Participants do not immediately lose their eligibility for child care assistance when an activity ends.

Child care assistance will continue for up to 3 months for participants who lose a job or permanently end an activity. This is called extended eligibility.

There are 2 categories of participants in the Child Care Assistance Program:

Schedule Reporters are families who meet at least 1 of the following criteria:

· A parent in the family is employed by a child care center that is licensed by the Department of Human Services.

· At least 1 child in the family is authorized for care with a legal non-licensed provider.

· At least 1 child in the family is authorized for care with more than 1 provider.

12-month reporters are all other families.

The category and participant activity determine whether the authorization of child care hours may change.

The Participant’s Activity Level	What Happens to the Child Care Authorization for Schedule Reporters	What Happens to the Child Care Authorization for 12-Month Reporters
Stays the same.	Does not change.	Does not change.
Participation increases.	Can increase if verified.	Can increase if verified.
Participation Decreases.	Decreases.	Does not change.

Participants’ reporting requirements

Participants must report the following changes within 10 days:

Information That Needs to Be Reported	Schedule Reporters	12-Month Reporting Families
Family income that puts the family over 85% of the state median income for their family size.	Yes.	Yes.
Address or residency.	Yes.	Yes.
Child’s school schedules.	Yes.	Yes.
Family status, such as marriage or divorce.	Yes.	Yes.
Household composition changes.	Yes.	Yes.
Citizenship or immigration status for the child.	Yes.	Yes.
Visitation schedule or custody arrangement.	Yes.	Yes.
Child care provider changes.	Yes.	Yes.
Permanent end to authorized activity.	Yes.	Yes.
Status changes in authorized activity, including: · Activity starts. · Activity schedule changes.	Yes.	No.
A change in employment that makes the family a schedule reporter.	N/A.	Yes.

Participants who intend to change child care providers must report that to the child care assistance worker at least 15 days before the change.

· This does not apply if the provider’s license has been temporarily immediately suspended or if there is imminent risk of harm to the children.