Child Care for Parents

Parent must work or attend a job training or educational program for a combination of at least an average of 25 hours per week for a single-parent family or a total combined 50 hours per week for a dual-parent household. 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.

• If taxes are not taken out of pay or parent is paid cash-we consider parent to be self-employed.
• Families who identify as homeless are exempt from this requirement to apply for services.
• Families who do not meet the above minimum participation requirements for At-Risk child care eligibility but who are otherwise eligible shall qualify for child care while searching for work.

Parents enrolled full-time in postsecondary undergraduate education program must not exceed a cumulative total of 60 months. This limitation applies to parents who are meeting participation requirements by postsecondary education only.

Parents working and attending an educational program are not subject to the cumulative 60-month limit. The 60-month limit excludes parents enrolled in high school or a high school equivalent program.

Parents participating in educational program while receiving child care services must make progress towards completion of the education or training program.

Families who do not meet the minimum participation requirements may qualify for child care services while searching for work through Initial Job Search (IJS) program:

• IJS is limited to one per 12-month eligibility period.
• Parents must self-attest if they are not meeting the participation requirement and have registered for Work-In-Texas.
• IJS is limited to three (3) months. Child Care Services will continue following the three-month period if the family meets the minimum participation requirements. If at the end of the three months, the family does not meet the minimum participation requirements, care will be terminated.

The person applying for services must have primary custody of the child needing services. If the applicant is not the parent of the child needing services, then the 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.

Fixed means stationary, permanent, and not subject to change.

Regular means consistent; used on a regular (e.g., nightly) basis.

Adequate means sufficient for meeting both the physical and psychological needs typically met in home environments.

Homelessness is a family that does not have or is suspected of not having a permanent, fixed, and adequate residence. Homelessness is defined in the McKinney-Vento Act as children who lack a nighttime residence that is fixed, regular, and adequate. This includes children who:

1. Are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason;
2. Are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations;
3. Are living in emergency or transitional shelters;
4. Are abandoned in hospitals;
5. Have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings;
6. Are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and
7. Are migratory children who qualify as homeless because they are living in circumstances described above.

Families must live within these counties: Anderson, Camp, Cherokee, Gregg, Harrison, Henderson, Marion, Panola, Rains, Rusk, Smith, Upshur, Van Zandt, and Wood.