers:
- Provide parents with consumer education and referrals to child care in their communities;
- Deliver training, consultation, and assistance to providers in order to improve the quality of care offered;
- Help develop new child care resources in communities where they are needed;
- Assemble and maintain an accurate child care database to provide up-to-date information to parents; and
- Record and analyze data on child care supply and demand to support community capacity building.
- ExceleRate is a system designed to make continuous quality improvement an everyday priority among early learning providers. The program establishes standards for helping children develop intellectually, physically, socially and emotionally. All programs that are licensed in the State of Illinois are included in ExceleRate at the Licensed Circle of Quality. There are three Circles of Quality programs can work towards and achieve beyond Licensed: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Programs with a Silver or Gold Circle of Quality receive a quality-add on to the standard CCAP rates.
- Great START - provides wage supplements to eligible practitioners working in licensed centers and homes.
- Gateways to Opportunity Scholarship Program - is an individual-based scholarship opportunity for practitioners working in licensed centers and homes.
- Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) - a federally-funded program operated by the Illinois State Board of Education that provides monthly reimbursement to eligible participating child care providers for serving nutritious meals and snacks.
More Information/Helpful Links/Reports
