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Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) took an important step toward lowering child care costs for families. A result of President Biden’s executive order on strengthening the care economy, HHS’s new rule proposes policy changes to the Child Care and Development Fund, the main source of assistance for families with low incomes. These policy changes have the potential to make care more affordable, improve financial stability for providers, and ease access to assistance.
Another key change encourages states to consider children “presumptively eligible” when their parents apply for subsidies.
CLASP has published several new resources on presumptive eligibility, a policy that allows parents to access child care assistance immediately while the state processes their application. During this provisional period, families can gather and submit the required documents to prove their eligibility for subsidies. Four states (Delaware, Maryland, Montana, and Wyoming) and Monroe County, NY, offer presumptive eligibility to parents—and the provisional period varies by location.
CLASP offers a closer look at three out of four state policies as well as that of Monroe County as these presumptive eligibility policies are well established (Maryland just began implementing its policy this month). Our resources show that presumptive eligibility policies can help both states and families by providing immediate access to care, reducing wait times for families to access subsidies, and simplifying the verification process.
Learn more:
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