CHAPTER 21. Child Care for Recipients of the CalWORKs Program [10370. - 10376.5.]

Cal. Welfare and Institutions Code - WIC 21.

in effect

Cal. Welfare and Institutions Code - WIC § 10370. Section 10370.

(a) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this chapter to ensure that recipients of aid under Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3, or any successor program, and former recipients who have left aid for employment, are connected as soon as possible to local child care resources, make stable child care arrangements, and continue to receive subsidized child care services after they no longer receive aid as long as they require those services and meet the eligibility requirements set forth in Sections 10271 and 10271.5. (b) This chapter establishes three stages of child care services through which a recipient of aid under Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3, or any successor program, will pass. Further, as families’ child care needs are met by county welfare departments and later by other local child care and development contractors, it is the intent of the Legislature that families experience no break in their child care services due to a transition between the three stages of child care services. (c) In order to ensure that there is no disruption in child care services due to the planned transitions between the stages of CalWORKs child care, the first stage or the second stage of child care services shall not be discontinued until confirmation is received from the administrator of the subsequent stage of child care that the family has been enrolled in the subsequent stage of child care, or that the family is ineligible for services in the subsequent stage of child care.

Cal. Welfare and Institutions Code - WIC § 10370.5. Section 10370.5.

Current CalWORKs recipients are eligible for all child care services under this chapter as long as they continue to receive aid under Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3, or any successor program. Family size and income, for purposes of calculating family fees, shall be determined pursuant to Section 10271.

Cal. Welfare and Institutions Code - WIC § 10371. Section 10371.

(a) The county welfare department shall manage the first stage during which a family shall receive a child care subsidy for any legal care chosen by the parent. The first stage begins upon the entry of a person into the program prescribed by Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3. (b) A county shall move recipients out of this first response stage as quickly as possible after the county determines that the need for child care is stable. A recipient may be served in this stage for a maximum of six months. The six-month time limit may be extended if the county determines that the recipient’s situation is too unstable to be shifted to the second stage or if no funds are available to provide child care services in the second stage. (c) Former CalWORKs recipients who cannot be transitioned from the first stage of child care because no funded slot is available are eligible to receive the first stage and any subsequent stage two child care services for up to a total of 24 months after they leave cash aid, or until they are otherwise ineligible within that 24-month period. Family size and income for purposes of determining eligibility and family fee shall be determined pursuant to Sections 10271 and 10271.5. (d) The county welfare department shall also begin the first stage of child care when an individual who applies for aid under the program described in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3 is participating as a volunteer pursuant to Article 3.2 (commencing with Section 11320) of Chapter 2 of Part 3. (e) A county may contract with public or private child care providers to provide any or all of the services during the first stage. If the county welfare department elects to contract with any child care provider that is also under contract with the department, these contracts shall be consistent with state law.

Cal. Welfare and Institutions Code - WIC § 10371.5. Section 10371.5.

(a) As soon as appropriate, a county welfare department shall refer families needing child care services to the local child care resource and referral program funded pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 10217). Resource and referral program staff shall colocate with a county welfare department’s case management offices for aid under Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3, or any successor program, or arrange other means of swift communication with parents and case managers of this aid. The local child care resource and referral program shall assist families to establish stable child care arrangements as soon as possible. These child care arrangements may include licensed and license-exempt care. (b) A program operating pursuant to this chapter shall, within two business days of being notified of a revocation or a temporary suspension order for a licensed child day care facility, do both of the following: (1) Terminate payment to the facility. (2) Notify each parent and the facility in writing that payment has been terminated and the reason for the termination. (c) A program operating pursuant to this chapter shall, upon being notified that a licensed child care facility has been placed on probation, provide written notice to each parent utilizing the facility that the facility has been placed on probation and that the parent has the option of selecting a different child day care provider or remaining with the facility without risk of subsidy payments to the provider being terminated. The Legislature urges each agency operating pursuant to this section to provide the written notice required by this subdivision in the primary language of the parent, to the extent feasible.

