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9. Family Copayment

9.1 Copayment Overview When determining the amount of assistance an applicant is eligible for, the amount shall be based on a sliding fee scale. Depending on where an applicant’s income and household size falls on the scale, they may be required to make a co-payment directly to their child care provider.

Copayment amount is calculated based on household income and distributed amongst each CCA recipient and their provider(s) based on their household unit type. Weekly copayment amounts for each child are displayed on the Notice of Decision.

9.1.1 Additional Child Care Expenses Expenses that are above and beyond the established Child Care Assistance benefit amount are the responsibility of the applicant. This difference may occur regardless of whether the household is determined to have a copayment. Child Care Assistance cannot cover additional costs or fees for such things as transportation, supplies, field trips, registration, meals, snacks, and late fees.

9.1.2 Households with No Copayment Copayments are waived for households with incomes below 170% FPL, foster children, children in the custody of the SD Child Protection Services or the custody of a Tribal Child Protection agency; children determined to be in need of protective services, or who may reside in a placement with a relative caretaker or in a host placement through a family service agency; and for families receiving TANF or 0+TANF benefits.

9.2 Copayment Calculation Copayment amount is calculated based on the household income and distributed amongst each CCA recipient and their provider(s) based on their household unit type.

Households with gross monthly countable income above 170% of the FPL will have their copayments calculated by subtracting 170% of the FPL for their household size from their gross monthly countable income. The difference between those two figures will then be multiplied by 5% for a 95% reduction. The resulting amount is the rounded down to a whole number. This is the monthly amount the family is expected to pay in copayment each month.

Family copayments are then divided out to be collected on a weekly basis from each provider. The family level monthly copayment will be converted to a weekly amount and rounded down to the nearest quarter. When applicable, the weekly amount is divided out between children receiving a CCA benefit (rounded down to each quarter) and divided by each provider that child uses (rounded down to the nearest quarter). In the event the resulting final copayment is less than $0.25 the copayment will be set at $0.25.

9.2.1 Copayment Pro-Rating A copayment may be pro-rated. A pro-rated week is a week that a child is not eligible for assistance the entire week. For example, a pro-rated week may be a mid-week start at a provider, the start of an eligibility period, or end of an eligibility period. In the event of a pro-rated week copayments are also pro-rated.