Coffee chat with child care Analyst Hour / July 2019

Coffee Chat with Child Care Today’s Agenda Determining Child Care Hours: Using Highest Verified Hours Two Parent Households Extra Hours Self-Employment Hours Student Hours Mailbag: Common Policy Box Questions Questions & Suggestions for Future Agenda Topics

How to authorize child care hours

Highest Verified Hours Remember… Income verification needs to be representative of ongoing income and hours. Always use the highest verified number of hours from the income verification used for the financial determination. If it is determined a portion of their pay is not representative (ex: one paystub is not representative) and is not being used in the income calculation, then those hours should also not be used to determine authorized child care hours. If the highest verified hours are not a whole number (example: 39.25), we would round at the end of the calculation as a best practice. Child care hours are never averaged. When someone earns less than minimum wage, their income is divided by the local minimum wage to determine their child care hours.

Example: Highest Verified Hours Mary is requesting ERDC. She is paid weekly and submits four paystubs with the following hours worked on each: 35, 38.4, 29, and 39. Her eligibility worker inquires about the 29 hour week, because it is less than the others. Mary replies that she was out ill, so this paystub is not representative. Her eligibility worker uses the 39 hour paystub for her authorized child care hours: 39 x 4.3 = 167.7. As we always round up, it is coded as 168 on UCMS. (System adds 25% for travel time.)

Two Caretaker households Child care can be approved for overlapping work hours when both caretakers in a household are working, or are working and in school. Example: Reginald works Monday through Thursday from noon to 5pm. His husband, Maxwell, works Tuesday through Friday from 9am to 2pm and attends classes on Mondays and Fridays from 3-4pm. Hours that overlap are Tuesday through Thursday from noon to 2pm, and Mondays from 3-4pm. Maxwell’s Friday class would not be overlapping with Reginald’s work schedule.

Two Caretaker Households, Continued If one caretaker is not working, child care need must be assessed. Are they able to care for the child(ren)? If they state that they are not able to care for the child(ren), verification from a medical professional (or Child Welfare, if applicable) is required. If they are able to care for the child(ren), there is no child care need. If one caretaker is out of the home due to employment, education, or for a family emergency, they are still considered part of the household and only overlapping work hours are considered when determining child care hours. Caretakers are also considered part of the household if they are temporarily out of the home but anticipated to return within 90 days. *Family emergency – choice to leave household (illness, death, injury, etc.)

Extra Child Care Hours Additional child care hours can be authorized when… A caretaker consistently works more than 40 hours per week A caretaker works a graveyard shift and needs sleep hours Travel time to and from work exceeds the 25% allowed for travel time A caretaker works a split shift and is required to stay on site or there is limited time between shifts to be able to care for the child(ren) *DON’T FORGET TO TALK ABOUT ADDRESSING CHILD CARE NEED WHEN LOOKING AT EXH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sleep hours not for 2 parent households, no more than 5 hrs a night per work shift, not for school age children in the school year

Extra Child Care Hours, Continued The system will not automatically add travel time when EXH is applied. The eligibility worker will have to manually calculate the travel time (x 1.25) and code this number on UCMS. Example: Child care hours are determined to be 42 per week consistently. 42 hours x 4.3 = 180.6 x 1.25 travel = 225.75, rounded up to 226. Worker adds EXH coding to UCMS as a case descriptor and inputs 226 hours in the CC Hrs field. Total child care hours cannot exceed 323 per month. *AWS and extra hours – cannot have EXH hours with AWS, need to reduce to 172 (full time)

Self-Employment When a caretaker is determined to be self- employed, their pay is divided by the local minimum wage to determine their child care hours. The caretaker can choose whether they would like to have costs considered, as lower countable income would reduce their copay (but this would also reduce allowable child care hours). In a two caretaker household where one or both of the caretakers are self-employed: Determine how many hours the self- employed caretaker is eligible for based on the directions above; Compare to actual overlapping work hours; Approve whichever is less. Different than highest verified

Example: Self-Employment Hours Valerie is self-employed in Portland. She grossed $2050 in June and states this is representative. She has business costs. With costs considered (SEC): $2050 / $12.50 = 164 x 50 percent = 82 child care hours. (Remember to code SEC $1025 on UCMS – this will reduce her copay.) Without costs (SEN): $2050 / $12.50 = 164 child care hours. Caretakers can choose which option works best for their family. Example: Self-Employment Hours

