340:40-5-1 Child care plan

Providing child care is part of an overall service plan designed to help eligible parents or caretakers to achieve their maximum self-support potential. Quality child care services ensure that eligible parents or caretakers have access to adequate care that affords their children developmental and learning experiences while they are engaged in self-support activities. The child care plan consists of many components that link to form a goal-directed child care plan as described in (1) through (11) of this Section. (1) Child characteristics. The worker gathers information about the child who needs child care, including his or her name, age, grade level, and if the child has a disability. (2) Need for child care. The worker determines if the parent or caretaker meets a need factor, per Oklahoma Administrative Code (OAC) 340:40-7-7 and 340:40-7-8. (3) Plan hours. To document the need factor, the worker gathers information from the parent or caretaker about the days and hours he or she qualifies for child care, including travel time. (A) When there are two parents or caretakers in the home, the worker only approves subsidized child care benefits when both parents or caretakers meet a need factor during the same hours, per OAC 340:40-7-7 and 340:40-7-8. (B) Based on the days and hours the child requires care, the worker approves a full-time daily, part-time daily, a combination of full-time and part-time daily, weekly, or a blended unit type. (C) Refer to OAC 340:40-7-7(e) for plan hours concerning a child attending an Early Head Start-Child Care Partnership (EHS-CCP) grant program or an Oklahoma Early Childhood Program (OECP). (D) The worker does not decrease the child care plan hours because the client no longer meets a need factor or has a decreased need for child care between renewal periods, per Section 98.21(a) of Title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations (45 C.F.R. § 98.21) and OAC 340:40-9-2(b). (4) Alternative to subsidized child care benefits. The worker and client explore whether there is an appropriate, feasible alternative to Oklahoma Human Services (OKDHS) subsidized child care benefits. (A) When the alternative is a spouse or the child's natural or adoptive parent who lives in the home, the client must use the alternative rather than subsidized child care benefits. (B) When the alternative is someone other than a spouse or the child's parent or caretaker, the client may choose whether to use the alternative. (5) Plan to increase income. At each application or renewal, the client and worker explore ways the client may become more self-supporting by increasing household income. Increasing household income may include pursuing a work promotion, searching for a higher paying job, or increasing job skills. The client is also instructed to pursue any identified potential income, per OAC 340:40-7-9. (6) Back up plan. The worker and client discuss and develop a backup plan for child care when the child cannot go to the usual provider because of illness, school holidays, or other emergencies. The backup plan includes the name and address of a person the client feels he or she can rely on when the normal child care plan cannot be used. (7) Provider Choice. The worker documents the provider choice on the application or renewal form. (A) When the client does not choose a provider at the time of request, the worker provides the client with information to help in making the choice. (B) The client may choose a family child care home regardless of star status. (C) The client may choose a Community Hope Center that is not subject to the Stars quality rating system. (D) The client may not choose a child care: (i) program that does not have a valid contract with OKDHS; (ii) program in which the client or his or her spouse, including the child's parent or stepparent, has an ownership interest; (iii) home in which the child resides; (iv) home in which the client also works during the hours his or her child is in care; (v) provider who does not allow parental access during the hours the provider is caring for children; (vi) program receiving state or federal funds, such as Head Start, Early Head Start, or public schools, and not charging all parents for the hours subsidy payment is requested. EHS-CCP grant programs and OECPs are exempt from this rule; (vii) provider caring for a school-age child during the regular school day when the student could be attending a public or private school during those hours; (viii) center, when it is a one-star facility, unless there are no centers with a higher star status in the community or special exception criteria are met. Special exception criteria are: (I) the child was approved for care prior to the provider's star status being reduced to one star. The child may remain at the facility unless the child stops attending there for more than 30-calendar days. The child may be approved at the same facility again when the only reason the child did not attend for more than 30-calendar days was because of a school break or circumstances beyond the family's control, such as the child's illness; (II) care is requested for a child living in the same home as a child already approved for care, per (7)(C)(viii)(I) of this subsection for the same one star child care provider; or (III) the parent or caretaker demonstrates there is no other child care option that meets the family's needs; or (ix) in-home provider who is not related to the child. Per OAC 340:40-13-2, related means an aunt, uncle, grandparent, great grandparent, or sibling not living in the home. (8) Income determination. Per OAC 340:40-7, the worker determines who is considered part of the household for income determination and what income is countable or excluded. The household's countable income must not exceed the income eligibility threshold, per OKDHS Appendix C-4, Child Care Eligibility/Copayment Chart. (9) Family share copayment. The worker refers to OKDHS Appendix C-4 to determine the family share copayment for each family. The family share copayment is applied before OKDHS pays a child care subsidy. 17 The family's copayment cost varies based on family size and income. (A) The family share copayment is determined at approval and may not be increased until renewal, per 45 C.F.R. § 98.21(a)(3). When the worker anticipates changes in household income at approval, such as when the client starts a new job and does not receive a full month's pay for the application month, the worker increases household income and the family share copayment for the next month in the certification action. All family share copayment changes made at certification are included in the approval notice(s). (B) When household income decreases during the eligibility period, the worker decreases the family share copayment, when applicable, per OAC 340:40-9-2(c). Following a decrease, the copayment is not increased until renewal unless the household income exceeds the income eligibility threshold, per OKDHS Appendix C-4. (C) At renewal, when the family's income exceeds the income eligibility threshold, per OKDHS Appendix C-4, the worker closes the child care benefits. (10) Social services requests. When a client requests help in meeting the social services needs listed on the application or renewal, the worker provides all available information to aid a client in meeting these needs. (11) Client rights and responsibilities. The worker informs the client of his or her rights and responsibilities per (A) through (G) of this paragraph. (A) A child care request is only approved back to the request date when the interview is conducted and verification is provided on the request date. (B) The client has the right to ask for a fair hearing when the client disagrees with an action taken on his or her case, per OAC 340:2-5. (C) The provider may charge the client for special fees, such as enrollment or transportation fees, provided these fees are posted and also charged to families attending the facility who do not receive subsidized child care. (D) The provider may charge the client for care provided in excess of the OKDHS-approved child care plan when the client chooses to leave the child in care longer. When the provider requires all children in the facility to begin care by a certain time of day and the client's child care plan hours start later, the provider must not charge the client for the additional hours. The client records attendance based on the child care plan hours. (E) The provider may charge the client for any days OKDHS refuses to pay for care because the: (i) client did not record attendance for the correct days and times his or her child attended child care; (ii) payment for attendance was denied and the client did not resolve the problem within 10-calendar days; or (iii) provider lost the absent-day payment for a child approved for a weekly unit type because the client did not record correct attendance for every day the child attended that month. (F) The provider may not charge the client for days: (i) and hours covered in the child care plan when all attendance was correctly recorded, even when the hours are more than customary for a full-time day; and (ii) the child is not in attendance. (G) The client is required to cooperate with the OKDHS Office of Inspector General in any audit or investigation of possible overpayments by the client or the client's chosen provider.