Early care and education is important to the development of children. We understand that quality child care is expensive. Next to housing, child care is the largest expense in most families' budgets. Through federal, state and local funding from the Texas Workforce Commission to Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area, Child Care Service is able to provide financial aid for eligible families and provide professional development opportunities for early care and education providers.
Eligibility criteria to receive Child Care Services (CCS) include:
- Each parent and step-parent, living in the household, must be working, attending school, in training/other educational program, or a combination of these, at least an average of 25 hours a week over a review period or actively looking for employment. Household members include those that live in the household: parents, step-parents, adult dependents and a child or other minor living in the household who is the responsibility of the parent.
- Job Search Child Care: If a parent or step-parent meets eligibility criteria except averaging 25 hours per week of work, school, or training hours, early-learning child care tuition scholarships are available for a limited time to support you while searching for employment. For child care to continue, employment must be found within 90 days of child care starting. Parents may self-attest their need for job search child care to actively seek employment and that their family income is below 85 percent of the state median income if it applies. If after 3 months of job search child care, documented employment eligibility hours are not met, child care will end.
- Meet income guidelines based on gross household income (before taxes) and family size. Types of other household include, but are not limited to: rental income for a house, homestead, store, or other property; income from boarders/lodgers; income from estate and trust funds, or royalties; pensions, annuities, life insurance, and retirement income, Social Security Disability Income (SSDI), workers’ compensation income, alimony, court settlements, or judgements.
- The person applying for services must have primary custody of the child(ren) needing services. If applicant is not the parent of the child needing services, then applicant must provide the following with the application:
- Reason the parent is not available, and
- Paperwork verifying reason parent is not available, and
- Paperwork verifying that applicant is the person responsible for the child.
- Families must live within these counties: Bastrop, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Fayette, Hays, Lee, Llano, or Williamson.
- Families who owe recoupment, anywhere in Texas, are not eligible to enroll or continue services until the recoupment has been paid in full.