Cal. Welfare and Institutions Code - WIC § 10372. Section 10372.

(a) The second stage of child care begins when the county determines that the recipient’s work or approved work activity is stable or when a recipient is transitioning off of aid and child care is available through a local stage two program. Second stage child care may be provided to a family who elects to receive a lump-sum diversion payment or diversion services under Section 11266.5 when a funded space is not immediately available for the family in third stage. The local stage two agency shall assist in moving families to stage three as quickly as feasible. Former CalWORKs recipients are eligible to receive child care services in stage one and stage two for up to a total of no more than 24 months after they leave cash aid, or until they are otherwise ineligible within that 24-month period. Family size and income for purposes of determining eligibility and calculating the family fee shall be determined pursuant to Sections 10271 and 10271.5. A family leaving cash aid under the CalWORKs program shall receive up to two years of child care, if otherwise eligible, as needed to continue the family’s employment. The provision of the two-year time limit is not intended to limit eligibility for child care under Section 10372.5. (b) The second stage shall be administered by agencies contracting with the department. These contractors may be either agencies that have an alternative payment contract pursuant to Section 10225.5 or county welfare departments that choose to administer this stage in order to continue to provide child care services for recipients or former recipients of aid. If the county chooses to contract with the department to provide alternative payment services, this contract shall not displace, or result in the reduction of an existing contract of, a current alternative payment program.

Cal. Welfare and Institutions Code - WIC § 10372.3. Section 10372.3.

Nothing shall prohibit an administrator of an alternative payment program or agency administering CalWORKs Stage One or Stage Two programs, serving children 0 to 12 years of age, inclusive, from utilizing funds for administrative and support services to provide families at risk of homelessness or escaping domestic abuse a referral pathway to secure stable childcare placement. These services may be provided to the extent possible, in coordination with, and not supplanting, services provided by county human services agencies, and may be provided in partnership with homeless service agencies, domestic violence agencies, or other supportive housing.

Cal. Welfare and Institutions Code - WIC § 10372.5. Section 10372.5.

(a) The third stage of childcare begins when a funded space is available. CalWORKs recipients are eligible for the third stage of childcare. Persons who received a lump-sum diversion payment or diversion services and former CalWORKs participants are eligible if they have an income that does not exceed 85 percent of the state median income pursuant to Section 10271.5. The third stage shall be administered by programs contracting with the department. Parents’ eligibility for childcare and development services will be governed by Section 10271 and regulations adopted by the department. (b) In order to move welfare recipients and former recipients from their relationship with county welfare departments to relationships with institutions providing services to working families, it is the intent of the Legislature that families that are former recipients of aid, or are transitioning off aid, receive their childcare assistance in the same fashion as other low-income working families. Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature that families no longer rely on county welfare departments to obtain childcare subsidies beyond the time they are receiving other services from the welfare department. (c) A county welfare department shall not administer the third stage of childcare for CalWORKs recipients except to the extent to which it delivered those services to families receiving, or within one year of having received, Aid to Families with Dependent Children prior to the enactment of this section. (d) This chapter does not preclude county welfare departments from operating an alternative payment program under contract with the department to serve families referred by child protective services.

Cal. Welfare and Institutions Code - WIC § 10373. Section 10373.

Child care during the third stage may be funded with moneys dedicated to current and former recipients of aid under Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3, or any successor program, including the federal funds appropriated to alternative payment program contractors in the 1996–97 fiscal year using the Budget Act’s Section 28 process as described in subdivision (b). Nothing shall prevent child care services provided under stage three from being funded with moneys from other federal or state sources. Nothing in this chapter shall preclude current and former recipients of aid under Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3, or any successor program, from receiving child care services pursuant to other provisions of this chapter.

Cal. Welfare and Institutions Code - WIC § 10373.5. Section 10373.5.

