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Subsidized Child Care Assistance Program Policy Manual Chapter 8. Parent fee REVISED 04/27/2026 8

There is one (1) parent fee for the applicant/recipient receiving subsidized child care assistance, regardless of the number of children in care and regardless of the hours of care needed. The parent fee will follow the child with the highest level of care needed. If multiple children have the highest level of care, the parent fee is assessed to the youngest child. In cases wherein the parent fee exceeds the cost of care, services cannot be authorized. An exception to this would be when more than one (1) child is in care and the total cost exceeds the parent fee; the parent fee will be divided between or among the children. If the parent fee exceeds all the children’s cost of care, the case is ineligible. When the total cost for before and/or after school care exceeds the parent fee, the recipient can request services for teacher workdays and holidays, and care must be authorized if the daily provider payment rate exceeds the daily parent fee amount. When the recipient requests services for summer and/or track out care only, care must be authorized if the monthly payment rate exceeds the monthly parent fee amount. The family should not be placed on the child care waiting list. The case can be suspended until the child attends.

A. PARENT FEE FOR FULL-TIME OR PART-TIME CARE

Full-time payment for part-time care will now be available for applicant/recipient in limited situations. This should only be utilized when a child’s need for care is part-time but there is either no available part-time care for the child or the available care would not meet the needs of the child. The Parent fee for Applicant / Recipient who receive part-time care with full-time pay shall remain at 75% of the Parent fee. The details of these situations must be documented in the case narrative. 1. When the child is enrolled in the same child care arrangement and the care averages 32 or more hours per week, the parent is charged the full-time 100% parent fee. Calculate the parent fee based on 10% of the family’s gross monthly income regardless of the number of children in care or the number of hours care is needed.