Child Care Bureau: Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF)

Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF)

Technical Bulletin #11 (For Tribes) (also in Word and PDF)

ACF-700 and Other CCDF Reporting Requirements: Frequently Asked Questions
FINAL: September 2004

I. Introduction

The purpose of this Bulletin is to clarify questions and issues related to the tribal grantee reporting requirements. Submission of annual reports is a requirement for all grantees who receive Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) dollars.

This Bulletin addresses some of the most frequently asked questions (FAQ) about reporting responsibilities and processes. The Child Care Automation Resource Center (CCARC) staff have responded to these questions via phone, fax, e-mail, and in-person at tribal conferences. Answers summarized in this Bulletin are grouped into four sections which include references to related on-line resources:

Reporting requirements
Report Preparation and Submission
Specific ACF-700 Data Elements
Common Reporting Errors.

II. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

Question: Exactly what reports do I have to submit?

Answer: Following the award of a CCDF grant, grantees must submit three different kinds of reports each year. A financial report (ACF-696T) describes expenditures of the grant funds. The ACF-700 form summarizes data about the children and families served and the services provided. The Supplemental Narrative, which accompanies the ACF-700, allows grantees to describe in greater detail their services, new and emerging issues, and creative ways they have addressed those issues to remain responsive to family child care needs in their communities. Reports represent activities that have taken place throughout the fiscal year (October 1 - September 30). Each of these reports is due by the end of December each year.

Additional guidance: Reporting Requirements for Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Grantees

Question: Is there a specific form that I have to use to submit the reports?

Answer: Financial information must be entered onto the ACF-696T form. Program data must be entered onto the ACF-700 form. Copies of these forms are included in the appendix. There are guidelines, but no specific form, for the Supplemental Narrative.

Financial Form: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ccb/law/guidance/current/pi2008-05/696tform.htm
Data Form: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ccb/law/guidance/current/pi2008-04/acf700fm.htm
Supplemental Narrative: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ccb/report/formhelp/acf700/narrative.htm

III. REPORT PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION

Question: Where and how do I send my reports?

Answer: Financial reports are sent to your ACF Regional Office. Supplemental Narratives are sent to your ACF Regional Office. Data reports are sent to your ACF Regional Office, and a copy also must be sent to the CCARC. Data also may be submitted electronically.

	Financial Report	Supplemental Narrative	Data Report
Form Number	ACF-696T		ACF-700
Due Date	Annually on 12/29	Annually on 12/31	Annually on 12/31
Submission Method	Currently: Hard Copy Transitioning to Electronic submission	Hard copy - or- Electronic e-mail attachment	Hard copy - or- Web-based electronic submission
Send To	ACF Regional Office	ACF Regional Office	Hard Copy: ACF Regional Office - AND- CCARC Electronic: CCB Data Submission Web site

Regional Office Staff: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ccb/ta/raaddr/raaddr.htm
CCARC: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ccb/ta/ccarc/index.htm
CCB Submission Site:http://extranet.acf.hhs.gov/acf700/login/login700.jsp

Question: How do I submit the ACF-700 electronically?

Answer: The Child Care Bureau's homepage on the Internet (www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ccb) has a link to the ACF-700 data submission site. In addition to the ACF-700 form, the "Program Profile Report," a graphic summary of the information you have entered, also is accessible from this site. You need a user name and password to log into the site and enter your data. To obtain a user name and password, contact the Child Care Automation Resource Center by phone (1-877-249-9117) or e-mail (ccarc@childcaredata.org)

If you submit your annual data electronically, it is advisable that you also send a paper copy of the form to your ACF Regional Office so your ACF Regional Liaison will know that you have met the reporting requirement.

Question: Some grantees use the "Tribal Tracker" to prepare their ACF-700 report. What is the Tracker?

Answer: The Tribal Child Care Data Tracker is software that the Child Care Bureau developed and provided to tribal grantees to help them record and manage the information that is required for the preparation of the ACF-700 form. The Tracker is a case management tool that allows grantees to maintain case-level information about the families and children they serve and the services they provide. In addition to automatically generating the ACF-700 report, Tracker functions include preparation of vouchers/certificates, preparation of mailing labels, and generation of a variety of other management reports.

Additional information about the Tracker may be found at: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ccb/ta/ccarc/tracker.htm#tracker

Question: Do I have to use the Tracker?

