The amount of child care authorized must reflect the needs of the family and minimize out of pocket child care costs to the family. Include information in case notes describing how care is authorized.

Guidelines for authorizing child care

Rules for authorizing child care differ depending on the family’s authorized activities or if they use a legal nonlicensed provider:

· For parents with approved Employment Plans, see Chapter 9.1.5 (Authorizing Care – Employment Plans).

· For parents attending school, see Chapter 9.1.2 (Authorizing Care – Students).

· For employed parents, see Chapter 9.1.1 (Authorizing Care – Employment).

· For self-employment parents, see Chapter 9.1.1.1 (Authorizing Care – Self-Employment).

· For parents who are job searching, see Chapter 9.1.4 (Authorizing Care – Job Search).

· For parents who are participating in a combination of activities, see Chapter 9.1.7 (Authorizing Care – Combinations of Activities).

· For families who have chosen a legal nonlicensed provider, see Chapter 9.1.18 (Authorizing Care with a Legal Nonlicensed Provider).

Determining the number of hours to authorize

Determine the schedule of care needed

Do NOT pay for more than 120 hours of child care assistance per child every two weeks.

The maximum number of hours authorized for each child should be the number of hours that care is needed to support parental authorized activities, excluding the hours that the child does not need child care and the hours that the provider is not available. The child may not need child care due to the child being in school or the parent having another care arrangement. If the family indicates on the application or redetermination that fewer hours of child care are needed, the worker may follow up with the family to determine if fewer hours of care should be authorized.

To determine the number of hours that care is needed for each child, the worker must examine each of these:

· The family’s authorized activity schedule.

· The child’s school schedule.

· The provider’s availability.

· The parenting time/custody schedule for a child that resides in multiple households.

· Travel time and breaks

See Chapter 7.27 (Schedule Verification – Employment and Education) and Chapter 7.30 (Schedule Information – Child’s School Schedule) and Chapter 7.32 (Parenting Time/Custody Schedule Information)

Custody schedules or parenting time arrangements

If a child resides in multiple homes, hours can only be authorized based on the times the child is in the CCAP home. A child is considered temporarily absent from the CCAP parent’s home when the child is residing with the other parent. Care cannot be authorized and paid for a child during the times they are temporarily absent from the CCAP home, even though they are still included in the household size. This includes payment of absent days when the child is in the other parent’s custody. See Chapter 5.3 (Determining the CCAP Family) for information about how parenting time arrangements affect determination of the CCAP family. See “Communicating the number of authorized hours” below for information about communicating authorized hours when there are shared custody schedules.

Two-parent families

In a two-parent family where both parents are in an authorized activity and are able to care for the child, care can only be authorized during time periods when both parents are participating in authorized activities, including travel time and breaks/meals. During times when only one parent is participating in authorized activities, care is not needed because the other parent is available to care for the child.

Situations when care cannot be authorized

Care cannot be authorized during the hours that a child is in school, including hours the child is participating in an online school program or during the hours that a child is participating in home school learning. See Chapter 7.30 (Schedule Information – Child’s School Schedule).

See Chapter 9.15.21 (Children of Child Care Providers) for information about when care can and cannot be authorized for children of child care providers.

Determine the number of hours to cover the schedule of care

Care must be authorized in full hour increments. If the amount of care needed is in increments of less than a full hour, round up to the full hour to obtain a daily total of hours to be authorized.

· Example: if care is needed for 5.5 hours per day, 5 days per week, the number of hours authorized per day should be rounded up to 6 hours.

· 6 hours per day times 5 days per week is 30 hours of care per week. 60 hours of care biweekly should be authorized.

Sessions of child care

When authorizing care for school age children or preschool children who attend preschool or Head Start programs in addition to child care, if the amount of care needed is in increments of less than a full hour, round up the amount of care to the full hour for each separate session and add together to obtain a daily total of hours to be authorized.

· Example: Child needs the following care five days per week.

AM	PM	Care Authorized
1.5 hours=2 hours	1.5 hours=2 hours	4 hours=40 hours biweekly rather than 30 hours biweekly
15 minutes=1 hour	1.5 hours=2 hours	3 hours=30 hours biweekly rather than 20 hours biweekly

Authorizing retroactive care

Care may be authorized and paid retroactively. See CCAP Tips: Retroactive Eligibility & Authorization for more information and examples.   

Retroactive authorization at application

If a provider provided care for a time period without receiving a Service Authorization and a billing form, care for the initial authorization at or after application can be authorized retroactively to the latest of:

· The date care started.

· The family’s eligibility begin date. See Chapter 4.18 (Date of Eligibility).

· The date the family meets authorization requirements.

· The provider’s DCYF registration begin date. See Chapter 11.12 (Provider Registration).

Retroactive authorization and payment cannot go back further than six months prior to the date Service Authorizations and billing forms are issued.

See Chapter 9.3 (Payments to Providers).

Example of timeline for an application

· 7/1/21 – Family applies for MFIP child care. MFIP, authorized activities, and care with the children’s provider started 3/1/21.

· 7/30/21 – CCAP application processed, and eligibility approved back to 4/1/21 (3 months from the CCAP application date). Care not authorized due to no activity schedules.

· 10/25/21 – Agency receives activity schedule verification from 4/1/21 needed to authorize care back to the eligibility begin date.

· 11/1/21 – Service Authorization approved back to 5/1/21 (six months before the Service Authorization is issued). For a family at application, retroactive authorization and payment cannot go back further than six months prior to the date Service Authorizations and billing forms are issued.

Retroactive authorization during the 12-month eligibility period or at redetermination

After a family’s initial authorization, if a provider provided care for a time period without receiving a Service Authorization and a billing form for an eligible family, care can be authorized retroactively for a maximum of three months from the date the provider is issued a Service Authorization and billing form.

Example of timeline during 12-month period or at redetermination

· Family has been eligible for two years. Children are authorized with a primary provider (Mon. – Thurs.).

· 7/1/21 – Family notifies their CCAP agency that children have attended a secondary provider (Fri. – Sun.) since 12/4/20.

· 7/15/21 – Agency receives updated activity schedule verification needed to increase authorized hours.

· 7/19/21 – Agency approves an authorization for the secondary provider for up to 20 hours per biweekly period back to 4/19/21 (three months before the Service Authorization is issued).

Communicating the number of hours authorized and schedule of care

The number of hours authorized per biweekly period is listed on the Service Authorization. Workers can include comments on the Service Authorization.

Scheduled and authorized hours

Workers can include a comment to let families know how their authorized hours were determined but are not required to do so. Families and providers can determine when the authorized hours can be scheduled.

Custody schedules or parenting time arrangements

It is recommended that workers communicate to the parent when adjustments to a Service Authorization are made to reflect a parenting time or custody arrangement. The parent will need to communicate to their provider that care should not be billed on their child care assistance case, including absent days, when the child is in the other parent’s custody. It is recommended that workers add a comment to the family’s Service Authorization or if the information is communicated in person or over the phone, to case note the conversation. Best practice is to include comments on the provider’s Service Authorization about the scheduled and authorized hours but not include that the custody schedule is the reason for that schedule. For example, in a situation in which parents switch custody every other week, an appropriate comment may be, “Care is scheduled and authorized for 30 hours within one week in a biweekly period.”

Legal authority

Minnesota Statutes 142E.10
Minnesota Statutes 142E.11
Minnesota Statutes 142E.17, subd. 9
Minnesota Rules 3400.0110