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6 Chapter 1: What is the Child Care Payment Program?

The Child Care Payment Program (CCPP), with the Division for Early Childhood Care and Development (DECCD) of the Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS), provides child care tuition assistance to eligible parents and guardians.

The CCPP is funded by the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), Temporary and Need Families (TANF) funds, and Mississippi General Funds. The CCPP allocates these funds to help cover child care costs for low-income families engaged in work, education, or job training, with children under 13 years of age, or those under 19 with special needs. This manual adheres to the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Reauthorization Act of 2024, CCDF regulations, and the CCDF Triennial State Plan. The CCPP’s goal is to ensure that all CCPP eligible families have access to high quality child care by establishing health and safety standards for providers, early education standards, professional development training to the child care workforce, and ensuring CCDF beneficiaries have access to affordable care from all participating providers in the CCPP. The Division of Early Childhood Care and Development (DECCD) aids eligible parents in finding child care assistance, offering a directory of approved providers, and guidance on child development to facilitate informed decisions. Providers approved by the CCPP are tasked with fostering early childhood education in settings that comply with all federal and state required guidelines.

Rule 1.1 Legal Authority

CCDF is authorized under the CCDBG which was enacted under the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990. The CCDBG Act was amended and reauthorized by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, and again by the CCDBG Reauthorization Act of 2024.

Source: 45 CFR 98; Miss. Code Ann. § 43-1-2(4); Miss. Code Ann. § 43-1-4 Revised: August 2025

Rule 1.2 Purpose of the CCDBG and CCDF

The CCDBG enhanced the statutory purposes of the CCDF program to better balance the dual purposes of promoting children’s healthy development and school success and to support parents who are working, in training, or pursuing education:

1. To allow each State maximum flexibility in developing child care programs and policies that best suit the needs of children and parents within that State. 2. To promote parental choice to empower working parents to make their own decisions regarding the child care services that best meet their family’s needs. 3. To encourage States to provide consumer education information to help parents make informed choices about child care services and to promote involvement by