An absent day is any day that the child is authorized and scheduled to be in care with a licensed provider or license exempt center, and the child is absent from care. Child absences may occur for a variety of reasons. The reason for the child’s absence does not affect payment.

Unless a provider bills incorrectly, pay for child absences that do not exceed 10 consecutive days, up to a total of 25 absent days in a calendar year, per child, excluding holidays. If a child attends more than one licensed or certified provider, the combined total number of absent days paid must not exceed 25. If the child is absent from care with both providers on the same day and both providers charge and are paid for an absent day, count that day as one absent day. If child care absences exceed 25 days, the charges are the financial responsibility of the CCAP family.

Legal nonlicensed (LNL) providers are not eligible for absent day payments.

Exemption for documented medical conditions

For children with medical conditions (medical condition, medical reason, or illness) that cause more frequent absences:

· Absences due to the documented medical condition are exempt from the absent day limits.

· Payment may be made for more than 25 absent days per calendar year.

· Payment may be made for more than 10 consecutive absent days.

The medical condition (medical condition, medical reason, or illness) may be a condition of the child, the child’s parent, or the child’s sibling living in the same home. The condition may be chronic or time-limited:

· Chronic medical conditions: Exemptions for chronic or ongoing medical conditions can be approved for up to 12 months.

· Time-limited medical conditions: Exemptions for time-limited medical conditions can be approved for the time-period of the medical condition, not to exceed 12 months.

See CCAP Tips: Absent Day Medical Exemptions for more information and examples.

Who can document the medical condition?

The CCAP Medical Condition Documentation Form DHS-4602-ENG (PDF) or a signed statement must be completed and returned to the CCAP agency to exempt a child from the absent day limits. The form or signed statement must be completed by:

· A physician, physician’s assistant, nurse practitioner, psychiatrist, psychologist, chiropractor, public health nurse, or school nurse.

· A child care center director or assistant director, license exempt center administrator, or a lead teacher at the child care center if the child was sent home due to the medical condition or told not to return to care for a time period due to exposure to a contagious disease. Sent home includes situations where the center tells the parent not to bring the child back to care for a period of time due to exposure to a contagious disease (including telling them at the end of the day or via phone, text or email prior to the next day of care starting). The exemption is limited to 2 weeks when the form or signed statement is completed by a child care center director, assistant director, certified center administrator or lead teacher.

· A person with multiple roles can also sign the form or statement if they hold one of the roles in the second bullet (such as someone who is both a center manager and lead teacher).

· Licensed family child care providers cannot complete the form or submit a signed statement.

Verification of the medical condition

The CCAP Medical Condition Documentation Form DHS-4602-ENG (PDF) is intended to help child care centers and medical professionals complete and submit all information needed for a CCAP agency to grant a medical exemption. However, child care centers and medical professionals may submit a signed statement instead of the form.

If your agency receives a signed statement from a child care center or medical professional, review the statement to ensure it contains all needed information:

· The signed statement must include the dates that resulted in the child’s absence from care or indicate if the child has a chronic medical condition that causes the child to have frequent absences from care.

· The signed statement must identify the signer’s credentials. Ensure that the signer is an appropriate child care center designee or designated medical professional.

Some child care centers and medical professionals may document the medical condition with a combination of the form and a signed statement. This is also acceptable if the documentation submitted contains all the needed information.

Medical exemption time limits

If the form or statement is signed by the child care center, the exemption is limited to 2 weeks. If the form or statement signed by a child care center is for a time period longer than 2 weeks, grant the medical exemption for 2 full weeks, beginning on the date the exemption started. For the exemption to go beyond 2 weeks, the form or a statement would need to be completed by a physician, physician’s assistant, nurse practitioner, psychiatrist, psychologist, chiropractor, public health nurse, or school nurse.

Exemptions begin on the start date of the medical condition (medical condition, medical reason, or illness), but not more than 90 days prior to the date the completed form or statement is received by the CCAP agency. To extend the exemption or grant an exemption for another medical condition (medical condition, medical reason, or illness), another form or statement must be completed and returned to the CCAP agency.

Family notification of medical exemption

When approving or denying a medical exemption request, it is recommended that agencies send the family a MEC² Memo regarding the decision.

If the request is approved, include the approval dates of the exemption. If the medical exemption was requested by the child’s provider, inform the family that the exemption is limited and if the exemption needs to go beyond 2 weeks, they will need to have the form or a statement completed by a physician, physician’s assistant, nurse practitioner, psychiatrist, psychologist, chiropractor, public health nurse, or school nurse.

If the request is denied, inform the family of the reason(s) for the denial. The family will receive appeal rights with the MEC² Memo.

Exemption for teen parents attending certain programs

CCAP agencies may specify in their County and Tribal Child Care Fund Plan that they will consider children who meet the criteria below to be exempt from the absent day limit. Children may be exempt from the absent day limits upon request of the child care provider and approval of the CCAP agency if they are in a family where:

· At least one parent is under the age of 21 and does not have a high school or general equivalency diploma

AND

· This parent is a student in a school district or another similar program that provides or arranges for ALL of the following to achieve high school graduation:

· Child care

· Parenting support

· Social services support

· Career and employment supports

· Academic support.

