Become a Provider for Families Participating in the Child Care Assistance Program

Early care and education facilities must apply to be eligible to serve families who receive financial assistance from the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP). CCAP assists working families with access to affordable, quality child care. The program supports eligible parents and caregivers to pursue education and continue work, while providing financial support for child care. CCAP can support care in school, center and home-based settings, with families sharing the cost based on family size and income. 

IDEC is responsible for the administration of health and safety requirements as outlined by the federal government. This includes ensuring all providers participating in CCAP that are not related to all the children they are caring for complete specific health, safety and child development trainings to promote a positive and safe environment for the children in care. 

Providers participating in CCAP must meet the following guidelines: 

• Must be 18 or older.

• Cannot be a parent, stepparent, adoptive parent, or legal guardian of the child.

• Cannot be a person living in the home who is a parent of the child's sibling or has a child in common with the applicant.

• Cannot be a member of the parent's TANF unit.

• Must pass background checks and cannot have certain criminal convictions or be indicated by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (IDCFS) Child Abuse and Neglect Tracking System (CANTS) as listed in CCAP policy 05.03.01 - Provider Background Checks. 

• Complete all health and safety orientation training requirements within 90 days of CCAP approval including but not limited to CPR/First Aid and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (IDCFS) Child Abuse and Neglect mandated Reporter trainings. Providers caring only for children they are related to are exempt from these trainings but encouraged to take them. 

• Complete the required number of annual health and safety trainings on the topics listed in CCAP Policy 05.05.01 - CCAP Provider Health, Safety, and Child Development Training Requirements. 

• Participate in annual monitoring visits from Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) Health and Safety Coaches to ensure all health and safety standards listed in CCAP policy 05.01.03 CCAP Provider Health and Safety Standards Requirements are maintained.

• Submit copies of a current photo ID and Social Security Card to confirm identification.

• Complete and submit a W-9 form for payment processing.

Pre-service and ongoing training for providers to meet these CCAP requirements can be accessed a few ways in Illinois. The Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (INCCRRA) and the Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (CCR&Rs)support IDEC in administering statewide health and safety in-person and online training opportunities for providers.

IDCFS provides Child Abuse and Neglect Mandated Reporter training.

Most certified CPR/First Aid organizations (American Heart Association, Red Cross, etc.) meet CCAP training requirements. Lastly, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) provides health and safety training support through the SEIU Member Education and Training Center (METC).

To find out more information about required health and safety trainings, please use this link to learn about resources from INCCRRA -  INCCRRA (English) and INCCRRA (Spanish). 

For the INCCRRA training calendar visit the link below.

Home providers may also visig the SEIU Training Center.

Find a local CCR&R for additional training support through the following link. 

1. Go to www.ilgateways.com. Click the Registry Member Login button. Log into the Gateways Registry Dashboard with your username and password.
2. Click the My Registry Portal. Then click the Plan section.
3. Select the Reports tab. Then click Get Report to download your Completion of IDEC CCAP Training Requirements Report in PDF format.

There are two categories of legal child care arrangements: Licensed and License-exempt. 

The Illinois Department of Early Childhood manages both CCAP and the Licensing process. Within the Licensed care category, the following are the types of child care arrangements - 

• Licensed Child Care Center - Part 407 Licensing Standard

• Licensed Child Care Home - Part 406 Licensing Standard

• Licensed Group Child Care Home - Part 408 Licensing Standard

The Illinois Department of Early Childhood manages the license exempt Child Care Program. Within the license-exempt category, the following are the types of legal child care arrangements - 

• Child Care Center Exempt from Licensing

• Child Care Home Exempt from Licensing

• Relative Exempt from Licensing (care in the home of the provider) 

• Relative Exempt from Licensing (care in the home of the child)

• Non-Relative Exempt from Licensing (care in the home of the child)

For Child Care Centers seeking exemption from licensing, IDEC Child Care Licensing will determine if a facility (such as a YWCA, Boys and Girls Club, park district) meets the criteria to be exempt from licensing and will issue a Certification of Exemption to the facility is approved.

All Non-relative license exempt child care home providers and those staff employed within a License exempt center are required to complete all health and safety trainings, and background checks. Additionally, License Exempt Centers and Non-relative license-exempt home will require an annual monitoring visits from a CCR&R Health and Safety coaches. 

License Exempt providers who wish to participate in CCAP must pass a background check consisting of three elements:

• CANTS (Child Abuse and Neglect Tracking System) check

• Illinois and/or National Sex Offender Registries (SORS)

• Criminal Background Check (done through fingerprinting) - Providers who only care for children they are related to are exempt from criminal background checks.  

Your local Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agency may assist you with more information on CCAP, background requirements, the health and safety training and monitoring visit process. Use the CCR&R Office Locator to find the office that services your county.

Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (CCR&R) are responsible for determining whether a family is eligible for financial assistance through the Child Care Assistance Program. 

