Child Care Service - Payments for Closed Cases

CalWORKs participants who are required to participate are subject to the noncompliance process and financial sanctions. Per the Immediate and Continuous Child Care policy, provider payments are to continue to be issued by the assigned Associate Employment Counselor (AEC)/Employment Counselor (EC) for the remainder of the 24-month approval period even if the participant stops participating or becomes sanctioned. Similarly, child care payments are to continue for the remainder of the 24-month period when the CalWORKs program is discontinued.

Exception: Immediate and Continuous Child Care may be discontinued under any of the following circumstances:

• The participant is transferred to Stage II, and confirmation is received from the Alternative Payment Program (APP) that the family is enrolled in Stage II.
• The participant exceeds the income eligibility threshold of 85 percent of the State Median Income (SMI) for their family size.
• An exempt participant initially volunteers to participate, but later decides not to participate and does not sign a Welfare-to-Work (WTW) Plan.
• Client requests discontinuance.

Intent to Cure Sanction

Sanctioned participants who indicate an intent to cure their sanction, and sign a curing Sanction Plan are eligible to receive Stage I Child Care immediately and continuously for 24 months, effective at the time they communicate their intent to cure the sanction. For unassigned cases, the Engagement AEC/EC is to follow the process below:

• Assigns the case to their caseload for 30 days.
• Documents the request date in CalSAWS using Journal Type, “WTW” and Short Description, "Child Care."
• Completes the following sections/fields on the CalWORKs Stage One Child Care Authorization (CCP 8):
  • Child Information section.
  • Completes the Case Worker Name and Phone fields with the assigned AECs/ECs information.
  • Enters the 24-month period in the Child Care Authorization Start Date and End Date fields (example: 01/15/2025 - 12/31/2027).
  • Start date is the date of contact.
  • End date is the last day of month 24.
• Sends the CCP 8 to the client.
• Sends a copy of the CCP 8 to Imaging.
• Enters a Journal Entry in the CalSAWS Journal Detail page.
• Sets an alert to follow up in 15 days from the date the CCP 8 was mailed.
• Follows existing Engagement Unit procedures.

Note: The appropriate child care packet will be mailed by the Engagement AEC/EC at any time during client interaction.