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Child Care Assistance Program Policy Manual Issued 03/2021 Authorizing care – School release days 9.1.3 Child care may be authorized for families who need child care only on school release days and for families who need additional care on school release days. Do NOT authorize or pay for more than 120 hours of child care assistance per child every two weeks. Each county and tribe is encouraged to develop standards for how care should be authorized for school release days. Describe how child care is authorized in case notes. When authorizing child care for school release days, it is important that there be communication between families, providers, case workers and billing workers. For example, the comment section on a Service Authorization, a special memo or conversations (with case notes to document) between parents, providers and staff are recommended methods to communicate how care is authorized in relationship to school release days. Methods of authorizing child care There are three acceptable methods to authorize child care for school release days: 1. Authorize the actual number of hours care is needed, increasing or decreasing the hours authorized based on school release days. Case note the method used. OR 2. Authorize the number of hours care is needed when there are not school release days. - If care is not needed when there are not school release days, authorize one hour of care. Authorizing one hour of care results in the provider receiving billing forms. When the provider provides additional care for a school release day, payment can be made by increasing the number of hours listed in the “Total Hours of Care Authorized” field on the Billing window or creating a new Service Authorization with additional hours. There must be communication between families, providers, case workers and billing workers regarding when additional care can be paid. Case note the method used. OR 3. Authorize the highest number of hours care is needed with the provider. Case note the method used. Agencies may develop standards for use of more than one of the above methods. For example, an agency may determine that for all children who ONLY need care on school release days, one hour of care will be authorized. For children who regularly need care and require additional care on school release days, authorize the highest number of hours needed. Reporting type considerations Schedule Reporters When authorizing child care for families with school release days, the provider is expected to bill only for the time that care is needed. There must be communication between families, providers, case workers and billing workers regarding when care with the provider can be paid for.