Page 174

Child Care Assistance Program Policy Manual Issued 05/2022 Verification 7 The Child Care Assistance Program requires verification of certain information. Families have the primary responsibility to verify information. Any form of verification is acceptable if it confirms the client’s statement. Do not require a specific document or form of verification. Sources of verification include: • Written or electronic records or documents. • Written or oral statements from people outside the family. • Written client statement, in some situations. Allow families at least 15 days to provide requested verification. See Chapter 7.1 (Verification due dates) for exceptions. Helping families get verification You must help families who have trouble getting proof. Families must either provide necessary proof or give their written consent for you to get the information. Certain information may be verified using various Department of Human Services systems or third-party interfaces. See Chapter 7.24 (Verification - DHS systems). Client statement With the exception of most income and income deduction verifications, when proof is not available despite the efforts of you and the family, get a signed statement from the family attesting to the correctness of the information. A signed client statement can be used to verifycertain child support income, the last date of employment, and the date the last paycheck was received. Verification does not need to be requested from the employer prior to accepting a client statement for the last date of employment and the date the last paycheck was received. If existing verification is insufficient to accurately predict self-employment income (for example in the start-up phase of self-employment), the family must choose the 50% of gross income method and a client statement may be used to verify self-employment income. See Chapter 6.15.6 (Annualizing self-employment income) for information about the 50% method and Chapter 7.9 (Income verification) for more information about income verification requirements when the 50% method is chosen. For the purpose of obtaining verification, information reported on the application, redetermination, or change report form does not qualify as proof. Refusing to provide verification If a family refuses to help or deliberately fails to cooperate to verify an eligibility factor, deny or terminate child care assistance. If the unverified eligibility factor affects only a family member (such as a child’s immigration