Question:  There is reference to after-school care on the PA 129.   What information do we give to participants?

Answer: The preferred placement for 11 and 12 year old children is with an after-school program that provides educational, literacy tutoring and homework assistance, which is provided through the After School Education and Safety (ASES) program.  Refer to the website listed on the PA 129.

Question: Lately, the collocated staff is not able to provide the ST1-05 to the participant.

Answer:  Collocated staff should provide ST1-05 forms to participants.

Question:   How often does the participant need to sign the PA 129?

Answer: The PA 129 must be signed at the time of CalWORKs application, annual redetermination, welfare-to-work original plan/amendment appointment, any in-office contacts and telephone/written child care request, including change of provider

Question:   Once the MCCR screen is updated, is a child care packet automatically sent to the participant?

Answer: No.  Updating the MCCR starts the request process.  Once the R&R/APP receives the request, the agency has four workdays to determine presumptive eligibility and mail a child care request acknowledgement or a denial notice of action.  The child care packet is mailed at the time the presumptive eligibility acknowledgment notice is mailed.

Question:   When the participant is undecided about who the child care provider will be, should the participant take the ST1-01 home and instruct her to mail it back when she decides.  Is this correct?

Answer: No.  A child care request (ST1-01 or MCCR screen) is always to be completed at the time the request for child care is made.  Updating the MCCR screen starts the request process and is the only way the R&R/APP will know to mail licensed child care referrals and the child care packet to the participant.  Giving the participant the ST1-01 to take home will delay the process and is not appropriate.

Question: If the participant has a provider in two different agencies, where do I send the ST1-01?

Answer: When there is a need for two different providers, the provider with the most hours will be considered the primary provider, so the agency servicing that provider’s address will maintain the case. The initial request via ST1-01 or GEARS MCCR screen should therefore be sent to the agency that will have the most hours.

Question: What about complaints from participants regarding not receiving timely referrals from agencies? Is there a hotline number to call?

Answer: When participants inform you that they are having problems getting referrals or that their child care approval/authorization has been delayed, you are to assist them in resolving the issue with the R&R/APP agency. This may entail contacting the agency and/or seeking assistance from your supervisor or the Child Care Coordinator. If the problem cannot be resolved through these means, refer the problem to the Child Care Program Section through the chain of command.  

Eligibility

Question:  Question: Can a non-needy caretaker relative receive Stage 1 child care?

Answer: No. To be eligible for Stage 1 child care, the adult must be a current or former CalWORKs participant, employed or participating in a County-approved welfare-to-work (WtW) activity.

Question:   Can the sibling of a CalWORKs child receiving Supplemental Security Income/State Supplemental Program (SSI/SSP) be eligible for Stage 1 child care?

Answer: Yes.  The child receiving SSI/SSP can be eligible for child care if the lack of child care would result in the participant not being able to participate in a County-approved WtW activity or employment.

Question:   I thought a child up to 10 years of age was eligible for child care.  Has that changed?

Answer: Children are eligible for CalWORKs Child Care through age 12 (up to age 13), unless they have special needs.  Children with special needs are eligible up to age 18.

Question:  Why do some CalWORKs participants already have child care and they’re not in a component?

Answer: Some participants, who are in school or employed, initiate child care through different programs prior to GAIN registration or prior to making a request for CalWORKs Child Care.

Question:   In a two-parent household, one parent is documented and participating in GAIN; the other undocumented parent is self-employed. Are they eligible for child care?

Answer: Yes, the family may be eligible for child care if the GAIN participant and spouse are able to provide acceptable verification of the undocumented parent’s work hours to substantiate the child care need.

Question:  In a two-parent household, the second parent has a medical issue. Are they eligible for child care?

Answer: If both parents in a two-parent household are participating in a County-approved WtW activity or work, and one parent is incapacitated and his/her medical condition prevents that parent from caring for the children, the family may be eligible for child care. Acceptable documentation of the parent’s incapacitation/inability to provide the child care would be needed before eligibility to child care could be determined. Child care need/eligibility in situations such as this would have to be explored on a case-by-case. The Child Care Program Section is available for such assistance.

Question:   A participant participated for 3 months in an activity (SIP) prior to coming to GAIN. Can she get retroactive child care payments for that time?

Answer: Retroactive child care payments cannot go back more than 30 calendar days from the date the participant requests paid child care.

Question:   I have a case with a child over age 13 who caused a fire and the Fire Department had to respond. Will this child be considered special needs and can this participant receive child care for this child, if a Fire Department incident report is produced?

