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H. Provider Unplanned Closures and Sick Days

Unplanned closure days are not part of a program’s typical operating schedule. Programs may close unexpectedly due to illness, staffing issues, or other reasons.

The CCSP will make payments for short periods of unplanned closure, defined as 4 or fewer consecutive days. Providers are expected to notify local departments if a period of unplanned closure will extend to five days or more. Local departments should document evidence of the closure and zero out the units for the provider on the fifth day of closure and beyond. Local departments should also In cases of extended closures (as described above, if a provider is closed five or more consecutive days), the locality can authorize backup or secondary care at another provider. The worker should document rationale and evidence of the primary provider closure and zero out the units for the primary provider on the fifth day of closure and beyond. Examples of evidence of closure include a copy of the provider’s schedule or a screenshot of a notification. Family day home providers in the Child Care Subsidy program may be paid for up to three sick days for themselves or a family member.

I. Absent Days for Children

An absent day means any day that a child is authorized to be in the provider’s care, the provider is open and serving children, and the child is not in attendance. Absences must be recorded on the POS device or by using the IVR phone system by the VaECC card holder no later than seven days following an absence to reflect the date of absence and whether it was a full or part day. Parents should not swipe any attendance (including an absence) when the provider is not in operation, including holidays and other planned and unplanned provider closures.

The Department will pay Level 1 and Level 2 providers for up to 60 absent days per child per fiscal year (June 1 – May 31). The total number of allowable absent days will be available upon case approval and at the beginning of each fiscal year thereafter.

When a child has extended absences, defined as 30 days of no recorded attendance, indicated in the VaCMS “tasks and reminders” tab alerts, LDSS should contact families to verify that care is needed, understand if families need additional support to access care, and update authorizations, if needed.

J. Care When Pre-K-12 Schools Are Closed

Local departments should use Snow/Emergency Day(s) for children enrolled in PreK-12 school settings to account for school closures that were not scheduled in the initial school calendar and are therefore not reflected in the family’s authorization for care. Snow/Emergency/Other Closure days should be added to “Snow/Emergency Day(s)” at the bottom of the school calendar in VaCMS to add full days to any calendar month that can be utilized for child care in the event of unexpected school closures. This allows families to swipe full days for their children who need full day care due to emergency/other school closure days. This does not apply to closure days when providers are closed. This is for care at a provider when public schools are closed.