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  3. Financial Assistance - Introduction

Financial Assistance - Introduction

The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014 added requirements that provided more stable child care financial assistance—commonly referred to as subsidy in many states—to families on the path to financial stability. This includes extending children’s eligibility for child care regardless of temporary changes in parents’ earnings and work, training, or school schedules, making it easier for parents to maintain employment or finish education programs. [1]

The CCDBG Act of 2014 specified dates when certain provisions were effective and allowed time for Lead Agencies to implement the new requirements:

  • Monitoring, including annual inspections of CCDF providers, became effective on November 19, 2016.
  • Posting results of monitoring and inspection reports became effective on November 19, 2017.
  • Comprehensive background checks (CBCs) became effective on September 30, 2017 (further clarification provided in Section 6).
  • Where the Act did not specify a date, the statutory requirements became effective upon the date of enactment (November 19, 2014), and States had until September 30, 2016 to implement them.

 

[1] CCDF regulations define state as follows: “any of the states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands of the United States, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, and includes tribes unless otherwise specified” [Child Care and Development Fund, 45 C.F.R. § 98.2 (2016)]. For ease of reading, the term state is used inclusively throughout this resource unless otherwise specified.