Answer: The use of the Tracker software is not required. Grantees decide how they will best be able to maintain all of the information that is necessary for calculating the annual summary information about the families and children they serve, and the services they provide. It is important to note that even though the ACF-700 is an annual report that is due only one time each year, it relies on information that has been collected throughout the year and calculated on a monthly basis. Using the Tracker can greatly facilitate this process because it does the required calculations for you.

IV. SPECIFIC ACF-700 DATA ELEMENTS

Question: In Section 3, how do I report a child's age during the reporting period?

Answer: The age of the child is reported as of the end of the report period (i.e. the age of the child on September 30 of that year or the date the child exits from the CCDF program).

Question: In Section 3, which line do I use if a child is one year old?

Answer: All children receiving services fit into one and only one age category. Note that the categories are intended to be non-overlapping. The first category of 0 to 1 years does not include exactly 1-year old children. An exactly 1-year old child should be counted in the category 3b (1-year to 2-years). Likewise, a child that is exactly 13-years old should not be counted in either category 3g or 3h, but in category 3i below.

Question: In Section 3, how do I record information if a child is receiving care in more than one type of program?

Answer: For each age category, you should count the total number of children that are receiving each type of care regardless of whether that care is full-time or only part-time. For example, one child may receive care in a licensed center from 8:00-3:00 (5 hours), and receive care from a licensed family home provider from 3:00-6:00 (3 hours). This child should be counted under both Column J and Column L.

When you record information about children receiving care in more than one care type, the rows will not add up to equal the total in Column A. Column A should represent an unduplicated count of the number of children served in each age group.

Question: In Section 4, which line do I use if a parent is both working and in a training program?

Answer: Count only the activity (i.e., work or training) in which the parent spends the most time and is the primary reason for needing subsidized child care

Question: In Section 6, how do I report CCDF subsidy amount if we are operating our own child care program? We really don't "pay" ourselves for child care in the traditional sense.

Answer: You can calculate and report the amount that your program spends for direct child care services each month based on your fiscal report information. Line 4 in the ACF-696T form requires you to indicate how much of your mandatory, discretionary, and base amount funds you have spent for services. By keeping track of monthly expenditures, these three numbers can serve as the basis for your calculation. It is likely that you will have to coordinate with your fiscal staff to obtain accurate numbers.

ACF-700 Report Guide: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ccb/report/formhelp/acf700/helpdocs/700guide.doc
696T Report Guide: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ccb/law/guidance/current/pi2008-05/696tinstruct.htm

V. COMMON REPORTING ERRORS

Question: Is Section 4, number of children receiving child care services, a count of children or a count of families?

Answer: Section 4 is a count of children, not families.

Question: Is Section 7, number of children receiving child care services from families with certain income categories, a count of children or a count of families?

Answer: Section 7 is a count of children, not families.

Question: What values must add up on the ACF-700 form?

Answer: There are several categories of numbers that must balance when they are added up. If the numbers don't balance, it is likely that some children either were counted twice or were left out. Specific data checks are detailed below.

Elements 3a - 3g, (total # children ages 0-13) = Element 3h
Element 3a = number of children age 0 years to 1 year
Element 3b = number of children age 1 years to 2 years
Element 3c = number of children age 2 years to 3 years
Element 3d = number of children age 3 years to 4 years
Element 3e = number of children age 4 years to 5 years
Element 3f = number of children age 5 years to 6 years
Element 3g = number of children age 6 years to 13 years

Element 3h, Column A represents the total number of children being served who are between birth and 13 years. Numbers reported in 3a through 3g should add up to and equal 3h. The following example displays only Column A of the ACF-700 form. The same rule applies to all of the columns for each of the care types.

EXAMPLE	(A) TOTAL
1. Number of families receiving child care services	75
2a. Average number of children served per month	118
2b. Total number of children receiving child care services	125
3. Age breakdown of children receiving child care services:
a. 0 up to 1 year	a. 3
b. 1 year up to 2 years	b. 5
c. 2 years up to 3 years	c. 20
d. 3 years up to 4 years	d. 50
e. 4 years up to 5 years	e. 22
f. 5 years up to 6 years	f. 8
g. 6 years up to 13 years	g. 12
h. 0 up to 13 years (sum of rows 3a thru 3g)	h. 120
i. 13 - and older	i. 5

Elements 3h + 3i, (total # children receiving services) = Element 2b,

Element 3h = number of children ages 0 years to 13 years
Element 3i = number of children ages 13 and over

All children receiving services are either below age 13 (category 3h) or at or above age 13 (3i). Therefore the sum of categories 3h and 3i must equal the total number of children served as reported on line 2b in column A. For each care type - columns (B) through (L) - the same rule applies.

