Page 25
Subsidized Child Care Assistance Program Policy Manual Chapter 4. Application, Eligibility Determination & Documentation
REVISED 04/27/2026
24 H. Applications for Foster Care
When Subsidized Child Care Assistance is needed for a foster parent, the child care worker must have a written referral from the foster care social worker to support the need for care, indicating whether placement of the child is in a licensed foster home or in the home of a relative. A referral for foster care is required at application and recertification even if the placement remains the same.
When the need for care supports employment whether there are one or two foster parents in the licensed foster home, employment information, including name of employer and days and hours of employment, must be verified for each foster parent and the information must be included on the referral from the foster care social worker.
The DSS designee must complete and sign the paper version of (DCDEE0456) or the printed application signature page from NC FAST. Children in foster care are the case head in their own case and the staff designated by DSS will sign the voucher. With sibling groups, the youngest child will be case head. When entering in NC FAST, enter the youngest child first. If the family is divided, each child will be his own case head.
The guided interview includes questions about the referral, and the answers are mapped (transferred) to create Program Referral evidence on the application. The worker must start the application from the child’s Person Page as the child is the case head on an SCCA application. If there are multiple foster children in a household, enter the youngest child first. Foster care applications are child-only except in the case of sibling groups.
If there is a sibling group placed in the same foster care home, the case head on that application is the youngest foster child, and that child’s address must be the address of the DSS.
If there is a sibling group placed in the same foster care home, and one