Once a family is eligible and eligible child care provider must agree or accept that child into their program.  A family application can be approved if they are eligible even if a qualified provider isn't identified on the application.

This acceptance can be done via the online, digital Child Care Assistance Program application, or at your local CCR&R via a paper application. 

The provider must review their information on the application before it is submitted, agree to the points listed, and either affirm online after they receive an email confirming a family has selected them as a provider or sign the Provider Certification section of the Child Care Assistance Program Application.  

The Child Care Assistance Program Eligibility Calculator below is a tool designed for both families and providers to get an estimate of the family's eligibility and co-payment.

• Direct Deposit of CCAP payments into your existing bank account is a seamless and easy way to receive your payments and can be set up by contacting the Illinois Office of the Comptroller by calling 217-557-0930.
• IDEC Child Care Telephone Billing System, Integrated Voice Response (IVR) system for licensed and licensed-exempt home child care is an alternative to mailing the child care certificate to the local CCR&R agency at the end of each month and will help providers get payments quicker. Contact you local CCR&R for support in enrolling. 
• The Illinois Debit MasterCard® card is a fast, convenient and secure method of receiving your CCAP payments. IDEC offers this program for licensed and licensed-exempt home child care providers.          
• Child Care Payment Inquiry - (800) 804-3833 a toll-free number that child care providers can use to check if their child care certificate has been entered for payment and an approximate mail date. 
• Child Care Payment Rates - Rates apply to all child care Providers.
• Child Care Payment Rates Spanish Version
• Parent Co-Payment Information - What the parent pays once they have been approved for child care benefits.

A child care provider who participates in the Child Care Assistance Program is subject to and must cooperate with a monitoring review of their records to ensure that the services billedare adequately documented.

Providers are required to retain attendance records and signed billing certificates for five (5) years. During a review, the monitor will request these records to verify payments made during the selected review month.

Providers are responsible for maintaining and making this documentation available upon request, even when using the Child Care Telephone Billing System, Integrated Voice Response (IVR) system. Providers may be charged an overpayment if the required attendance records do not support the billing certificates submitted to the CCR&R for payment and providers will be responsible for repaying any unsupported funds to the State.

For more information on monitoring Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) providers, see the CCAP Policy Manual on the IDEC Policies and Procedures page. 

• Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agencies throughout Illinois are assigned to support families, providers, and communities across all 102 counties: CCR&Rs provide the following services for parents and providers:
• Parents:
  • Provide parents with consumer education and referrals to child care in their communities;
  • Support parents in applying for the Child Care Assistance Program.

• Providers and the Workforce:

  
  
  • Deliver training, consultation, and assistance to providers in order to improve the quality of care offered:
  • Help develop new child care resources in communities where they are needed;
  • Assemble and maintain an accurate child care database to provide up-to-date information to parents; and
  • Record and analyze data on child care supply and demand to support community capacity building.
• ExceleRate Illinois is a statewide quality recognition and improvement system available for licensed family child care home providers and group home providers as well as licensed child care centers, Head Start and Preschool for All programs. The system is designed to make continuous quality improvement an everyday priority among early learning providers. The program establishes standards for helping children develop intellectually, physically, socially and emotionally. All early childhood programs that are licensed in the State of Illinois are included in ExceleRate at the Licensed Circle of Quality. There are three Circles of Quality programs can work towards and achieve beyond Licensed: Bronze, Silver, and Gold.
  • Quality add-ons are available through two statewide systems in Illinois: Quality add-ons and Seniority/Longevity add-ons.
  • ExceleRate programs with a Silver or Gold Circle of Quality receive a quality-add on to the standard CCAP rates.
  • Seniority add-ons were negotiated with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) on behalf of the family child care home provider union members and IDHS in the 2023-2027 Collective Bargaining Agreement. Seniority add-ons are based on the number of months a providers has been paid CCAP for in conjunction with the provider attaining a quality rating (specified Circle of Quality through ExceleRate Illinois or Gateways Training Tier).

• Gateways Training Tiers is the statewide quality improvement system for Illinois license-exempt family child care providers. Training is categorized in three Training Tiers. Each Tier includes modules from the Illinois Gateways to Opportunity ECE Credential Level 1 and covers health, safety, nutrition, child development, and much more. License-exempt family child care home providers that complete the specified training are eligible to receive additional compensation if caring for children eligible for the CCAP.

• Great START  provides wage supplements to eligible practitioners working in licensed centers and homes.

• Smart Start Workforce Grants, grants to providers to support increased wages for the child care and family child care workforce members. 

• Gateways to Opportunity Scholarship Program is an individual-based scholarship opportunity for practitioners working in licensed centers and homes. 

• Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is a federally-funded program operated by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) that provides monthly reimbursement to eligible participating child care providers for serving nutritious meals and snacks.

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