The California Department of Social Services has issued the new child care Family Fees Schedule effective July 1, 2025.  The Family Fees Schedule applies to seven different subsidized child care programs.  Fees must be assessed at initial certification, recertification, and when a family reports a change that will reduce fees.

Families who are exempt from paying fees are: families with children receiving Child Protective Services may be exempt for 12 months, families receiving CalWORKs, families receiving Child Care and Development Services for Children with Special Needs, families experiencing homelessness in counties with approved policy flexibilities, and families with income below 75% of state median income.

Families with fluctuating income can choose to provide 12 months of income verification and use an average of at least two months to determine their income.  Families with variable or unpredictable work schedules use the highest number of hours worked in any given week for the child care schedule.

Contractors must prorate fees for the first month if services do not begin on the first day of the month.

Family fees must be reassessed at recertification, which is at least every 24 months.

Contractors must issue a Notice of Action upon recertification, which may include a change in the family fee.  If the fee decreases, the change is effective the first day of the month after the Notice of Action is issued.  If the fee increases, the change is effective that first day of the month after the appeal period expires.  Families have 14 calendar days from the date of the notice to appeal.  Fees remain unchanged while the appeal is pending.

Family fees cannot be increased for any reason during the eligibility period.

If the new fees schedule causes a decrease in the family fee, the contractor must decrease the fee.  If the new fees schedule causes an increase in the family fee, there is no change until recertification.

Contractors must communicate the due date of payment of fees to parents. (CCB 25-16, June 19, 2025.)

The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has released the new Schedule of Income Ceiling which determines eligibility for state subsidized child care.  It is effective for families enrolled after July 1, 2025. CDSS has also released the new Ranking Table to determine priority for enrollment in state subsidized child care for Fiscal Year 2025-26.

First priority for enrollment is given to neglected or abused children who receive child protective services, or who are ask risk of abuse or neglect based on a report from a legal, medical or social services agency.  Second priority for enrollment is given to families with the lowest gross income.  When two or more families have the same priority based on income, the order of admission is families with a child who has special needs, then family’s primary home language is not English, then the family who spent the longest time on the waiting list.

Families who are eligible based on receiving MediCal, CalFresh, California Food Assistance Program, WIC, Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, Head Start, Early Head Start, or CalWORKs are priorities based on income declared on the application for that program.  (CCB 25-17, June 24, 2025.)

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.)