Student Hours Working students may be eligible to have some or all of their class time covered for child care assistance. Authorized student hours are limited as follows: The caretaker must be eligible due to employment, before student hours can be determined; Coursework must lead to a certificate, degree or job-related knowledge and skills; The working student must submit verification of school registration and current class schedule before student hours can be approved; Authorized student hours cannot exceed authorized work hours (at least 50 percent of all authorized hours must be from employment); Total authorized hours, from work and school, cannot exceed 172 (EXH is not allowed on working student child care cases) and; Coursework must be through a school or institution eligible for Federal Student Aid. SAC not eligible for ERDC

Student Hours, Continued Student hours may be approved for online classes. If there is no set schedule, credit hours may be used. Child care need should still be assessed. Additional hours are not authorized for study time – this is incorporated into the additional 25% added by the system. Example: Rodrigo works at Best Buy for 30 hours a week, and is in classes for 15 hours per week. What are Rodrigo’s authorized child care hours? 172 hours (40 x 4.3)

Mailbag: Common Policy Box Questions

Mailbag: July 2019 Q: Can we apply AWS for a parent with two jobs who loses one of them? A: Unfortunately, they would not qualify for AWS because they still have a job. We could look at reducing the income if she is unable to pay her copay and replacing the billing form if the difference in her copay calculation is $25 or more. Q: One parent who is self-employed in a 2-parent household. One owns the business, the other is employed by that business. How do we calculate income and hours? A: This would actually follow the normal process, even though one parent is technically employed by their spouse. We would count the first parent’s income with SLF, and they can choose whether to accept deductions or not. Then we would count the other parent’s income as EML, and we would have to look at the overlapping work hours or self-employment hours of the first parent, whichever is less.

Questions? For policy related questions, e-mail Child Care Policy with questions (and suggestions for future agenda topics!) at ChildCare.Policy@dhsoha.state.or.us For payment related questions, call Direct Pay Unit at 1-800-699-9074 Monday through Friday 8:30am-4:30pm or e-mail at DPU.Childcare@dhsoha.state.or.us

Questions and Answers Q: Does a statement from Child Welfare that a parent cannot provide care work as verification? A: Absolutely, yes. Q: Is medical documentation a pend-able item? A: Yes, because you have to clear that first. Q: In a two-parent household with one parent in a drug and alcohol outpatient program, are they eligible if one parent is stating that the other can’t care for the children? A: We would still need to have the medical documentation or something from Child Welfare. Just being in an outpatient program doesn’t necessarily negate their ability to care for their children.

Questions and Answers Q: Can two-parent households qualify for student hours? A: Yes, they just have to qualify based on their work hours and overlap first. Q: Who can provide verification for medical leave? A: Per rule: To determine eligibility, the Department will accept evaluations from the following medical sources: medical evaluations only from licensed physicians, including psychiatrists, osteopaths, and ophthalmologists; mental evaluations only from psychiatrists and licensed or certified psychologists; and measurement of visual acuity and visual fields only from ophthalmologists and licensed optometrists. The Department will accept supplemental medical and vocational information to augment evaluations from acceptable medical sources, from a licensed social worker, licensed physical or occupational therapist, or licensed nurse practitioner. (OAR 461-125-0830)

Questions and Answers Q: How do you determine the schedule for overlapping hours in a two-parent household? A: For self-employment, it depends on the type of employment and if they have a set schedule or not. We want to look at their reported schedule and compare with the schedule of the other parent, then compare that with their childcare hours and take whichever is less. We automatically apply travel time as 25% of their scheduled work time. Q: When someone has 2 jobs, one regular employment and the other is SLF, and they report that they only need childcare for the regular income, is that okay? Would they still have the choice to calculate SLF income as SEC or SEN? A: We are going to count the self-employment income regardless. If they say they don’t need childcare for that, definitely narrate it. It would probably benefit the family to include those hours for if they need childcare in the future. Q: Are we able to annualize the income when we’re calculating the hours for seasonal self-employment where they get all their income one time out of the year, even though they may work unpaid other times of the year? A: Every case is different. There are many factors at play such as child care need, copay being higher than the cost of care, etc. For such specific situations please e-mail Child Care Policy for targeted guidance.