The DCYF Provider Support Team determines if a provider meets the criteria above. Providers may request approval as an eligible Teen Parent Program by contacting the DCYF CCAP Provider Support Team at CCAP.Providers.DCYF@state.mn.us.

If all these criteria are met, payment may be made for more than 25 absent days per calendar year and for more than 10 consecutive absent days.

Absent day policy

Conditions for absent day payment

Pay the CCAP maximum rate, not to exceed the provider’s charge for a child absence when all the following conditions are met:

· The provider has a written policy for child absences, charges all other families in care for similar absence, and is charging the family for this day.

· The payment is not more than the provider charges privately paid families for the same absence period.

· The charge is not being paid by a non-CCAP source.

· The provider’s service is available.

· The child is scheduled to be in child care based on hours of care you authorized.

Provider overpayments

Do not charge a provider an overpayment for an absent day unless:

· One or more of the conditions for absent day payments were not met; or

· The provider did not report a change timely that resulted in an error in the amount of care authorized; or

· The provider did not correctly bill the day as an absent day.

Family overpayments

Do not charge a family an overpayment for an absent day unless:

· The family did not report a change timely or did not provide required documentation, which resulted in an error in the amount of care authorized; or

· The child exceeded their absent day limit for the year.

Frequent absent days

You cannot reduce a Service Authorization during the 12-month eligibility period unless the family requests their authorized hours be decreased. You may contact a family using frequent absent days and ask if they would like their authorization reduced.

Overpayments assessed for paid absent days

If the family is found to be ineligible and an overpayment is assessed for an absent day payment, do not count the absent day(s) against the 25-day limit.

Notification of absent day use

Providers and families are notified of the number of absent days used in that calendar year upon initial authorization for a family. Providers and families receive ongoing notifications of the number of absent days used as of the notice date on Service Authorizations and Remittance Advice.

Partial day absences

Only days in which a child is absent for the entire time authorized count against the child’s 25 absent days per calendar year limit. If a child attends child care for any part of a day, but is absent for part of the day, the full amount of care authorized for that day can be billed and paid, and the day will not count towards the 25 absent day limit.

Absent day payment during a family’s notice period

If a child does not attend child care during a notice period when care is ending and it is the provider’s policy to charge for these days, the notice period can be paid using absent days. The absent day limits continue to apply during this period. If the child does not have enough absent days to cover the full notice period, payment may end before the end of the notice period.

Holidays

See Chapter 9.15.12 (Holidays) for information on payment for holidays, and the impact of holidays on absent days.

Consecutive absent days and holidays

If a CCAP paid holiday occurs during the midst of other child absent days, the holiday interrupts but does not stop the absent day count. Holidays are not counted as absent days, but the absent day following the holiday will continue the 10 consecutive day count.

Example 1:

Child was scheduled and authorized for care four days a week (Monday through Thursday). Child’s last attended day was Thursday, 12/18/2025.

Provider billed absent days and holidays for days the child was scheduled and authorized (Monday through Thursday). Holidays are not counted as absent days. The consecutive absent day count continues after the holiday. The consecutive absent day count does not restart each new year. In this example, the last day that can be paid is 1/8/2026; child care cannot be paid until child attends care again.

Absent Day #1 (12/22/2025)

Absent Day #2 (12/23/2025)

Absent Day #3 (12/24/2025)

Holiday (12/25/2025)

Absent Day #4 (12/29/2025)

Absent Day #5 (12/30/2025)

Absent Day #6 (12/31/2025)

Holiday (1/1/2026)

Absent Day #7 (1/5/2026)

Absent Day #8 (1/6/2026)

Absent Day #9 (1/7/2026)

Absent Day #10 (1/8/2026)

Absent Day #11 (1/12/2026) – Not paid, consecutive limit reached.

Example 2:

Child was scheduled and authorized for care five days a week (Monday through Friday), every other week. The week that the child is not scheduled and authorized is because the child is with other parent due to the custody schedule. Child was scheduled and authorized for the week of 12/15/25–12/19/25. Child’s last day attended was Friday, 12/19/25.

Provider billed for absent days and holidays for days the child was scheduled and authorized. Holidays are not counted as absent days. The consecutive absent days will continue to count even when there are gaps of days/weeks that were not scheduled, and there was no attendance on the scheduled and authorized days. The consecutive absent day count does not restart each new year. In this example, the last day that can be paid is 1/26/26; child care cannot be paid until child attends care again.

Child was not scheduled and authorized the week of 12/22/25–12/26/25.

Absent day #1 (12/29/25)

Absent day #2 (12/30/25)

Absent day #3 (12/31/25)

Holiday (1/1/26)

Absent day #4 (1/2/26)

Child was not scheduled and authorized the week of 1/5/26–1/9/26.

Absent day #5 (1/12/26)

Absent day #6 (1/13/26)

Absent day #7 (1/14/26)

Absent day #8 (1/15/26)

Absent day #9 (1/16/26)

Child was not scheduled and authorized the week of 1/19/26–1/23/26.

Absent day #10 (1/26/26)

Absent day #11 (1/27/26) - Not paid, consecutive limit reached.

Legal authority

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