Page 9

10-148 Chapter 6 page 9

52. Provider Agreement means the agreement between a Child Care Provider by type of provider, licensed or licensed-exempt, and the Department that outlines the conditions under which the Child Care Provider may receive a Child Care Affordability Program Payment from the Department.

53. Reasonable Cause means Department-Approved reasons for a Child’s absence from a Child Care Provider’s program which may include, without limitation: Federal/State holidays; Parental vacation days; inclement weather defined by a snow day when local schools are closed; illness of the Child or other immediate Family member; appointments; transportation issues that affect the Parent’s ability to transport the Child to care; Family visitations: Family emergencies, including, but not limited to, surgery, medical treatments, or accidents; or catastrophic events affecting the Family, including but not limited to fires, storms, or accidents.

54. Repeated Failure means when the majority of billings for Child Care Services from the Child Care Provider, within a six (6) month period, were not received on time, and/or were incomplete and/or inaccurate, in spite of the Department’s efforts to provide technical assistance to the Child Care Provider.

55. Safe Sleep Practices means an initiative which encourages Parents and other caregivers to have Infants sleep on their backs to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and other sleep-related causes of Infant death.

56. School Age means a Child in full day schooling who is: (a) between five (5) years plus one day and thirteen (13) years of age or (b) a Child With Special Needs five (5) years plus one day and eighteen (18) years of age.

57. Self-Employment means operating one’s own business, trade, or profession for wages equal to or greater than Maine’s average hourly minimum wage. 58. Sibling means each of two or more children (a) having one or both parents in common or (b) whose parents have married each other (step siblings) 59. State Child Care Administrator means the Department staff responsible for administering the CCDF grant.

60. State Median Income (SMI) means arranging all income values in a dataset in numerical order and then identifying the middle value. Specifically, it is the income that falls exactly halfway between what people earn on both sides of the wealth spectrum.