For reporting purposes, the Office of Child Care (OCC) collects administrative data regarding the number of children and families served through the CCDF, as well as other caseload characteristics. Aggregate and case-level child care program information is required by the CCDBG Act. The requirements are further expanded on in the CCDF final rule (see CCDF regulations at 45 C.F.R. 98.70–98.71). The aggregate and case-level child care data reporting received through the ACF-800 and ACF-801 forms provides the means to analyze and evaluate the CCDF program and the extent to which states are assisting families in addressing child care needs. This collection provides OCC with the information necessary to make its biennial report to Congress, address national child care needs, offer technical assistance to grantees, meet performance measures, and conduct research.

ACF-800 Annual Aggregate Child Care Data Report

All CCDF Lead Agencies are responsible for completing the annual ACF-800. The ACF-800 collects state-level aggregate child care program information. The CCDBG Act of 2014 added a requirement that states to collect data on the number of child fatalities occurring among children while in the care and facilities of child care providers receiving assistance. Aggregate data for the ACF-800 are required to be total, unduplicated counts of the state’s CCDF caseload. Therefore, each family, child, and provider must be counted only once during the reporting period as indicated.

The state-level aggregate report should be submitted through the Internet, via the ACF-800 Submission site (access the web-based ACF-800 form here). The site is color-coded to help identify missing information and potential errors. Data corrections can be made at any time via the site. To ensure the validity of the data submitted, the website is secured and requires a user name and password for submission.

ACF-801 Monthly Child Care Data Report

All CCDF Lead Agencies are responsible for completing the ACF-801. The ACF-801 collects case-level child care program information for the CCDF required by section 658K of the CCDBG Act and as outlined in the final rule (45 C.F.R. 98.70–98.71). The law requires the following:

Case-level data are collected monthly and reported monthly or quarterly. Monthly submissions are due 90 days after the end of the month; quarterly submissions are due 60 days after the end of each quarter. The case-level report must be submitted electronically to the Administration for Children and Families via secure electronic medium.

Resources: ACF 800 and 801

The National Center on Child Care Data and Reporting provides technical assistance related to the submission of the ACF-800 and assists CCDF grantees with their questions and concerns related to the ACF-801. States may contact their regional office, or they may contact the center directly for assistance with completing the state-level reports at (877) 249-9117 or [email protected].

The latest ACF-800 and ACF-801 technical bulletins are available at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/occ/training-technical-assistance/current-technical-bulletins:

• Technical Bulletin #1. ACF-800 State-Level Data Standards
• Technical Bulletin #3. ACF-801 Case-Level Data Standards
• Technical Bulletin #4. ACF-801 Case-Level Data File Format
• Technical Bulletin #5. ACF-801 Case-Level Data Submission Guidelines
• Technical Bulletin #6. Procedures for Electronically Transmitting ACF-801 Data Files
• Technical Bulletin #8. ACF-801 Clarifications
• Technical Bulletin #9. Using the ACF-801 Data Assessment Reports