It is the intent of the Legislature that the department work with Head Start and state preschool programs to generate extended-day and evening care for recipients of aid under Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3, or any successor program, through recruiting and training parents to be licensed and license-exempt care providers and shall facilitate connections between Head Start and state preschool contractors and child care certificate administrators, including counties and other alternative payment programs, so that funds available for Sections 10371, 10372, and 10372.5 cover the cost of this care.

Cal. Welfare and Institutions Code - WIC § 10374. Section 10374.

It is the intent of the Legislature that each county receive funding for child care services provided in stage two that is at least equivalent to the amount of funding received in the 1996–97 fiscal year for income disregard pursuant to Section 11451.6 and supplemental child care pursuant to Section 11451.7.

Cal. Welfare and Institutions Code - WIC § 10374.5. Section 10374.5.

(a) Recipients of childcare services provided pursuant to this chapter shall be allowed to choose the childcare services of licensed childcare providers or childcare providers who, by law, are not required to be licensed, and the cost of that childcare shall be reimbursed by counties or agencies that contract with the department. For purposes of this section, “regional market rate” means care costing no more than 1.5 market standard deviations above the mean cost of care for that region. It is the intent of the Legislature to reimburse childcare providers at the 85th percentile of the most recent regional market rate survey. If the market rate survey is used to set reimbursement rates, the following shall apply: (b) (1) The regional market rate ceilings shall be established at the greater of either of the following: (A) The 75th percentile of the 2016 regional market rate survey for that region. (B) The regional market rate ceiling that existed in that region on December 31, 2017. (2) Commencing January 1, 2022, the regional market rate ceilings shall be established at the greater of either of the following: (A) The 75th percentile of the 2018 regional market rate survey for that region. (B) The regional market rate ceiling that existed in that region on December 31, 2021. (c) (1) Reimbursement to license-exempt childcare providers shall not exceed 70 percent of the family childcare home rate established pursuant to subdivision (b). (2) Commencing January 1, 2022, license-exempt childcare providers shall be reimbursed at 70 percent of the family childcare home rate established pursuant to subdivision (b), including hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly, for both full- and part-time reimbursement categories. (d) (1) Commencing July 1, 2022, subject to available funding, the department may issue temporary rate increases to licensed childcare providers that exceed the rates specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) and to licensed-exempt childcare providers that exceed the rates specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (c). The department shall have discretion in determining how funding may be used to increase the rates, including, but not limited to, providing one-time lump-sum payments. The department may contract with another entity to distribute this funding to childcare providers. (2) Notwithstanding any other law, contracts or grants awarded pursuant to this subparagraph shall be exempt from the personal services contracting requirements of Article 4 (commencing with Section 19130) of Chapter 5 of Part 2 of Division 5 of Title 2 of the Government Code, the Public Contract Code, and the State Contracting Manual, and shall not be subject to review or approval of the Department of General Services. (e) (1) In accordance with federal requirements for Child Care Stabilization Grants appropriated pursuant to the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2), childcare providers shall provide information via a one-time application or survey in advance of receiving American Rescue Plan Act funds pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) or paragraph (2) of subdivision (c). The department shall specify the timeline and format in which this information shall be submitted, and information shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following: (A) Address, including ZIP Code. (B) Race and ethnicity. (C) Gender. (D) Whether the provider is open and available to provide childcare services or closed due to the COVID-19 public health emergency. (E) What types of federal relief funds have been received from the state. (F) Use of federal relief funds received. (G) Documentation that the provider met certifications as required by federal law. (2) Rate increases shall be subject to federal usage limitations and federal and state program eligibility requirements. (f) Reimbursement to childcare providers shall not exceed the fee charged to private clients for the same service. (g) Reimbursement shall not be made for childcare services when care is provided by parents, legal guardians, or members of the assistance unit. (h) A childcare provider located on an Indian reservation or rancheria and exempted from state licensing requirements shall meet applicable tribal standards. (i) For purposes of this section, “reimbursement” means a direct payment to the provider of childcare services, including license-exempt providers. If care is provided in the home of the recipient, payment may be made to the parent as the employer, and the parent shall be informed of their concomitant legal and financial reporting requirements. To allow time for the development of the administrative systems necessary to issue direct payments to providers, for a period not to exceed six months, a county or an alternative payment agency contracting with the department may reimburse the cost of childcare services through a direct payment to a recipient of aid rather than to the childcare provider. (j) Counties and alternative payment programs shall not be bound by the rate limits described in subdivisions (a) and (b), when there are, in the region, no more than two childcare providers of the type needed by the recipient of childcare services provided under this chapter. (k) (1) Notwithstanding any other law, reimbursements to childcare providers based upon a daily rate may only be authorized under either of the following circumstances: (A) A family has an unscheduled but documented need of five hours or more per occurrence, such as the parent’s need to work on a regularly scheduled day off, that exceeds the certified need for childcare. (B) A family has a documented need of five hours or more per day that exceeds no more than 14 days per month. Reimbursements to a childcare provider based on the daily rate over one month’s time shall not exceed the childcare provider’s equivalent full-time monthly rate or applicable monthly ceiling. (2) This subdivision shall not limit childcare providers from being reimbursed for services using a weekly or monthly rate, pursuant to Section 10228.

