The following policy changes are effective 3/1/19 and are paid for with increased federal child care funding. The goal of these changes is to expand the number of high quality early educational opportunities for low income children and support family financial stability by increasing access to child care subsidies and decreasing copayments.
Oklahoma Early Childhood Program (OECP)
A child attending an OECP classroom may be approved for a weekly unit type when the parent or caretaker qualifies for Child Care Subsidy and meets a need factor for some of the OECP program hours. In addition, household income is exempted. These policy changes are identical to the rules already in place for the Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships (EHS-CCP). See the article in Quest for more information about OECP.
Removal of Graduated Phase Out and Exit Threshold
With the revision of the Appendix C-4, Child Care Eligibility/Copayment Chart, the entry threshold has been increased to equal the exit threshold. This means there will just be one eligibility threshold, thus eliminating the need for a graduated phase out. The new eligibility threshold is set at 85% of State Median Income, which is the maximum allowed by federal law.
Appendix C-4, Child Care Eligibility Chart
Effective 3/1/19, the Appendix C-4 is completely revamped to include federal recommendations and changes required by federal law. The new Appendix C-4 will expand income eligibility and decrease copayments. Of particular importance is the removal of the number of children in care as criteria for establishing copayment. Beginning 3/1/19, only household size and income will be considered. This means it is vitally important that all household members who are a required part of the child care household are included for income consideration (K/O) otherwise a payment error will occur. See the article in Quest for more information about the C-4 revisions.
Systems Changes
- Removal of closure code 03A “Income exceeds federal standards” from FACS and IMS since this code is no longer valid.
- Change text on closure/denial code 03 from “income exceeds state standards” to “income exceeds agency standards”.
- Beginning 3/1/19, adoption subsidy and foster care payments will be excluded by the system since this income is never countable for child care. You will still code the adoption subsidy and foster care payments on the case for SNAP but you will not have to use the diverted income field E47. Prior to this change, the worker would have to submit a remedy ticket and request an override of the “diverted income” edit.
Also, the following articles have been revised to include 3/01/19 policy changes.
These articles should be reviewed for training purposes.
Closure of Child Care Benefits
Locking in Copayments and Number of Units/Unit Type
Unfinished Issuance Examples & Coding
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