3.3 Waiving Family Co-payment

3.3.1 Waiving family co-payment The Lead Agency may waive family contributions/co-payments for many families to lower their costs and maximize affordability for families. Lead Agencies have broad flexibility in determining for which families they will waive co-payments. Does the Lead Agency waive family contributions/co-payments? [ ] No, the Lead Agency does not waive any family contributions/co-payments. (Skip to question 4.1.1.) [x] Yes. If yes, identify and describe which family contributions/co-payments waived. i. [ ]Families with an income at or below 100% of the Federal Poverty Level for families of the same size. ii. [ ]Families with an income above 100% but at or below 150% of the Federal Poverty Level for families of the same size. iii. [x]Families experiencing homelessness. iv. [ ]Families with children with disabilities. v. [ ]Families enrolled in Head Start or Early Head Start. vi. [x]Children in foster care or kinship care, or otherwise receiving or needing to receive protective services. Describe the policy: Counties are required to waive parent fees during the Homeless Stabilization Period. At the option of the county, the county may waive copays (parent fees) for children that are dually enrolled in CCCAP and Head Start/Early Head Start. Additionally, at the option of the county, the county may provide Protective Services Child Care utilizing CCDF funds. Protective Services households are considered to be a household of one for purposes of determining income eligibility. The only countable income for a protective services household is the income that is received by the child that has been placed in kinship or foster care which may be waived on a case-by-case basis based upon the county’s Protective Services Child Care policy. If the income is waived, the Protective Services household will not have a copay. vii. [x]Families meeting other criteria established by the Lead Agency. Describe the policy: One-or-two-teen parent households who are in middle/junior high, high school, GED, or vocational/technical training activity and for whom payment of a fee produces a hardship, the copay may be waived entirely and documented in the case file. The Parent Fee Waiver shall be reviewed during each redetermination. Counties may also grant a hardship and reduce the parent fee to $5 for up to six months at a time. The county director or their designee shall approve fee reductions and a written justification placed in the case file and noted in the case record in the Child Care Automated Tracking System (CHATS). Any hardship award may be extended so long as justification for extending the hardship award exists. Families must directly contact their county in either of these situations and are directed to do so on the Colorado Department of Early Childhood website. 4 Parental Choice, Equal Access, Payment Rates, and Payment Practices Core purposes of CCDF are to provide participating parents choice in their child care arrangements and provide their children with equal access to child care compared to those children not participating in CCDF. CCDF requirements approach equal access and parental choice comprehensively to meet these foundational program goals. Providing access to a full range of child care providers helps ensure that families can choose a child care provider that meets their family’s needs. CCDF payment rates and practices must be sufficient to support equal access by allowing child care providers to recruit and retain skilled staff, provide high-quality care, and operate in a sustainable way. Supply-building strategies are also essential. This section addresses many of the CCDF provisions related to equal access, including access to the full range of providers, payment rates for providers, co-payments for families, payment practices, differential payment rates, and other strategies that support parental choice and access by helping to ensure that child care providers are available to serve children participating in CCDF. In responding to questions in this section, OCC recognizes that each Lead Agency identifies and defines its own categories and types of care. OCC does not expect Lead Agencies to change their definitions to fit the CCDF-defined categories and types of care. For these questions, provide responses that closely match the CCDF categories of care.