M E M O R A N D U M

TO: EES Program Administrators, All Asst. Regional Directors, EES Staff

FROM: Sandra Kimmons

DATE: 5/19/21

SUBJECT: Implementation Instructions for Child Care Changes Effective July 1, 2021

Child Care

Effective July 1, 2021, income eligibility for the child care assistance program is being expanded to include families with incomes up to 250% of the Federal Poverty Level. The new guidelines will be used in all eligibility determinations for months beginning with July 2021.

In addition, family share deductions are being changed to zero for families with incomes less than 100% of the Federal poverty level and are being reduced for all other income eligible families. A mass change is being run in KEES to implement the new eligibility guidelines, and the system will use the new guidelines to determine eligibility and family share deduction amounts for all months beginning with July of 2021. New family plans and notices will be generated and sent to all affected families.

As with annual poverty level adjustments, programs that have an overridden EDBC will not be updated by the batch process. The overridden family plans will be updated manually by staff in the FC-CC unit.

It is important to note that for regular income eligible Child Care, federal guidelines state that income limits cannot exceed 85% of the State Median Income (SMI). Due to that limitation, the maximum allowable income for households size seven and larger is less than 250% of the FPL. Those income levels are noted with an asterisk on the F-1 Monthly Family Income and Share Deduction Schedule for Child Care Services Set Up Schedule.

Timeline of Events:

• 5/15: KEES has been updated with the table changes effective 7/1/2021. The changes will not affect Family Shares already attached to existing Family Plans. This will occur with the federal poverty guideline batch process. New plans written after this date will reflect the new amounts.
  
  
• 5/20: Come-up Month becomes available. Any cases processed for July benefits will have the table changes applied.
  
  
• The weekend of 5/21: Family Plan Income Limits – Active family plans, recalculate family plan, EDBC and send appropriate notices. The changes in family share deductions will be made with this batch.
  
  
• Overridden Family Plans will be skipped for each month that is overridden. EDBC will run and a NOA will be sent.
  
  
• 5/24: Regular Child Care EDBC – Run any Child Care program that has not yet had July EDBC ran.

These changes will not impact eligibility for The Hero Relief Program since the program already uses the 250% FPL income limit for initial eligibility and these cases already have zero family share deductions applied. However, beginning July 1, 2021, families approved for Child Care assistance through the Hero Relief program will be approved for 12 month eligibility periods. A new policy memo is being issued for the Hero Relief Program and can be found at the link below. Applications for Child Care assistance must continue to be screened for eligibility for The Hero Relief Program. It is important to remember that there are still differences between the Hero Relief Program and regular income eligible Child Care Assistance. The differences are the requirement that one adult in the household meet the definition of an essential worker, and the Hero relief program uses the social service need reason for which resource limits and family share deductions do not apply. In addition, the maximum allowable income limits for families of seven or more do exceed 85% of SMI for the Hero Relief Program.

Attachments:

F-1 Monthly Family Income and Share Deduction Schedule for Child Care Services Set Up Schedule

W-14 Social Service - Essential Function 250% FPL Worksheet