Change Reporting

Households must report within 10 calendar days of the change occurring when the household’s gross income exceeds the federal income threshold for the household size per the DHS Appendix C-4, Child Care Eligibility/Copayment Chart.

The computer issues a notice to the client at certification and renewal informing the client of the current federal exit income threshold for his or her family size.

The federal income threshold is based on 85% of the State Median Income and can change from year to year. Notices and the Appendix C-4 will be updated yearly.

When a client fails to report income that would have resulted in child care closure, the worker submits an overpayment to the AFS BIRS unit.

Changes That Decrease the Child Care Benefit

Although there are limited reasons that child care may be closed in the middle of an eligibility period, the worker must still act on all changes reported by the household. The computer system decides which changes will affect the child care benefits. Child care benefits do not decrease (increase of copayment or reduction of units approved) during the eligibility period unless the client is over the income threshold and closure is appropriate.

See article for more information on closures for childcare: Closure of Childcare Benefits

Changes That Increase the Child Care Benefit

When the client reports a timely (within 10 calendar days of the change occurring) change that increases their child care benefit; the client and the worker jointly plan the effective date of the change.  This includes a decrease in copayment or an increase in the units approved. When the client does not report the change within 10 days of it occurring, the earliest the worker increases the child care benefits is the first day of the month in which the client reports the change. We are unable to make changes for middle of the month, the effective date will always have to be the first day of the month. If increasing the childcare benefit, we are required to verify all need factor surrounding this change (IE: work schedule, new income received).

Additional Child Request

When the child care household needs to add a child to the benefit, the worker must complete the request within two business days of the client providing all necessary verification to determine the child’s eligibility. This includes verifying the need factor of all childcare household caretakers.

Change of Providers

When a client requests a change of providers, the worker completes the change within two business days. The change is always made for the date the change actually occurred (regardless of whether or not the client reported the change timely).