Policy Statement:

Title IV of PRWORA requires programs offering Federal public benefits to verify the citizenship and immigration status of the recipients of such services. The Child Care and Development Fund is considered a program that provides a Federal public benefit and is subject to the verification requirement.

The citizenship status must be verified unless the child is exempt from verification requirements. A child enrolled in a Head Start or Pre-K collaboration is exempt from the verification requirements. However, if a Head Start grantee operates a separate program that is entirely supported by CCDF funds, the separate CCDF program is not exempt from the verification requirements.

Federal Funds: Citizenship and immigration status of the child, the primary beneficiary of Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), is relevant for the purposes of establishing a payment funding source. Federal funds may be utilized for payments of eligible U.S. citizens, U.S. non-citizen nationals, and qualified aliens.

State Funds: Federal funds cannot be used to pay for eligible care for a non-citizen child who is not a qualified alien (see definition below).A non-citizen child who does not meet criteria as a qualified alien includes undocumented or illegal immigrants as well as immigrants, formerly considered eligible for benefits by the courts, known as Permanent Residence Under Color of Law "PRUCOL".

Illinois will continue to authorize services to non-citizen children and will pay for these services with State dollars.

Eligibility for the Child Care Assistance Program:

Citizenship or immigration status of the child's parent cannot be considered and will not impact the child's eligibility determination.

Eligibility will not be denied based on a child's citizenship status