The California Department of Social Services has released new guidance for the extension of CalWORKs Child Care eligibility from 12 months to 24 months.

Families enrolled in CalWORKs Child Care program after January 1, 2025 will receive child care services for a minimum of 24 months unless they meet the following exceptions:

• The family is certified as income eligible voluntarily reports an income that exceeds the threshold for ongoing eligibility
• The family no longer meets the residency requirements.
• The family has abandoned care and the contractor issues a Notice of Action to disenroll the family.

Currently enrolled families will complete their 12 month eligibility cycle and will be recertified for an additional 24 months at the time of their next recertification, or until they become ineligible. Families who received a 12 month certification between January 1, 2025 and July 1, 2025 must be granted an additional 12 months of eligibility, provided they continue to meet eligibility requirements.

Families participating in the CalWORKs Family Reunification (FR) will receive FR services for up to six months or for a time period based on the Child Welfare Services (CWS) reunification plan or court order. Participants may be authorized for an additional six months of child care if their CalWORKs FR plan is extended. Once the child is reunified with the family of origin and the family is recertified with CalWORKs, child care services may be authorized for up to 24 months.

Stage One Child Care authorization may be discontinued for the following reasons:

• The participant is transferred from Stage One to Stage Two.
• The participant exceeds income eligibility of 85% of the state’s median income based on family size.
• If an exempt participant initially volunteers to participate and does not sign a Welfare to Work plan to participate in welfare to work activities but later decides not to volunteer to participate.

Immediate and continuous eligibility for child care is the concurrent approval of CalWORKs cash aid and authorization for full-time CalWORKs Stage One Child Care services child care is authorized as full-time unless the recipient specifically requests part-time care.

Full-time CalWORKs Stage One Child Care services child care is authorized as full time unless the recipient requests part-time care. Part-time child care is fewer than 25 hours per week, and full-time care is 25 or more hours per week. Stage One Child Care begins when child care authorization is provided or the first day child care is used, whichever date is later.

CalWORKs Child Care participants will be transitioned from Stage One to Stage Two, or from Stage Two to Stage Three after an assessment of each participant’s continued eligibility. Stage One Child Care recipients do not have to recertify their child care more than once every 24-months unless: they have increased child care needs, they have a new child who needs care, they have changed child care providers, or the eligible child becomes ineligible. Participants in Stage One will receive services until child care is provided in Stages Two or Three, or unless the family is otherwise ineligible. Child care will be authorized in 24-month intervals.

Children from infancy to 13 years of age are eligible for child care and development programs. Children who are 12 years old when certified can only receive services for a maximum of 12-months after certification, even after they turn 13 years old. Children beyond 13 years of age are generally ineligible for subsidized child care services with exceptions for individuals with great needs or severe disabilities.

These changes to the CalWORKs Child Care program will be implemented by July 1, 2025. Families who were awarded 12 months of child care between January 1, 2025 and July 1, 2025 will be eligible for an additional 12 months of child care.  Until automation is completed, counties must authorize the second 12 months of child care manually. (CCB 25-15, June 9, 2025.)

The California Department of Social Services has provided guidance regarding eligibility for the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children (Bridge Program) for intercounty and interstate foster care placements.

When a child or parenting youth is placed outside of the county of jurisdiction, the county of jurisdiction is responsible for child care vouchers, reimbursements and navigation services.

If a county of jursidiction has not opted into the Bridge Program, but the county of placement has opted into the Bridge Program, the county of placement may, if it decides to, provide child care payments. The county of placement would also be responsible for providing navigator services.

If a child or parenting youth has their juvenile dependency case transferred from one county to another and both counties have opted into the Bridge Program, the county from where the person is transferred will continue to provide the child care voucher and navigator services until the case is fully transferred to the new county.  If the new county has not opted in to the Bridge program, the transferring county can continue providing child care vouchers or reimbursements at its discretion.

If a child or parenting youth’s juvenile dependency case is determined by another state and that person is placed in a California county that has opted into the Bridge Program, that county may provide child care vouchers and navigator services, if the county decides to do so.  For dependency cases determined in California but the child or parenting youth is placed outside of California, the county of jurisdiction is not allowed to provide child care vouchers or navigator services.  Counties that have provided child care vouchers or reimbursements that have provided child care vouchers or reimbursements for children placed outside of California can continue doing so for cases opened before February 26, 2025, and payments must end in six months.

If a service provider is located outside of California, the county shall provide the child care voucher or reimbursement based on the Regional Market Rate of the California county of placement.  (CCB 25-03, February 26, 2025.)

The Emergency Care Bridge Program provides child care for foster children for a limited time via payment or voucher if work or school responsibilities prevent resource families from providing care when the child for whom they have care and responsibility is not in school. It also provides child care navigation services to families that qualify.

The California Department of Social Services has clarified that families cannot get Emergency Child Care Bridge benefits for hours where:

• The Child is in public education program
• The Child is attending a private school
• The Child is getting other instruction or education in an alternate setting such as homeschooling/tutoring, independent studies program or online schooling.

Otherwise, if the parent is working and the child is not in an education setting in the three categories above, the family can get Emergency Child Care Bridge benefits for child care because the child is not considered to be attending school.

The term “working” for the parent includes not just working at a job but also time spent looking for work, filling out job applications, going to interviews, going to job fairs, and volunteer hours to gain work experience.  Resource and Referral Agencies and the county Welfare Department are able to determine reasonable hours for employment seeking activities.  (CCB 25-01, January 17, 2025.)

Every year, the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) must establish a family fee schedule for families who receive subsidized child care.  The family fee Is based on State Median Income.   The family fee is a flat rate based on hours of child care needed, family income, and family size.

Family fees cannot be based on the cost of care or the amount of the subsidy payment.  Family fees cannot exceed one percent of the family’s adjusted income.  Fees accrued but uncollected prior to October 1, 2023 can be forgiven.

The new Family Fee Schedule applies to various CDSS subsidized child care programs.  Family fees can be assessed at initial certification, recertification, or when the family requests a reduction and provides documentation to support that.

Families are exempt from paying families when: the children are at risk of abuse, neglect or exploitation, the children are receiving Child Protective Services, the family is receiving CalWORKs, the family is receiving services for children with special needs, the family is experiencing homelessness (only in pilot counties), and families with income below 75 percent of the state median income.

When the family has fluctuating income, they can provide up to 12 months of income information to determine the family fee.  The family’s adjusted income in that situation is the average income for at least the previous two months.

All families have their family fees reassessed at annual recertification.  The contractor must issue a Notice of Action if the family fee changes.  Family fees cannot be increased for any reason during the eligibility period.

If the new family fee schedule causes a reduction in a family’s fee, the contractor must decrease the fee and send a Notice of Action. (CCB 24-13, July 8, 2024.)