Answer: No, not necessarily. Exceptional (special) needs children are defined as children who may be developmentally disabled, hard of hearing, deaf, speech impaired, visually handicapped, seriously emotionally disturbed, orthopedically impaired, other health impaired, deaf-blind, multi-disabled or children with specific learning disabilities who have either an active IEP or IFSP from their local school district and are receiving special education/early intervention services.

Question:: Can child care be paid when a participant works nights?

Answer: Yes, as long as the participant’s employment, including work hours, is verified child care can be paid. Nighttime child care rate ceilings are provided in the RMR charts in GAIN Policy, Section 1210.

Question:  A single parent requests Stage 1 Child Care for both of her children. One child is aided and the other is unaided and undocumented. Can child care be authorized for both children?

Answer: Yes. In this instance, the undocumented child meets the requirement of children whom the participant is responsible to support.

Question:   Is the PA 1672-1 already in existence?

Answer: Yes, the PA 1672-1, “Request for Employment Verification,” was implemented via Forms Manual Letter No. 4631, dated 12/28/05.

Question:  Regarding the Verification of Employment (VOE), when is the participant approved? When we receive the VOE or back date it to when the participant started employment?

Answer: The child care approval/authorization is based on the request date and the start of the activity or employment; not the date of receipt of the VOE document.

Question: Does the agency have access to the “Employment Placement/Maintenance” (MEPF) screen? Can this screen be used as verification of employment?

Answer: Yes, the agency staff can view the MEPF screen. However, this screen cannot be used to verify employment. It does not capture all the information the agency needs to authorize child care.

Question:  When we’re not able to get a VOE from the participant, can we accept pay stubs?

Answer: You should adhere to GAIN protocol, but for child care purposes, the VOE (either an ST1-20 or a PA 1672-1) is required. Most pay stubs do not provide all the necessary information that is required for child care approval/authorization, such as the hours worked on a specific day within the pay period.

Question:   Pomona Unified wants the original PA 1672-1 and not a photocopy.  They state that since the liaison is in the office, the GSW must give the original to the agency.  The participant will then say that they gave the original PA 1672-1 to the agency, and now the participant does not have a copy of the form to provide to the GSW.

Answer:  It is true that any document the participant provides to the R&R/APP staff must be an original.  When the R&R/APP agency initiates the request for verification via the ST1-20, the original must be submitted.  However, in this instance, the PA 1672-1, which is initiated by DPSS staff, should be returned to the DPSS staff person who initiated the request.  R&R/APP agency staff in need of verification may accept a fax or photocopy from DPSS staff.

Question:   We were told the agency cannot take our 6006 forms anymore to verify the vocational training activity?

Answer: The 6006 is a vocational training referral document used by the GSW to refer participants to service providers and used as a two-way document in which the service provider confirms enrollment.  The form was never intended as verification for child care purposes as it does not capture all the information needed to approve/authorize child care, such as the hours for the WtW activity on a specific day.  The ST1-23 is used by the agency to request verification of vocational training activities

Processing Time Frames

Answer: Yes. There are specific time frames set for acknowledging and processing child care requests and related paperwork. The R&R/APP receives the ST1-01 and determines presumptive eligibility within 4 workdays. The R&R/APP requests documents/verification needed to establish eligibility and is to approve or deny the child care request within 30 days of the application. Under certain circumstances, this time period may be extended for an additional ten days.

Question:  During the process it takes to determine child care eligibility (30 days), does the participant have to go without child care during this time and not participate in work or other activities?

Answer: The participant does not have to wait for the 30-day process to end before engaging in a County-approved activity/employment or utilizing child care services. Presumptive eligibility is determined within four business days from the date of the child care request. The child care request is either acknowledged or child care is denied in that time. However, child care cannot be authorized until the R&R/APP agency receives all the required documents from the participant and provider. The child care approval/authorization will be effective the date of the request or start of the activity, whichever is appropriate. Child care payment is made after the child care services have already been provided.

Question: If a participant is between components and has licensed child care, is there a break in care?

Answer: Participants may request and continue to receive licensed child care for up to thirty (30) calendar days between components, between jobs, or between a component and a job in order to allow continuity of licensed child care, and to hold the space for the child in the licensed child care facility.

Case Management

Question:   Can participants choose the child care R&R/APP agency that services their cases?

Answer: No. The participant does not select the agency. The R&R/APP agencies’ service areas are determined by designated boundaries. The responsible agency is determined by the child care provider’s address.

