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Child Care Assistance Program Policy Manual Issued 05/2023 Accepting applications 3.6 Accepting applications Encourage families to apply for assistance in their county of residence. However, you must accept applications from residents of other Minnesota counties and immediately forward the application to the county, tribe or subcontracted CCAP agency where the applicant lives. For a person who lives in an excluded time facility or receives excluded time services, the county of residence in which they lived, in non-excluded time status, immediately before entering an excluded time facility is the financially responsible agency (FRA) and must accept the family’s application. For example, when a person lives in County A and directly enters an excluded time facility in County B, County A is the financially responsible county when the family applies for child care assistance. See Chapter 4.24.1 (Excluded time facilities). Families can submit applications in-person, by mail, by fax or electronically through MNbenefits. Electronic photos of the application form are also acceptable. Date of application The date of application is the date any CCAP agency receives a signed and dated application. See Chapter 3 (Applications). For paper applications, agencies must use one of the following methods to record the application received date: • Date stamp the application OR • Sign and date the Agency Signature field on the application. Consider faxed applications received on weekends, holidays, or after hours to be received on the same day as the fax date stamp of the application. For applications received through MNbenefits, the application date is determined by the “Submission Date” field of the PDF and XML versions of the application. Do not enter an application in MEC² if the application is not signed and dated. Note: Applications received through MNBenefits with an electronic signature are considered signed. Applications received through MNBenefits with “Did Not Sign” typed in the signature field, are not considered signed.

For more information about how to access and process online application received through MNbenefits, see the MNbenefits Worker Process Guide located on SIR. Legal authority Minnesota Statutes 119B.025, subd. 1 Minnesota Statutes 119B.09, subd. 7 Minnesota Rules 3400.0035