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 except as specified in KEESM 2835. (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 a reported change results in a decreased family share deduction. The family share deduction is deducted prior to issuing the monthly child care benefit. When determining initial eligibility (Tier I), 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   be authorized with zero benefits for that 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 of some months, but not others during the 12 month eligibility period, the case will be remain open for the entire 12 month eligibility period unless the family requests closure. Zero benefits will be authorized for those months in which the family share exceeds the cost of care. An example of this type of situation would be when school age children only need before and after school care during school months, but need additional care during the summer months, and their family share deduction does not exceed the cost of care for June, July and August.