Child Care and Development Fund, Report to Congress for Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005
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HOW FAMILIES RECEIVE SUBSIDIES AND CONTRIBUTE TO THE COST OF CARE
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Parents may choose any legally operating child care provider. |
Parental Choice
The statute provides for parental choice of child care provider. Parents may choose any legally operating child care provider. The regulations define child care provider as one who provides child care in a center, a group home, a family home, or in the child's own home. States may limit the use of in-home care. Care by a faith-based provider, a relative provider, and any other type of legally provided child care are allowable choices.
Certificates
Families receiving a CCDF subsidy must be given the choice to receive a certificate for child care services. A certificate is defined in the statute as a check or other disbursement that is issued by a State or local government directly to a parent who may use the certificate only as payment for child care services. Certificates must be flexible enough to allow funds to follow the child to any participating child care provider the parent selects.
Access
By statute, a State's CCDF Plan must certify that payment rates for the provision of CCDF child care services facilitate access for eligible children. Services must be comparable to those provided to children whose parents are not eligible to receive assistance. In their CCDF Plans, States must describe-
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How a choice of the full range of providers is made available
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How payment rates are adequate, based on a local market rate survey conducted within the previous 2 years
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The affordability of family co-payments
Co-payments
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Families must contribute to the cost of care on a sliding fee basis. |
Families must contribute to the cost of care on a sliding fee basis. The CCDF Plan must include the scale or scales used to determine the family's contribution, which must be based on family size and income. The State may add other factors; for example, the number of children in care and rules for counting income. States may exempt families below the Federal poverty level from paying a co-payment.