237A.13 - STATE CHILD CARE ASSISTANCE.
237A.13 STATE CHILD CARE ASSISTANCE.
1. A state child care assistance program is established in the
department to assist children in families who meet eligibility
guidelines and are described by any of the following circumstances:
a. The child's parent, guardian, or custodian is
participating in approved academic or vocational training.
b. The child's parent, guardian, or custodian is seeking
employment. Eligibility for assistance while seeking employment
shall be limited to thirty days during a twelve-month period.
c. The child's parent, guardian, or custodian is employed and
the family income meets income requirements.
d. The child's parent, guardian, or custodian is absent for a
limited period of time due to hospitalization, physical illness, or
mental illness, or is present but is unable to care for the child for
a limited period as verified by a physician.
e. The child needs protective services to prevent or
alleviate child abuse or neglect.
f. The person's family circumstances are described in
paragraph "a", "b", "c", or "d", the person is
thirteen years of age or older but younger than sixteen years of age,
and state child care assistance is approved for the person by the
director or the director's designee based on a request for an
exception to policy made by the person's parent, guardian, or
custodian because special family circumstances exist that would place
the safety and well-being of the person at risk if the person is left
home alone. The definition of child in section 237A.1 does not apply
to child care supported by state child care assistance approved
pursuant to this lettered paragraph.
2. Services under the program may be provided in a licensed child
care center, a child development home, the home of a relative, the
child's own home, a child care home, or in a facility exempt from
licensing or registration.
3. The department shall set reimbursement rates as authorized by
appropriations enacted for payment of the reimbursements. The
department shall conduct a statewide reimbursement rate survey to
compile information on each county and the survey shall be conducted
at least every two years. The department shall set rates in a manner
so as to provide incentives for an unregistered provider to become
registered.
4. The department's billing and payment provisions for the
program shall allow providers to elect either biweekly or monthly
billing and payment for child care provided under the program. The
department shall remit payment to a provider within ten business days
of receiving a bill or claim for services provided. However, if the
department determines that a bill has an error or omission, the
department shall notify the provider of the error or omission and
identify any correction needed before issuance of payment to the
provider. The department shall provide the notice within five
business days of receiving the billing from the provider and shall
remit payment to the provider within ten business days of receiving
the corrected billing.
5. On or before July 1, 2007, the department shall implement a
system for making program payments by electronic funds transfer or
other electronic means.
6. The department shall not apply waiting list requirements to
any of the following persons:
a. Persons deemed to be eligible for benefits under the state
child care assistance program in accordance with section 239B.24.
b. A family that is receiving state child care assistance at
the time a child is born into the family. The newborn child shall be
approved for services when the family reports the birth of the child.
c. Children who need protective services to prevent or
alleviate child abuse or neglect.
d. A child in a family that is eligible for state child care
assistance and that receives a state adoption subsidy for the child.
7. Based upon the availability of the funding appropriated for
state child care assistance for a fiscal year, the department shall
establish waiting lists for state child care assistance in descending
order of prioritization as follows:
a. Families with an income at or below one hundred percent of
the federal poverty level whose members are employed at least
twenty-eight hours per week, and parents with a family income at or
below one hundred percent of the federal poverty level who are under
the age of twenty-one years and are participating in an educational
program leading to a high school diploma or the equivalent.
b. Parents with a family income at or below one hundred
percent of the federal poverty level who are under the age of
twenty-one years and are participating, at a satisfactory level, in
an approved training program or in an educational program.
c. Families with an income of more than one hundred percent
but not more than one hundred forty-five percent of the federal
poverty level whose members are employed at least twenty-eight hours
per week.
d. Families with an income at or below two hundred percent of
the federal poverty level whose members are employed at least
twenty-eight hours per week with a special needs child as a member of
the family.
8. Nothing in this section shall be construed as or is intended
as, or shall imply, a grant of entitlement for services to persons
who are eligible for assistance due to an income level or other
eligibility circumstance addressed in this section. Any state
obligation to provide services pursuant to this section is limited to
the extent of the funds appropriated for the purposes of state child
care assistance. Section History: Recent Form
2000 Acts, ch 1067, §15; 2002 Acts, ch 1142, §17, 18, 31; 2003
Acts, ch 81, §7, 8; 2006 Acts, ch 1016, §13; 2006 Acts, ch 1099, §1;
2007 Acts, ch 172, §1; 2007 Acts, ch 215, §99; 2008 Acts, ch 1187,
§122
Referred to in § 234.47, 239B.24