7540 Financial Eligibility Specific to Child Care Program - For child care, the parent-guardian-caretaker must demonstrate a financial need in addition to the personal need unless someone in the household is a TANF recipient, he or she is an unemployed food assistance work program participant, or the children need child care to prevent abuse and/or neglect.

Once the personal need requirement is met, a "means test" is applied to determine the financial eligibility of the family.

A family is income eligible when the nonexempt gross income of the family members is within the income limits established annually by the agency. The "means test" is revised annually and is referred to as the Family Income and Share Deduction. See Appendix Item F-1. The family share deduction is determined by considering the number of persons in the household and nonexempt sources of income.

7541 The Family Share Deduction - A monthly family share deduction shall be assessed for Income Eligible (Non-TANF) clients with income at or over 70% of the federal poverty level. (See Monthly Income and Family Deduction Schedule.) The amount of the family share deduction is determined at the time of the initial application and at review, or adjusted more often if the family's income or household size increases or decreases. The family share deduction is deducted prior to issuing the monthly child care benefit. The family share deduction may be assigned to one plan or divided between plans based on parental choice and DCF staff discretion. When determining initial eligibility, if child care costs for a partial month are less than the family share deduction, the client will be responsible for the actual cost of care for the first month, and the child care plan will begin on the first day of the following month. A family share deduction shall not be prorated due to partial month eligibility. Child care costs paid by the client before the initial eligibility date are not be deducted from the initial family share deduction.
 

When the family share deduction exceeds the cost of care for more than one month, contact should be made with the client and a determination made whether to continue or close the case. When the case is closed, the client should be advised they may reapply when their circumstances change.