Accepting applications

Encourage families to apply for assistance in their county of residence. However, you must accept applications from residents of other Minnesota counties and immediately forward the application to the county, Tribe or subcontracted CCAP agency where the applicant lives.

For a person who lives in an excluded time facility or receives excluded time services, the county of residence in which they lived, in non-excluded time status, immediately before entering an excluded time facility is the financially responsible agency (FRA) and must accept the family’s application. For example, when a person lives in County A and directly enters an excluded time facility in County B, County A is the financially responsible county when the family applies for child care assistance. See Chapter 4.24.1 (Excluded Time Facilities).

Families can submit applications in-person, by mail, by fax or electronically through MNbenefits. Electronic photos of the application form are also acceptable. See Chapter 3 (Applications).

Date of application

The date of application is the date any CCAP agency receives a signed and dated application. If an application is received on weekends, holidays, or after hours the date of application will be the next business day.

Do not enter an application in MEC² if the application is not signed and dated. Make a copy of the application and send it to the family to sign and date.

· If the family does not return the signed and dated application by the end of the 30-day application processing timeframe, deny the application using a manual denial notice (DHS-5588).

· If the family returns the signed and dated application, the date of application is the date the original application was received.

For paper applications, agencies must use one of the following methods to record the application received date:

· Date stamp the application

OR

· Sign and date the Agency Signature field on the application.

For applications received through MNbenefits:

· Applications with an electronic signature are considered signed.

· Applications with “Did Not Sign” typed in the signature field, are not considered signed.

· The date of submission can be determined by the “Submission Date” field of the PDF and XML versions of the application.

For more information about how to access and process online application received through MNbenefits, see the MNbenefits Worker Process Guide located on SIR.

Legal authority

Minnesota Statutes 142E.03, subd. 1
Minnesota Statutes 142E.10, subd. 7
Minnesota Rules 3400.0035