Cal. Welfare and Institutions Code - WIC § 10375. Section 10375.

(a) By January 31, 1998, the State Department of Education and the State Department of Social Services shall design a form for license-exempt child care providers to use for certifying health and safety requirements to the extent required by federal law. Until the form is adopted, the information required pursuant to Section 11324 shall continue to be maintained by the county welfare department or contractor, as appropriate. (b) By January 31, 1998, the State Department of Education and the State Department of Social Services shall do both of the following: (1) Design a standard process for complaints by parents about the provision of child care that is exempt from licensure. (2) Design, in consultation with local planning councils, a single application for all child care programs and all families. (c) (1) County welfare departments and alternative payment programs shall encourage all providers who are licensed or who are exempt from licensure and who are providing care under Section 10371, 10372, or 10372.5 to secure training and education in basic child development. (2) Child care provider job training provided to CalWORKs recipients that is funded by either the State Department of Education or the State Department of Social Services shall include information on becoming a licensed child care provider. (d) The department shall increase consumer education and consumer awareness activities so that parents will have the information needed to seek child care of high quality. High-quality child care shall include both licensed and license-exempt care.

Cal. Welfare and Institutions Code - WIC § 10375.5. Section 10375.5.

Notwithstanding any other confidentiality requirement, the government or private agency administering subsidized child care services shall share information necessary for the administration of the child care programs pursuant to this chapter and the CalWORKs program pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3, for the time period for which the person receives child care.

Cal. Welfare and Institutions Code - WIC § 10376. Section 10376.

(a) County welfare departments and alternative payment programs shall provide to the department and the local planning council, on a monthly basis, data about child care usage and demand in each of the three stages. The department shall forward this data quarterly to the Department of Finance and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee for fiscal planning. (b) By January 10 of each year, the Department of Finance shall present to the respective legislative budget committees an estimate of the cost of funding the expected demand for child care as described in subdivision (a) of Section 10371 and Sections 10372 and 10372.5.

Cal. Welfare and Institutions Code - WIC § 10376.5. Section 10376.5.

(a) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this chapter to provide sufficient funding through an appropriation in the annual Budget Act to fund the estimated cost of providing child care for all individuals who are anticipated to need child care to participate in the welfare-to-work programs and to transition to work. (b) It is the intent of the Legislature that child care and development contracts in existence on the effective date of this section be allowed to continue until the end of the 1997–98 fiscal year. (c) Funding for purposes of implementing this chapter shall be appropriated in the annual Budget Act.

Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026