Clarifications for Reporting CCDF Direct Services on the ACF-801 Report During the COVID-19 Response

Introduction

Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Lead Agencies were provided additional Federal funds for child care to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic health crisis through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). Lead Agencies were given considerable flexibility in how they expend the funds. Some Lead Agencies may have decided to expend some portion of that funding on direct services to children of essential workers (e.g., medical workers, first responders, etc., as defined by the state) during this health crisis and/or continue making payments to providers who were forced to close during the pandemic. This guidance will allow the Office of Child Care (OCC) to collect critical data about the use of CARES Act funding, including an estimate of the number of essential workers’ families and children served, and the number of providers supported.

The existing guidance for reporting the ACF-801 has not changed; see Technical Bulletin #3 for case-level data standards. The existing guidance shall be followed for services provided using the broader CCDF funds. In this document, OCC is providing additional guidance on how to report families, children, and providers supported during the COVID-19 response (fully or partially) with CARES Act funding. Below is guidance on how to report case-level information in the ACF-801 report for the following elements in specific situations related to addressing COVID-19:

• Income for Determining Eligibility (#9)
• Monthly Amount Paid to Provider (#27)
• Hours of Care during the Month (#28).

OCC understands that states and territories will have varying abilities to report those served with CARES Act funds, depending upon the way in which they were able to capture information and the flexibility of their IT systems. If Lead Agencies are unable to report based on the guidance below, they should provide footnotes indicating the information they are able to report as a part of the ACF-801 report.

The CARES Act was enacted March 27, 2020, and Lead Agencies can use the funds for obligations incurred prior to enactment of the CARES Act. Beginning with the March 2020 ACF-801 report, states and territories should follow the guidance below for reporting case-level information on families, children, and providers supported using CARES Act funding during their COVID-19 response.

Guidance for Reporting Income Data for Direct Services for Essential Workers' Children

While all other reporting standards remain the same, new guidance is outlined below:

• Total Monthly Income (Element #9): report ’9999’ for essential workers whose subsidy was fully or partially paid by the CARES Act and were not income-eligible or their income eligibility was not determined.  Unlike other CCDF funding, CARES Act funds can be used for child care subsidies for essential workers, regardless of whether they are income-eligible. 

If the state or territory is able to report case-level data for direct services of essential workers supported with CARES Act funding, but is unable to report according to the guidance above, they should provide footnotes for any elements for which they are unable to meet the reporting guidance. For more information on including footnotes in the ACF-801 report, see Technical Bulletin #4.

Guidance for Reporting Hours and Subsidy for Provider Payments that Continued Although the Child was not in Attendance (to Retain Supply of Providers)

While all other reporting standards remain the same, use the guidance below to report the case-level information for both hours and payments for children who were not in attendance but for whom the state’s program continued to make subsidy payments to the child’s provider(s):

• Payment to Provider (Element #27): report the subsidy amount paid to the provider based on enrollment/authorization;
• Hours of Care (Element #28): report zero ’0’ for children who were not in attendance, but for whom you continued to pay their provider.

If the state or territory is unable to report according to the guidance above, they should provide footnotes indicating which elements they are unable to report according to the suggested guidance. For more information on including footnotes in the ACF-801 report, see Technical Bulletin #4.

Guidance for Lead Agencies Unable to Report Case-Level Data for Families/Children and Providers Supported with CARES Act Funding

The Office of Child Care anticipates that some Lead Agencies may be unable to submit case-level data for certain families and children served with CARES Act funding on the ACF-801 monthly report. If the state/territory is unable to report case-level data for these families and children, they should provide a footnote¹on the ACF-801 report describing the categories of families/children served with CARES Act funds that are included in the ACF-801 monthly report. For more information on including footnotes in the ACF-801 report, see Technical Bulletin #4.

Resources

If you have other questions or need more information about the ACF-801 report, there are two primary resources for additional help — the Regional Office Child Care Program Manager for program and policy questions and the CARS TA Team for general reporting questions.

The Office of Child Care (OCC) is represented by staff in each of the ten administrative regions across the country. You should contact your Regional Office if you have questions regarding your Child Care program policy or operations. Contact information for the Regional Offices can be found on the OCC website.

The CARS TA Team works with the OCC to provide technical assistance to all of the State, Territory, and Tribal CCDF Lead Agencies with matters related to the required CCDF data reporting. You can reach the CARS TA Team Monday to Friday from 9:00 am — 6:00 pm, prevailing Eastern Time.

Phone (toll-free): 1-877-249-9117
E-mail: cars@acf.hhs.gov
 

1 States and Territories submit footnotes to clarify the data they report for specific data elements, using “N + data element number” as the delimiter to identify the record as a footnote and then specifying the data element number.  For example, “N28” should be used when explaining the type of hours they are reporting. States and Territories should use “N00” when reporting footnotes about the entire file, such as the categories of families being reported.