Question:   A participant lives in Long Beach and wants child care in Orange County. Is this possible?

Answer:  Yes, the participant may choose a child care provider in a neighboring county. The participant’s residence address would be used to determine which Los Angeles County R&R/APP agency is responsible for maintaining the case.

Question:  Who determines the applicable Stage of child care?

Answer: The R&R/APP agency determines when a case transitions to Stage 2. Once child care and the WtW activity and/or employment is deemed “stable” and child care is being provided outside the participant’s home, the case may be transitioned to Stage 2.

Question:  If a participant is employed and her mother is providing child care in the participant’s home, would this be a Stage 1 case?

Answer: Yes. Whenever the participant chooses an in-home, license–exempt provider, the case is usually maintained in Stage 1. On the other hand, if license-exempt care is provided outside the participant’s home, the case could be transitioned to Stage 2.

Question:   If a participant chooses a child care provider that charges more than the Regional Market Rate (RMR) ceiling set by the State, can he/she still receive Stage 1 child care?

Answer: Yes. However, the participant will be solely responsible for paying a co-payment directly to the provider in the amount above the RMR ceiling.

Communication

Question:  Can GSWs contact collocated R&R/APP staff?

Answer:  Yes. Collocated R&R/APP staff are assigned to each Region to assist the participants and GAIN/Eligibility staff with child care-related issues. Additionally, the collocated staff makes weekly visits to each of the District offices to assist eligibility staff with child care issues and to collect ST1-01 forms initiated by eligibility staff.

Question:  Alerts are sent via GEARS and having collocated staff here in the GAIN office is great, but sometimes it’s hard to reach other agencies via phone. Is there a plan to get more collocated staff?

Answer:  No, not at this time. There are 13 contracted APP agencies of which 10 have R&R functions throughout the County and the signed contract with DPSS specifies their boundaries, e.g. you must use the agency assigned to your Region. If you are having difficulties reaching any of the R&R/APP agencies by phone, consult with your Child Care Coordinator since they now have defined Child Care Coordinator duties which include liaising with R&R/APP staff and facilitating communication with them. Refer to on-line GAIN policy in Chapter 1210. You can also call the Child Care Program Section for assistance.

Question:  Do the R&R/APP agencies know when components are extended?

Answer: No. The GSW must update/inform the agency regarding changes in components, hours of need, time in school, etc., in order for the agency to determine and authorize the appropriate days and times when child care is needed.

Question:  Can we communicate via e-mail with the agency?

Answer: The R&R/APP agencies are not on the department’s Lotus Notes system. Moreover, case information cannot be shared through the internet.

Question:  I’m the Child Care Coordinator in Region V. It seems that the R&R/APP staff expects to receive all child care forms and case information from me and not the GSW.

Answer: The agency staff should be contacting the GSW for documentation and case information. The CCC is responsible for assisting the R&R/APP staff to obtain case documents from the GSW when there has been a problem/delay in getting the requested documents/information.

Question: Does the GSW need to have the participant sign an ABCDM 228 affidavit to have permission to share information with the R&R/APP agencies?

Answer: No. The exchange of confidential information between DPSS staff and the R&R/APP agencies does not require a release of information affidavit because the R&R/APP agencies are contracted to provide services to DPSS participants while acting on behalf of the Department. Access to case information is required for R&R/APP agency staff to perform their duties. All contractors have their staff sign confidentiality agreements as required by County contracts.

Updating GEARS

Question:  In the past, some participants have been assigned to Job Club and don’t attend within the 60-day cycle. We initiate non-compliance and then they finally do attend Job Club. Should we close MCCR?

Answer: The GSW cannot close MCCR. The screen is closed by the agency staff when they enter the final disposition of the request. The GSW/CCC may report any changes that might affect child care eligibility, including non-compliance and the rescheduling of components, to the R&R/APP case manager via an ST1-07A, “Change Transmittal FAX-Time Sensitive” form or the GEARS “Maintain Child Care Info” (MGCI) screen.

Question:  May a parent change providers during the Trustline registration process?

Answer:  Yes, if a parent chooses to change providers during the Trustline registration process, she/he is able to do so. The 120 day retroactive payment period would start over for the new provider. If the old provider subsequently clears Trustline within the 120 day period, she/he would be entitled to payment for services provided. The new provider will also be required to be Trustline-registered before she/he is paid for services. Therefore, providers must continue to be tracked until a registered or denied status has been received from the R&R agency.