EXAMPLE	(A) TOTAL
1. Number of families receiving child care services	75
2a. Average number of children served per month	118
2b. Total number of children receiving child care services	125
3. Age breakdown of children receiving child care services:
a. 0 up to 1 year	a. 3
b. 1 year up to 2 years	b. 5
c. 2 years up to 3 years	c. 20
d. 3 years up to 4 years	d. 50
e. 4 years up to 5 years	e. 22
f. 5 years up to 6 years	f. 8
g. 6 years up to 13 years	g. 12
h. 0 up to 13 years (sum of rows 3a thru 3g)	h. 120
i. 13 - and older	i. 5

Element 4a - c, (total # children receiving services) = Element 2b (A)

Element 4a = number of children receiving services because parent is working
Element 4b = number of children receiving services because of education or training
Element 4c = number of children receiving services because of protective services

All children should be receiving services for one of the above three reasons, so these three numbers should equal the total number of children served as reported on line 2b, in column A. Note that the counts are children and not families. If a family has four children, three of whom are receiving services because the parent is working, these three children should be included in the counts for in Element 4a. The child not receiving subsidized services should not be counted anywhere in the ACF-700 form.

EXAMPLE	(A) TOTAL
1. Number of families receiving child care services	75
2a. Average number of children served per month	118
2b. Total number of children receiving child care services	125
3. Age breakdown of children receiving child care services:
a. 0 up to 1 year	a. 3
b. 1 year up to 2 years	b. 5
c. 2 years up to 3 years	c. 20
d. 3 years up to 4 years	d. 50
e. 4 years up to 5 years	e. 22
f. 5 years up to 6 years	f. 8
g. 6 years up to 13 years	g. 12
h. 0 up to 13 years (sum of rows 3a thru 3g)	h. 120
i. 13 - and older	i. 5
4. Number of children receiving child care because:
a. Parent if (or parents are) working	a. 88
b. Parent is (or parents are) in training or education program	b. 32
c. Child is receiving or in need of protective services	c. 5

Element 7 a - d (total # children receiving services) = Element 2b, Column A

Element 7a is number of children at or below the poverty threshold
Element 7b is number of children above the threshold but below 150% of threshold
Element 7c is number of children above 150% but below 200% of threshold
Element 7d is number of children above or equal to 200% of threshold

All children are from families that fall into one of the above four income categories, so these four numbers should equal the total number of children served as reported on line 2b, in column A. Note that the counts are of children and not families.

For example consider a single parent in Arizona with four children (this would be a family of 5), three of whom are receiving services because the parent is working. If this family has an income of $15,000, using current (2004) poverty guidelines, they would fall in category 7a (below poverty threshold). Even though the 4^th child that is not receiving services is included when determining poverty level, this child is not included when counting the total number of children who received services.

HHS poverty guidelines are updated annually and are available on line at: http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/. A table to help you calculate poverty levels is included in the appendix.

Note that there are separate poverty guidelines for the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia, and for Alaska and Hawaii.

EXAMPLE	(A) TOTAL
1. Number of families receiving child care services	75
2a. Average number of children served per month	118
2b. Total number of children receiving child care services	125
3. Age breakdown of children receiving child care services:
a. 0 up to 1 year	a. 3
b. 1 year up to 2 years	b. 5
c. 2 years up to 3 years	c. 20
d. 3 years up to 4 years	d. 50
e. 4 years up to 5 years	e. 22
f. 5 years up to 6 years	f. 8
g. 6 years up to 13 years	g. 12
h. 0 up to 13 years (sum of rows 3a thru 3g)	h. 120
i. 13 - and older	i. 5

7. Number of children receiving child care from families with income:
a. at or below the poverty threshold for families of the same size	a. 110
b. above the poverty threshold but at or below 150 percent of the poverty threshold for families of the same size	b. 9
c. above the 150 percent of the poverty threshold but at or below 200 percent of the poverty threshold for families of the same size	c. 6
d. above 200 percent of the poverty threshold for families of the same size	d. 0

Posted September, 2004