Childcare Subsidy Program for Low-income Families

Childcare Subsidy Program is a government program with allocated funds aiming to help and assist each and every family to raise their kids with quality child care.

From breastfeeding up to schooling, various Child Care Subsidy Programs are available which can benefit individuals, especially those who belong to low-income communities to properly nurture their kids with financial assistance.

This kind of program will definitely assist those parents or families with different aspects of raising a child as we all know that raising a child is not easy and it requires the parents to be financially stable in order to give the child good child care.

Child Care Subsidy Programs will also serve as one of the strong foundations with regard to the decreasing value of child poverty or those children who did not have proper child care and development.

On the other hand, the role of Child Care Subsidy Programs is to assist and help the parents, it cannot acquire all of the necessities of a child. Programs also have their own limits wherein the parents need to do their part in raising their respective children.

There are various available Child Care Subsidy Programs, some of these are the following:

1. Child Care and Development Fund – The Child Care and Development Fund provides financial assistance for those low-income families or parents with their child care due to their struggle at work or school.

2. Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) – The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provides lost-cost health assistance for the child of a family who did not meet the standard guidelines for Medicaid. Every state of the United States has its own Children's Health Insurance Program and works with the state’s Medicaid program.

3. Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) – The Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) helps families to support their child care according to their individual needs for free.

4. Child Tax Credit – The Child Tax Credit helps its eligible beneficiaries to lessen their taxes by up to $1000 as they have children under the age of 17. This will give the family members or parents a huge help as their taxes would be paid automatically according to the program limit.

5. Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) - The Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) gives financial assistance to those low-income parents to help them with child care. The said program is supervised by the Minnesota Department of Human Services.

The child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) is divided into 3 subprograms, these are following:

• Basic Sliding Fee (BSF) – this subprogram prioritizes those parents who are working and studying.
• MFIP Child Care – this subprogram is for the Minnesota Family Investment Program.
• Transition Year Child Care – this subprogram is for parents who left Minnesota Family Investment Program for a year.

The eligibility rules for the Child Care Subsidy Programs will vary depending on the type of program. The qualifications for the mentioned are the following:

• Should be a parent or primary caregiver of a child under the age of 13 (a child under 19 with incapable self-care also qualifies for the program).
• Your family’s financial income should be in a low-income community.
• Parents must be employed or enrolled in the United States

• Should be under 19 years of age
• Must be a U.S citizen or meet immigration requirements and a resident of the local state
• Met the standard CHIP income range of its state based on family income.

• Families must be below 150% of the Federal Poverty Level.
• Must be employed and work at least 20 hours per week.

• Qualifying children must be under the age of 18 with a valid Social Security Number.
• Parents should file 2019 or 2020 tax returns or give 2020 to receive the Economic Impact Payment with the Non-Filers.
• Parents should submit 2021 with the Non-Filer.
• The family lived in the United States for almost half a year or has a joint return with a spouse who lives in the United States for almost half a year.

• Families should have children under 13 (children under 15 are also acceptable if they have special needs).
• Parents should be working, looking for work or studying.
• If your family is part of the Minnesota Family Investment Program, you are automatically qualified for the said program.

The steps for the application for Child Care Subsidy Programs vary for each program. However, most of the mentioned programs have online applications.

1. Child Care and Development – You can navigate to HHS official website to check for your State and Territorial Subsidy Agency.
2. Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) – You can apply through Health Insurance Marketplace by visiting the healthcare official website. You can also call 1-800-318-2596 Children's Health Insurance Program’s application process.
3. Child Tax Credit - There is no specific application for this program but you must pay your taxes following the guidelines indicated on Schedule 8812 (Form 1040 or 1040A, Child Tax Credit.
4. Child Care Assistance Program - You can apply for Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) through your country’s human services office.

The required documents for the respective application of different Child Care Subsidy Programs vary. The following are some of the most common documents that you will need for the application of the mentioned programs.

• Proof of date of birth (qualifying child must be under 19 at least but the age eligibility of programs varies)
• Proof of U.S. citizenship (can be a passport, driver’s license, birth certificate, green card, or employment authorization card)
• Proof of your Income (must meet the standard income guidelines of a specific program)
• Proof of Employment or Enrollment