Priorities Report: 2021

The Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) is the primary federal funding source for child care assistance to help eligible working families with low-incomes access child care and to improve the quality of child care for all children. CCDF gives funding to states, territories, and tribes to provide child care subsidies through vouchers or certificates to families with low incomes, or through grants and contracts with providers. CCDF provides access to child care services for working families with low incomes, so parents can work, attend school, or enroll in training. Additionally, CCDF promotes the healthy development of children by improving the quality of early learning and school-age experiences for both subsidized and unsubsidized children. Within the federal regulations, lead agencies administering CCDF decide how to administer the CCDF subsidy programs. Lead agencies determine payment rates for child care providers, copayment amounts for families, specific eligibility requirements, and how to prioritize CCDF services.

The most recent data from the Department of Health and Human Services’(HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) estimated 1.9 million children under the age of 13 received child care subsidies through CCDF or related government funding streams in an average month in fiscal year (FY) 2018. This is equivalent to 15 percent of all children eligible under federal rules and 23 percent of all children eligible under state rules.¹ Under federal eligibility rules, 12.8 million children were eligible for child care subsidies in an average month in FY 2018, which represents 24 percent of the total 52.9 million children under the age of 13. Of that number, 8.4 million children were also eligible for subsidies under state eligibility rules, which represents 16 percent of the total 52.9 million children in the age range served by CCDF and 66 percent of children eligible under federal rules.

CCDF administrative data, including monthly case-level data reported on the ACF-801, provides information about the characteristics (including income) of families receiving a child care subsidy. Preliminary FY 2020 ACF-801 CCDF administrative data (most recent year available) indicates that approximately 1.49 million children and 900,300 families per month received CCDF child care assistance, increasing slightly from FY 2019.² The CCDF subsidy program emphasizes parental choice; therefore, children are cared for in a wide variety of settings. Nationally, in FY 2020:³

• 72 percent of children receiving subsidies were cared for in center-based care.
• 22 percent of children receiving CCDF assistance were cared for in family child care homes.
• Two percent of children were cared for in the child’s own home.
• The data were not reported or was invalid for four percent.

The percentage of children receiving services in a family child care home slightly increased from FY 2019 to FY 2020, while the percentage of children receiving services in center-based care slightly decreased during this same time period.

It is worth noting that child care experienced significant changes during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the data used to support this report was partially collected during the pandemic. Lead agencies were instructed to report annual estimates of families, children and providers receiving subsidies due to COVID-19 circumstances, which included families and children funded with CARES Act dollars and children of essential workers receiving subsidies due to the COVID-19 crisis. The additional CARES Act funding and prioritization of essential worker families and children during the early days of the pandemic shaped the delivery of child care services during FY 2020.

1 Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning & Evaluation - Factsheet: Estimates of Child Care Eligibility & Receipt for Fiscal Year 2018  (PDF)

2 FY 2020 Preliminary Data Table 1 - Average Monthly Adjusted Number of Families and Children Served

3 FY 2020 Preliminary Data Table 3 - Average Monthly Percentages of Children Served by Types of Care