2.1 Reducing Barriers to Family Enrollment and Redetermination

Lead Agency enrollment and redetermination policies may not unduly disrupt parents’ employment, education, or job training activities to comply with the Lead Agency’s or designated local entity’s requirements. Lead Agencies have broad flexibility to design and implement the eligibility practices that reduce barriers to enrollment and redetermination. Examples include developing strategies to inform families and their providers of an upcoming redetermination and the information that will be required of the family, pre-populating subsidy renewal forms, having parents confirm that the information is accurate, and/or asking only for the information necessary to make an eligibility redetermination. In addition, Lead Agencies can offer a variety of family-friendly methods for submitting documentation for eligibility redetermination that considers the range of needs for families in accessing support (e.g., use of languages other than English, access to transportation, accommodation of parents working non-traditional hours). 2.1.1 Eligibility practices to reduce barriers to enrollment a. Does the Lead Agency implement any of the following eligibility practices to reduce barriers at the time of initial eligibility determination? Check all that apply and describe those elements checked. i. [x] Establishing presumptive eligibility while eligibility is being determined. Describe the policy, including the populations benefiting from the policy, and identify how long the period of presumptive eligibility is: Families may receive a provisional authorization of 12 weeks in length if they need time gathering eligibility and/or service need verification documentation. Families must minimally verify identity and residency for the child to receive presumptive eligibility for initial authorization. This provisional authorization acts as presumptive eligibility. At the end of the 12-week authorization, a 12-month authorization will be entered if all documentation has been received including verification of a service need of 20 hours or more. Families that have all required documentation at initial eligibility to determine eligibility (MA residency, citizenship, income, service need of 20 or more hours) will receive a 12-month authorization. ii. [x] Leveraging eligibility from other public assistance programs. Describe: Families receiving support from the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) and the Department of Children and Families (DCF) are also eligible for child care financial assistance and can receive referrals directly from DTA and DCF. The referral by itself determines eligibility for child care financial assistance and the parent will only have to show proof of identity to confirm their eligibility to the CCRR or contracted provider administering the child care financial assistance. Additionally, families with children enrolled in Head Start will receive priority access on EEC’s waitlist as well as families who may be enrolled in other financial assistance child assistance programs and their eligibility is ending. iii. [x] Coordinating determinations for children in the same household (while still ensuring each child receives 12 months of eligibility). Describe: Families are able to apply for child care financial assistance for more than one child at a time and receive a full 12-month authorization and will not have to wait on the waitlist. iv. [ ] Self-assessment screening tools for families. Describe: v. [x] Extended office hours (evenings and/or weekends). vi. [x] Consultation available via phone. vii. [x] Other. Describe the Lead Agency policies to process applications efficiently and make timely eligibility determinations: EEC allows for different modes of eligibility determination which includes email, fax, no touch drop off, and in-person appointments. EEC has encouraged Family Access Administrators to allow for virtual authorization appointments and requires that they be sensitive to the different technology capabilities of parents and make accommodations as needed. EEC has also strongly encouraged Family Access Administrators to secure and use electronic signature software for parents to sign required documents. viii. [ ] None. b. Does the Lead Agency use an online subsidy application? [ ] Yes. [x] No. If no, describe why an online application is impracticable. The underlying case management system was only intended to be a stopgap measure and has limitations in terms of scalability and flexibility of user experience in particular. We want to coordinate the implementation of the family-facing application with the replacement of the case management system to minimize rework. We also have the opportunity to work with the MA Executive Office of Technology Services and Security to be the next department that integrates with the expanded functionality of their identity provider (My Mass Gov) such that we would be able to leverage fields from the user’s universal profile to auto-fill some fields in our application, reducing work on the user’s end. Implementing a separate application on our current system would likely make us miss the timing on this opportunity, which we consider a key step in the re-envisioned integrated eligibility story in Massachusetts. EEC's modernization of the child care financial assistance system includes updates to regulations, policies, and procedures including forms and technology systems. With these changes, EEC has been focused on first finalizing policy and procedures then moving towards updating our application to ensure alignment with the policies. The financial assistance application is currently a fillable pdf that can be submitted electronically to Child Care Referral Agencies. c. Does the Lead Agency use different policies for families receiving TANF assistance? [x] Yes. If yes, describe the policies: Families receiving TANF assistance and participating in an approved activity, are not required to be placed on EEC’s waitlist for child care financial assistance. The Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) issues a referral that is electronically sent to the Child Care Resource and Referral Agency (CCRR). The CCRR contacts the guardian and assists with the placement of the child(ren) in child care. The parent co-payment is waived and the required documentation is limited to the referral, proof of parent’s identity and all EEC required forms [ ] No. 2.1.2 Preventing disruption of eligibility activities a. Identify, where applicable, the Lead Agency’s procedures and policies to ensure that parents do not have their employment, education, or job training unduly disrupted to comply with the State’s/Territory’s or designated local entity’s requirements for the redetermination of eligibility. Check all that apply. i. [x] Advance notice to parents of pending redetermination. ii. [x] Advance notice to providers of pending redetermination. iii. [ ] Pre-populated subsidy renewal form. iv. [x] Online documentation submission. v. [ ] Cross-program redeterminations. vi. [x] Extended office hours (evenings and/or weekends). vii. [x] Consultation available via phone. viii. [x] Leveraging eligibility from other public assistance programs. ix. [x] Other. Describe: Parents are given the option of completing initial authorizations and reauthorizations virtually or in-person and families must be notified of the need to reauthorize 60 days in advance. EEC policy requires that Family Access Administrators create a process to exchange documents in a way that can be flexible for different parents’ needs including, but not limited to, email, fax, and no-touch drop off. All CCRR’s and some contracted providers utilize text messages to send reminders to families. Also, families working with CCRR’s have the ability to submit re-determinations electronically via Adobe sign and in the upcoming 1-2 years, our families will have the ability to upload required verification documentation and apply electronically. b. Does the Lead Agency use different policies for families receiving TANF assistance? [x] Yes. If yes, describe the policies: Families receiving TANF are informed at least 60 days before the end of the expiring authorization. DTA confirms continued eligibility and sends a referral to the CCR&R. The CCRR then reaches out to the family to confirm that the information in the referral is correct. If yes, then the parent or caregiver signs the updated application and fee agreement. This can be completed electronically or in-person. Additionally, through monthly reporting EEC provides DTA with child care authorization end dates to ensure timely processing of reauthorizations. [ ] No.